A children’s museum is an interactive environment with a variety of hands-on experiences that engage brains and move bodies. It is a place built specifically for kids and their developmental needs, curated in such a way that it is inviting, inspiring, fun, and playful.

The content and experiences in the typical children’s museum are targeted to ages 0-12, both on the exhibit floor and through program offerings. While we intend to focus heavily on ages 0-12 to remain operationally strong, we understand the need for quality learning opportunities for Rock County youth ages 13-18. The Children’s Museum will work to meet the needs of this older population through flexible spaces in the Museum and diverse program offerings that respond to and resonate with these ages.

While Rock County is a good place to raise a family in terms of affordability, we do not have the same number of family recreation outlets or educational enrichment opportunities compared to other communities of our size. A children’s museum is essential for enhancing our quality of life, investing in our children, retaining local talent, and recruiting new faces to keep our community growing.

At present, caregivers regularly leave Rock County to drive to one of four children’s museums located within an hour’s drive. These options include: The Madison Children’s Museum (Madison, WI), Explore Children’s Museum (Sun Prairie, WI), Black Earth Children’s Museum (Black Earth, WI), and the Discovery Center (Rockford, IL). If there was a Rock County option to patronize, they would stay local. The average local visitor to the Children’s Museum of Rock County is expected to spend an additional $50 beyond the cost of admission in nearby restaurants and shops. With 76,800 visitors expected to be local, that translates into an annual economic impact of $3.84 million to our community (Statistics Prepared by the Janesville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau). Without a children’s museum in Rock County, those dollars will be spent elsewhere. And, those experiences will occur outside of our borders, making people wonder if Rock County should really be the choice for their family.

When looking at Rock County in terms of setting children up for life success, a children’s museum can be a fantastic tool. Rock County has the lowest percentage of people with a Bachelor’s degree or higher (24.2% for ages 25+) and the lowest median income ($65,518) compared to its surrounding peer counties of Dane, Green, Jefferson, and Walworth (US Census Bureau, 2020). Rock County also has the highest proportion of people reporting four or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) out of all 72 counties in the state (Community Health Assessment, Health Equity Alliance of Rock County, 2021). That means, 25% of our county’s population – an incredibly high percentage and the highest in the state – has experienced traumatic events during childhood from ages 0-17, the effects of which can last a lifetime and have a significant impact on life outcomes. Compared to someone with zero “yes” answers to the ACE questions, a person who answers “yes” four or more times is 6 times more likely to struggle with depression; 7 times more likely to become alcoholic; 10 times more likely to inject street drugs, and 12 times more likely to attempt suicide. They’re also twice as likely to have heart disease and twice as likely to be diagnosed with cancer. The more “yes” answers a person has to the ACE questions, those odds increase exponentially. People with high ACE scores are also less likely to maintain relationships, collaborate at work, or hold a job. They’re also more likely to end up in foster care, homeless or in jail (“Impact of Childhood Trauma Reaches Rural Wisconsin,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 30, 2017).

When these data points are looked at in relation to one another, Rock County has a high incidence of trauma along with lower education levels and lower earnings. While a children’s museum cannot fix all these issues, providing a safe space that sparks interest, nurtures a love of life-long learning, and promotes strong child-caregiver relationships can have a deep effect on Rock County’s future.

Play is the language of children and it is the process through which they learn. Playing is central for holistic child development and supports its five central domains: cognition, social interaction and emotional regulation, speech and language, physical skills, and sensory awareness.

• Cognition: Through play, children explore objects and their environment while having the ability to create and test possibilities. When children had extended periods of uninterrupted time (30 minutes or more) to engage in play that was relevant and meaningful to their lives, attention span and memory skills were enhanced (Center for Inclusive Childcare, 2020).
  
  
• Social Interaction and Emotional Regulation: Children learn to share cooperate, work through conflict, and develop personal emotional regulation when playing. Countries that don’t invest in social-emotional learning programs are 29% less productive that those that do. Students who took part in social-emotional learning programs outperformed students who didn’t by 11 percentage points (Rethinking Learning, UNESCO, 2020).
  
  
• Speech and Language: Play enables caregivers to introduce new words that build a child’s vocabulary and their understanding of words (nouns, verbs, adjectives). When children play together, they learn the rhythms of speech and the give-and-take of conversation. By preschool, a child’s language skills can usually predict a student’s academic trajectory (American Journal of Speech and Language, 2011).
  
  
• Physical Skills: Strong gross motor and fine motor skills are inseparable from brain development. The more the body moves, the more the brain develops. The physical movements of gross motor play require coordination from both the left and right brain. That coordination demands interaction between the two hemispheres, resulting in strengthened neural pathways. Strong neural pathways lay the foundation for further development in language, literacy, and math skills (Penn State University, 2020). When children engage in fine motor play, they refine their small muscle control and strengthen their visual-spatial skills. Visual-spatial skills are a well-known predictor of academic achievement, particularly in the areas of STEM learning (Psychology Today, 2017).
  
  
• Sensory Awareness: Sensory play engages a child’s senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell) and develops their sensory system, along with their proprioceptive, and vestibular systems. Proprioception relates to body awareness (where our bodies are in space) and the vestibular system relates to balance (where our bodies are in relation to gravity). Developing these information processing systems has a direct effect on brain development. Additionally, the exploratory nature of sensory play encourages creativity, problem-solving, and communication.

No! Play is ageless. Our hope is that the Museum engages and inspires adults as much as it does children and youth. We are designing the Museum with interaction and attachment in mind, from the exhibits to the spaces. Adults will be encouraged to play alongside their children in spaces that accommodate their size. Many of the exhibits will provide opportunities for collaboration, facilitating intergenerational play. The addition of flex spaces will create the possibility to host adult programming and experiences.

We are working with a museum designer to create an aesthetic that resonates just as much with adults as it does with children. As the center of PLAY in Rock County, we want the building to evoke a sense of fun, creativity, and excitement. It will be perfect for PLAYful after-hours, organizational, or corporate events.