DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville, Illinois

The DuPage Children's Museum is located in Naperville, Illinois. The museum is an interactive experience for children to be creative, explore, and learn. The exhibits in the museum stimulate creativity, curiosity, thinking and problem solving in the minds of young children.

The DuPage Children's Museum was founded in 1987 by Dorothy Carpenter and Louise Beem. The two women are early child educators from Hinsdale, Illinois and the purpose of the museum was to provide interactive learning experiences for young children. The museum focuses on math, science, and art and how these areas intersect.

In early 1988, the museum traveled with its exhibits to the park districts, scout troops, preschools and other organizations. The museum served 2,664 visitors that year and every year since, the visitation has increased tenfold. Some of the early traveling exhibits were the Ramps and Rollers, which are still popular today.

The Children's Museum found a full time pilot location in 1992. The museum was located in the Wheaton Park District Community Center. The change in location offered longer hours of operation and moved from seasonal operation to a year round program. In September of 1992, Hilary Clinton spoke to a crowd of 250 people about the importance of the museum and programs it offers to children.

The location in Wheaton was closed on March 31, 2001. The new DuPage Children's Museum was opened in Naperville on May 19, 2001. The change in location, allowed the museum to serve over 300,000 visitors within first year. The museum also opened many new exhibits specifically designed for children under the age of two. The new exhibits have helped the Children's Museum become one of the leaders in early childhood education in the Chicago area.

The museum is made up of many different exhibits and the exhibits are so large, that they cover three floors of the building. The exhibit neighborhoods are broke down into the categories of art, math, and science. Each one offers children different ways to explore how these subjects work together in the world. The museum also offers three Young Explorer neighborhoods which are specifically designed for children up to the ages of 24 months.

The DuPage Children's Museum focuses on interaction and hands on learning. Parents are encouraged to let children explore and learn. The monthly programs and neighborhood exhibits give young children the chance to explore the world around them, and the special programs change every month, visitors are encouraged to take part in these educational activities.

The DuPage Children's Museums core beliefs are the importance of the child-adult learning partnership, respecting the right of all children to learn, and the power of play as a basis for constructing knowledge. The belief system has helped the museum to grow and become one of the most popular places to visit in the Chicago area for young children. The DuPage Children's Museum, is a do-not-miss activity for families with small children, when visiting the Chicago area.