Canadian Children's Museum
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| Established | 1989 |
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| Location | within Canadian Museum of History, in Gatineau, Quebec. |
| Type | Children's museum |
| Visitors | 500,000 per year |
| Website | www |
| Canadian Museum of History network | |
The Canadian Children's Museum (CCM) is located inside the Canadian Museum of History, in Gatineau, Quebec. The CCM is among the most popular museums in the country, attracting about half a million visitors each year.[1] It is also Canada's largest exhibition centre (3,000 m2 (32,000 sq ft)) designed specifically for children up to age 14 and their adult companions. Most of the space is devoted to the museum's permanent exhibition, The Great Adventure.[2] The CCM also presents a changing line-up of special exhibitions curated internally or acquired from other institutions.[3]
The Children's Museum is managed by the Canadian Museum of History Corporation, a federal Crown Corporation that is also responsible for the Canadian Museum of History, the Canadian War Museum, the Canadian Postal Museum, and the Virtual Museum of New France.
The Great Adventure
The museum describes its permanent exhibition, The Great Adventure, as an interactive, intercultural journey of discovery. With a museum-issued passport and a good imagination, visitors can travel to Nigeria, Japan, India, Mexico, Indonesia and other international destinations. This is achieved by traveling through the museum, which is composed of a series of fun, educational and interactive stations. At the entrance of each station is a stamping machine which one uses to stamp the page in the passport which corresponds to this station, just like when one actually travels. Each of the stations teaches visitors about a different aspect of the world. They can visit a kid's café, stroll through a market bazaar, trek across a desert, and help unload a cargo ship. They can also step aboard a brightly decorated bus from Pakistan, which is perhaps the museum's most beloved artifact. The CCM says its overall goal is to provide a fun, hands-on environment in which children can learn about the world and its cultural diversity.
Collections
The Children's Museum has a permanent collection of more than 15,000 items for use in its exhibitions and programs. The items include artefacts, toys, games, clothing, art, photographs and other objects from around the world that relate to the lives of children, past and present.
Affiliations
The Museum is affiliated with: Canadian Museums Association (CMA), Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), and Virtual Museum of Canada. The CCM is a member of the international Association of Children's Museums, and the only Canadian member of the Youth Museums Exhibit Collaborative.[4]
History
The Children's Museum opened in 1989 when the Museum of History (then known as the Museum of Civilization) moved into its current building on the north bank of the Ottawa River. The CCM has expanded twice since then, first in 1994 and again in 2007. At the end of July 2007 it welcomed its eight-millionth visitor.[5]