Give the gift of a great start. Grand Haven Children’s Museum is working to bring a children’s museum to downtown Grand Haven. Children experimenting with colorful science tools.
Mission, vision and values
Our community has beaches, parks, strong schools and caring neighbors. What it doesn’t have is a place designed for its youngest children to play and discover.
Lakeshore parents first dreamed of a children’s museum here about twenty years ago. In 2022, a new group of local parents and community leaders founded the Grand Haven Children’s Museum to finally make it happen.
Our mission
We will engage all children with hands-on learning experiences that spark imagination, pique curiosity, enhance creativity and develop problem-solving skills within a place of beauty, wonder and joy.
Our goal is to raise a new generation of compassionate problem solvers and critical thinkers, and build more connected, stronger and healthier families.
Our vision
Our vision is to create a high-quality children’s museum that helps all children and their families thrive through extraordinary play and experience-driven learning.
At birth, a baby’s brain is about 25% the size of an adult’s. By age five, it has reached nearly 90%. Play is how young children build the foundations for everything that follows, and when communities create safe places for play, we all thrive.
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A children’s museum gives a child a chance to discover who they are and what they could potentially be in the future.
Maggie Lancaster, CEO, Grand Rapids Children’s Museum
Six values guide every decision we make, from the exhibits we design to the partners we choose.
Offer open-ended and free-play experience
In practice: Exhibits invite children to explore and try again, the way they learn best.
Curate unique learning opportunities for visitors of all ages
In practice: Field trips and programs built with local educators to complement classroom lessons.
Ensure equal access to all, regardless of physical or financial barriers
In practice: We plan to join Museums for All and are designing with accessibility specialists from day one.
Nurture collaboration and community partnerships
In practice: Shaped by more than 300 local families and over 150 educators and community leaders.
Embrace and cultivate stewardship of our natural resources
In practice: Children will grow to love the Lakeshore’s natural beauty and learn to protect our fresh water.
Deliver innovative quality experiences and services
In practice: Built with experienced exhibit designers and a careful five-year business plan.
“It was ordinary people who got an idea, had a vision, a dream, and then got other people excited about that dream and made it a reality.”
Louann Werksma, community supporter
Give the gift of a great start Meet our board →
