Mission
To make a difference, they want to encourage children of all ages and abilities to explore, discover, and connect with their surroundings. Browse this site.
Vision
To be the intermountain west’s most trusted and desired family exploration center and child-centered educational resource.
Statement
Gateway to Discovery The objective of the Children’s Museum is to encourage children of all ages and abilities to explore, discover, and connect with their environment to make a difference. The museum meets its objective by assisting children and families of all backgrounds and providing them with an inclusive and accessible learning experience.
Engaging
DGCM is dedicated to working with Utah’s diverse communities by advocating for all children, establishing a board of directors representing the areas they serve, and collaborating with local groups to ensure services are accessible to needy families.
Celebrating
On Salt Lake City’s west side, they are fortunate to be surrounded by dynamic neighborhoods. Through exhibitions and unique programming emphasizing significant occasions, they celebrate the different cultures that make up their community.
Improving
They recognize that there is always space for advancement. They listen to community leaders to better understand what families need from them, and they work hard to ensure that their team reflects the communities they serve. They are a woman-led company, with women holding four of the six leadership roles, and they will continue to ensure that all perspectives are heard in decision-making.
Exhibits & Programs
Their exhibit galleries and daily programming provide hours of interactive learning via play for guests!
I Dig Dinos
Experience the only exhibit where you may play the role of a paleontologist!
In this one-of-a-kind display, you can see a paleontologist’s life through your kid’s eyes. Youngsters may dig for fossils, transport them to the lab, and identify their Discovery under a microscope. They can also engage with genuine Utah fossils and learn about kids who have discovered dinosaurs. It’s a one-of-a-kind display where kids play paleontologists and work with authentic fossils and bones!
Begin your paleontology career in a dig pit.
Chip away at their massive dig hole using the tools that professional paleontologists use in the field. Can you find any bones?
Conduct research at the paleontology lab.
Bring your bones to the lab for additional examination! Real-life microscopes are used in a child-sized laboratory equipped with lab coats! View actual fossil specimens and dig through drawers of fossils and bones.
Investigate fully articulated dinosaur skeletons.
Use kid-sized trolleys furnished with field jackets to transport your bones to match your bone from the excavation pit to the one on the fully-articulated Utahraptor skeleton frame!
STEAM
Studio + Lab
The STEAM method is a particularly effective means of introducing young children to usually complex STEM areas.
Art is a natural entrance point for youngsters into inquiry-based learning, enabling the other four areas to integrate effortlessly. Children are naturally curious and learn best via hands-on experiences that allow them to ask questions, establish hypotheses, and build knowledge. This leads to identifying issues and developing unique and innovative solutions, frequently creating something entirely new.
At Discovery Gateway, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) offers a wide range of real-world, inquiry-based, participant-focused, and exciting activities. Programs range from brief introduction activities lasting 10-15 minutes to more in-depth family learning sessions lasting 30 to 60 minutes. Local artists, scientists, and other community partners, like the Bureau of Land Management, the University of Utah Science Department, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and the Utah Division of Arts and Museums, have joined forces with the museum. Through interacting with STEAM displays and activities, participants may experience wonder, inquiry, experimentation, problem-solving, and, most importantly, learning via play.
Exhibits
Through art, science, and literacy, interactive exhibit galleries promote creativity, cooperation, Discovery, problem-solving, design, and experiential education. The Garden, Kid’s Eye View, Story Factory & Sensory Room, STEAM Studio and Lab, Saving Lives, and the Reading Nook are among them.
On the first level, near Water Play, there is a private nursing chamber in the Hatch, Waddle, and Fly Exhibit.
First Utah Bank Discovery Branch
The First Utah Bank Discovery Branch Exhibit is situated between the Farm and Maceys Market in Kids Eye View. This display educates kids and families about financial literacy, numeracy, and money recognition. It promotes youngsters to develop social skills as well as professional communication abilities. Children and adults alike will enjoy learning via play in this new exhibit, which includes everything from ATMs to a drive-through window, a larger-than-life coin sorter, and a shredded money wind tube.
Honey Climber
Climb the Honey Climber from the lower to higher levels of the museum. Make yourself a busy bee by using your imagination. Climb, hop, slide, and buzz your way through a labyrinth of honeycombs, flower towers, a rope bridge, and a climbing wall as you explore the Hive and Garden!
Mark Miller Subaru Express Service Exhibit
The Mark Miller Subaru Express Service Exhibit introduces young children to the science that powers automobiles such as the Subaru Ascent. Work on the engine, replace the oil, and fill up the Ascent! Science is a powerful tool, and this display, thanks to Mark Miller Subaru and the all-new Subaru Ascent, is guaranteed to excite youngsters for centuries.
Water Play
The Water Play exhibit includes a 38-foot water table with nine interactive components and dozens of instructional clues and learning opportunities for children and families. River racing, a water wall with ramps, wheels, tipping buckets, a water vortex, and more await!
Intermountain Healthcare Saving Lives
An actual Life Flight Helicopter, a kid-sized Primary Children’s Emergency Department, and a Life Flight Rescue Hangar are all part of the Saving Lives display. You may put your rescue talents to the test as a nurse, surgeon, imaging technician, pilot, paramedic, command center personnel, hoist operator, or engine mechanic.
The Garden
The Garden display gallery highlights the significance of bees and their relationship to Utah. Children and adults work together to maintain the Honey Climber, the Live Hive, and the 30-foot Pollinator humming in the Garden displays!
Story Factory & Sensory Room
The Story Factory exhibit area provides visitors with several opportunities to experiment with storytelling. Make your comic strip, learn about social tales, write and perform your plays on the theater stage, learn about color science with Colors in Motion, or draw a picture with their Jumbo Picture Pegs!
For more information, visit their website or call them at (801)456-5437