Marbles Kids Museum facts for kids
Marbles Kids Museum is a fun children's museum located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It's a special place where kids can learn and discover through play. Marbles opened its doors in 2007. It was created when two other museums, Exploris and Playspace, joined together. The museum's main goal is to "spark imagination, discovery and learning through play."
Fun Exhibits to Explore
Marbles Kids Museum has many exciting, hands-on exhibits. These exhibits are designed to help you learn and grow in different ways. They focus on five main areas of play and learning:
- Ready Set Learn: These exhibits help you get ready for school and learn new things.
- Be Healthy, Be Active: Here, you can learn about staying healthy and moving your body.
- Create, Innovate: These areas let you use your imagination to build and invent new things.
- Explore, Experiment: Discover how things work by trying out different experiments.
- Connect: These exhibits help you connect with others and the world around you.
Awesome IMAX Theater
Marbles also has a giant IMAX theater right on its campus. This theater shows popular Hollywood movies and interesting documentary films. The screen is super big, measuring about 52 feet tall and 70 feet wide. That's like seeing a movie on a screen as tall as a five-story building! It's the largest regular IMAX screen in North Carolina, making movie-watching an amazing experience.
How Marbles Began
Before Marbles, there were two separate museums. One was called Exploris, which opened in 1999. It was a modern learning center focused on global topics. The other was Playspace, a children's museum for younger kids. Playspace was first located in City Market before moving to another building.
In the summer of 2007, both Exploris and Playspace closed their doors. Playspace then moved into the Exploris building. The two museums combined to form a brand new museum. They chose the name Marbles because of a special wall inside the museum. This wall is made of stainless steel and has over 1.2 million colorful marbles built into it. The new Marbles Kids Museum opened to the public on September 29, 2007, ready for kids to explore and play!
