Discovery Museum to open with six interactive exhibits

• Tweet
• 

The Mount Pleasant Discovery Museum is still working toward its goal of giving local children a hands-on education in inspiring directions.

“We are at our halfway point of $3.6 million raised to start the creation of the Discovery Museum,” said museum co-founder Shelly Smith.

After the goal is reached, work on all the exhibits will begin, followed by the museum’s opening. The museum reported being at $2 million raised in April.

The museum consists of six exhibits including “The Hive,” “The Greenhouse and More,” “Journey to Japan,” “Silo Rocket Climber,” “Inventers’ Workshop” and “Riverways.”

“We chose the exhibits based on two different workshops,” co-founder Heather Frisch said. “The first involved kids. Our developers gave the kids a pencil and paper asked them questions about what interested them and the exhibits were born.”

Smith said though the museum will focus more on younger children, the museum’s founders will keep looking for ways to involve older students.

Frisch said in addition to the workshop held with children, local adults including business leaders, teachers and artists were asked for ideas. They were then combined with the children’s input.

Frisch said she thinks the most popular exhibit will be “The Hive,” a display that will take museum visitors through the life of a bee.

Frisch said the museum also decided to include a “Journey to Japan” exhibit because of the relationship Mount Pleasant has with Okaya, its sister city in Japan.

“We have a very good relationship with them,” she said. “This is a way for children to learn about different cultures.”

Farwell resident Carrie Bass said she is excited for the opening of the museum, and thinks it will be a great asset to Mount Pleasant.

She said she hopes to take her children to the museum during the winter months, when there isn’t much else to do. She said the museum could also present a possibility for future school field trips.