The Buell Children's Museum in Pueblo, Colorado was ranked #2 children's museum in the United States by Child Magazine. The City of Pueblo (ˈpwɛbloʊ is a Home Rule Municipality that is the County seat and the most populous city of Pueblo County ^[1]

Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs that stimulate informal learning experiences for children. Definition Combs (1985 defines informal learning as "the spontaneous unstructured learning that goes on daily in the home and neighborhood behind the school and on the play CHILD syndrome (or congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyosiform erythroderma and limb defects) is a genetic disorder In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums feature interactive exhibits that are designed to be manipulated by children. A museum is a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development open to the public which acquires conserves researches communicates and exhibits the The theory behind such exhibits is that activity can be as educational as instruction, especially in early childhood. Most children's museums are nonprofit organizations, and many are run by volunteers or by very small professional staffs. A non-profit organization ( abbreviated "NPO" also "not-for-profit" is a legally constituted Organization whose objective is to support or engage A volunteer is someone who works for a community or for the benefit of environment primarily because they choose to do so ^[2]

International professional organizations of children's museums include the Association of Children's Museums (ACM), which was formed in 1962 as the American Association of Youth Museums (AAYM) and in 2007 counted 341 member institutions in 23 countries,^[2] and The Hands On! Europe Association of Children's Museum (HO!E), established in 1994, with member institutions in 34 countries as of 2007. ^[3] Many museums that are members of ACM offer reciprocal memberships, allowing members of one museum to visit all the others for free.

History

The first children's museum in the world was the Brooklyn Children's Museum, founded in 1899 ^[4]. The Brooklyn Children's Museum is a general purpose museum in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, USA. The next five in order of their founding were:

• Boston Children's Museum (1913) ^[5]
• The Detroit Children's Museum (1917) ^[6]
• The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (1925) ^[7]. Boston Children's Museum is a Children's museum in Boston, Massachusetts, dedicated to the education of children The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, the world's largest Children's museum, is located in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, United States According to the ACM, this is the world's largest children's museum. ^[2]
• The Children's Museum (West Hartford, CT) (1927) ^[8]
• The Duluth Children's Museum (1930) ^[9]. The Children's Museum is the oldest and largest museum for children in Connecticut, United States. Duluth is a Port City in the US state of Minnesota and the County seat of St

By 1975 there were approximately 38 children's museums in the United States. An additional 80 institutions opened between 1976 and 1990, and more than 130 opened between 1990 and 2007. ^[2] As of 2007, ACM estimated that there were approximately 80 children's museums in the planning phase.

The children's museum concept has spread worldwide from the United States. Le Musée des Enfants in Brussels was started in 1978, inspired by Boston Children's Museum^[10]. Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is The Boston museum also inspired the Museo Pambata in Manila, which opened in 1994. The City of Manila ^[11] The Children's Museum of Caracas, Venezuela, became Latin America's first museum for children when it opened in 1982. Children's Museum of Caracas ( Fundación Museo de los Niños) is a privately managed Museum foundation in Caracas, Venezuela's capital city ^[12] The Children's Museum of Bogotá, Colombia, followed it in 1986. The Children's Museum of Bogotá ( Fundación Museo de los Niños) is a privately managed Museum foundation in Bogotá, Colombia's capital ^[13] Eureka! The Museum for Children in Halifax, England, established in 1992, claims the title of the United Kingdom's first hands-on children's museum. Halifax is a large Market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England, with a population of 82056 in the ^[14] Austria's first museum for children was ZOOM Children’s Museum in Vienna, established in 1994. Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria. ^[15] Korea's first children's museum is the Samsung Children's Museum in Seoul, which opened in 1995 under the sponsorship of the Samsung Culture Foundation. Seoul ( soʊl is the Capital and largest City of South Korea. The Samsung Group ( Korean:, Samsung Guerup) is South Korea 's largest company or Chaebol and the world's largest conglomerate ^[16]

References

See also

• Museum of Childhood (disambiguation page)
• Toy museum