New Exhibits and Upgrades Funded By Local Leaders Come to The Staten Island Children's Museum

The Staten Island Children's Museum announced the opening of two new exhibit components: Put Out The Fire in the Ladder 11 exhibit area and an Ant Hill Bug Climber in the Bugs and Other Arthropods exhibit. These installations were made possible in part thanks to funding from the Staten Island Foundation, Richmond County Savings Foundation, Con Edison, National Grid, New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Assemblymember Charles Fall and the Trustees of the Museum.

The Children's Museum undertook a series of improvements during the year that the Museum was closed due to the pandemic. These included upgrading the air circulation system, replacing the water fountains with bottle-filling stations, and renovating two sets of bathrooms. As a steward of a historic city building, the Museum also invested in restoring the wood exterior to ensure its stability. Each exhibit area has received new play components including a slide, a new outdoor water table and a series of pneumatic tubes and diverter boxes that move multi-colored balls and scarves through a maze.

Through an audience survey and focus groups The Children's Museum learned that parents were seeking activities that required critical thinking of children and worked off their energy by encouraging them to move their larger muscles. With a design team of staff, board and outside experts, the Museum has been installing new components that meet those needs in each exhibit over the past year. The Ant Hill Bug Climber and Put Out The Fire are the final new components to be installed in this effort.

Explaining their investment in the Children's Museum, Laura Jean Watters, the Executive Director of the Staten Island Foundation, shared that "supporting the Staten Island Children's Museum's upgrades and improvements to its facility comes at a time when we could all use a much needed "refresh." The Museum's leadership smartly used the time of lockdown to get the spaces ready for new and returning audiences who will appreciate the opportunities offered to learn through hands-on experiences."

Cesar Claro, the Executive Director of the Richmond County Savings Foundation said "The Richmond County Savings Foundation focuses on advancing educational opportunity and enriching cultural development in Staten Island. We support the informal early childhood education provided by the Staten Island Children's Museum, because it is a key building block in the development of a love of learning, experimenting and exploring. We are proud that our funding assisted in bringing new interactive activities for children to do at the Children's Museum and improvements to the amenities and infrastructure."

"The Staten Island Children's Museum is a valuable cultural resource for our community that promotes early childhood education. Harnessing a child's natural curiosity and imagination is a proven way to build a lifetime love of learning, so I was glad to support the Staten Island Museum by allocating funds for updates to their infrastructure. These improvements ensure that the museum remains a welcoming place for all families." said Assemblyman Charles D. Fall

"I am proud to work at an institution dedicated to informal early childhood education where young children are free to explore and touch the exhibits in the spirit of learning through play, particularly at a time when there is a great demand for creative outlets," remarked Dina Rosenthal, Executive Director of the Staten Island Children's Museum. She continued, "The historic nature of the building that houses the Children's Museum is part of what makes the institution so special but also why we have prioritized funding for upgrades to its mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems. We are sure that families will appreciate the comforts those updates provide and will particularly enjoy the new exhibits which engage children's dexterity and problem-solving abilities."