September 9, 2024, Topeka, Kansas – The Kansas Children’s Discovery Center, Topeka’s nonprofit children’s museum, broke ground this morning on a new $10 million expansion project that will more than double the size of the museum. 

Project Highlights

• An artful, cohesive addition to the north of the current building will more than double the size of the museum from 15,000 to over 30,000 square feet.
• An iconic indoor climbing structure anchored by the tallest climbable sunflower in the world, at two stories tall, will draw tourism and excite visitors of all ages.
• Eleven new exhibit experiences exploring science, water power, civic engagement, dramatic play, and more to inspire learning. 
• Three new learning lab classrooms that will create space for quality, STEAM-based childcare for school-age children. 
• A 3,000 square foot traveling exhibit gallery to enable the museum to host any traveling exhibit from around the United States.
• Indoor-outdoor learning space connecting a state-of-the-art teaching kitchen with an intergenerational, accessible garden. 
• Kansas-themed learning opportunities integrated throughout exhibit spaces to excite the next generation of Kansas leaders and innovators. 
• An inventive makerspace that will enable curious children to tinker, explore, and create in a collaborative environment.
• Critical access and safety additions including a nursing room, sensory-friendly space, group entrance, and storm shelter. 

The project will be funded by a combination of private donations, corporate gifts, grants, Gage Park Improvement Authority (GPIA) sales tax revenue and operating reserves. Public feedback collected on the project included public informational meetings, an online survey, and three community listening sessions open to both adults and children. 

The expansion is necessitated by multiple years of record-breaking attendance. Visitors exceeded 120,000 in 2023, breaking the all-time attendance record set in 2019. The museum is on track to exceed that number of visitors in 2024. With visitors at busy times approaching building capacity, the museum needs more space and experiences to meet demand. 

Attracting regional tourism is particularly important to the museum’s role as an economic driver in Shawnee County. In 2023, 38 percent of the total attendance, 45,945 individuals, traveled to the museum traveling from outside Shawnee County. The expansion is projected to increase visitors by at least 25% annually. 

The project also allows the museum to better serve changing community needs. Classrooms for school-age child care will help fill care gaps for local families on days school is not in session. An innovative makerspace and science exhibits are designed to inspire the next generation of STEAM professionals and help the museum “age up” to better engage older children. Admission accessibility to all families will remain a key focus for the museum. Over 1 in 3 admissions were either free or subsidized in 2023.

The nonprofit children’s museum opened in 2011, and in the past thirteen years has grown significantly, gaining prominence as a regional tourist attraction and community anchor for families. The museum has hosted ten major traveling exhibitions, reached thousands of children through community outreach events, and welcomed over 1 million visitors from all 50 states and 23 countries since its opening. President/CEO Dené Mosier has led the museum since 2015.