San Antonio has always been a favorite destination for family travel, what with the popular theme parks, riverwalk and sunshine throughout the year.
Now, there's one more reason to visit San Antonio, and it's called The DoSeum Children's Museum, opened in early June 2015. And it's already been named a top 20 kid-friendly destination by USA Today.
The DoSeum is a place where children learn by doing, not just seeing. The museum offers innovative exhibits and experiences that offer fun for the whole family and engage children with concepts in science, math, art and literacy.
Kids play at The DoSeum — Photo courtesy of The DoSeum Museum
The original Children's Museum closed its downtown doors in March 2015 after 20 years of service. The desire to relocate the downtown location started many years ago, but accelerated when CEO Vanessa Lacoss Hurd came on board.
The new space sits on 5.5 acres of property and includes 26,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space, plus an additional 39,000 square feet of outdoor exhibit play space. The building alone is a magnificent structure, located along Broadway Street close to downtown. It's easily one of the brightest gems in the city.
"We needed to provide experiences that can't be done in a school setting – to think more in terms of thematic ideas, problem solving and critical thinking, really ensuring integration across all subject areas," says Lacoss Hurd, who also emphasizes the importance of inspiring creativity.
The DoSeum offers unique exhibits unlike any other children’s museum in the U.S., including an interactive robot, a spy academy filled with math challenges, an interactive puppet parade, a musical staircase like in the movie Big, an ADA-accessible treehouse, a children’s river and a significant outdoor exhibit area.
There's truly something for kids of all ages. Toddlers will enjoy spending time in Little Town, while the six to 10 year olds will have fun in the Spy Academy.
The literacy exhibit, called Imagine It, is a brilliant interactive story-making exhibit that enables kids to pair fantasy with imagination in order to build a story where they are the real heroes. By using 2D and 3D elements, they construct an animated story frame by frame.
Parents will appreciate that the majority of the exhibits at The DoSeum boast a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) focus, integrated with literacy and creative arts concepts, for a 21st century learning experience.
As educators continue to increase focus on STEM to better prepare students for a technology-driven world, The DoSeum will serve as a resource to get children excited about these subjects and their real-world application. The DoSeum will also offer extensive programming for educators.
"We developed relationships to help make The DoSeum an institution center with a vibrant learning ecosystem," says Lacoss Hurd.
