Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota (CMSM) is a
children's museum
Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums fea ...
located in
Mankato, Minnesota
Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, Blue Earth, Nicollet County, Minnesota, Nicollet, and Le Sueur County, Minnesota, Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The ...
. It features regularly scheduled art and science activities.
Indoor exhibits include an interactive
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
, a tree made of
tree forts, and a vertical
wind-tunnel
A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...
. The museum offers seasonal farm exhibits outdoors during the warmer months.
History
A group of educators began efforts to open a children's museum in 2009. In the summer of 2014, flood waters damaged the museum's planned exhibits. After rebuilding the exhibits, CMSM opened on the 1st of May, 2015.
Location
The chosen site of the museum required extensive cleanup in partnership with the
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is a Minnesota state agency that monitors environmental quality, offers technical and financial assistance, and enforces environmental regulations for the State of Minnesota. The MPCA finds and clean ...
. With funding from a grant, over 2,500 tons of polluted soil and waste were removed. The existing building was made safe for renovation and use.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official site
Children's museums in Minnesota