Fun with a tornado and out-of-control bus? Sneak peek at Kansas City’s $15M kid museum

A yellow school bus has apparently crashed through the side of the new Wonderscope Children’s Museum. But that’s not a bad thing.

In fact, it’s all part of the design.

The attraction is set for a grand reopening this week in a new $15 million facility in the Red Bridge area of south Kansas City, after moving from its original location in Shawnee. Its 30,000 square feet will feature 10 exhibit spaces focused on STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and math. Incorporating hallmarks of the Kansas City area into these designs, it provides interactive entertainment as well as education.

This also includes the bus that juts out the back of the building as if somebody on a second floor forgot to engage the parking brake. Children can navigate through a maze of tactile motifs, one of which allows them to step inside the vehicle to sit in its driver’s seat.

“Kids think the bus is really cool and are excited to work out how they can get into it,” says Roxane Hill, the museum’s executive director.

“Likewise, we really want to embrace fearless play. If we’re giving children the ability to be fearless and just seeing what they want to tackle, it’s a great opportunity for them to try stuff and say, ‘It’s OK if you fail. It’s OK if you get scared. There’s nothing wrong with that.’”

That sense of fearlessness also translated to the team responsible for reopening Wonderscope. The timeline was foiled by COVID-19, but the project still needed to move forward.

“Thankfully, the pandemic did not delay the building. Construction was deemed an essential service in Kansas City,” recalls Hill, now in her fifth year with Wonderscope.

“We were hoping we would be open all the way through summer, which is our moneymaking months. Plus, we had all these fun things planned to close out the other museum. We lost that momentum when we closed in March. It’s always good to have a proper goodbye when you end something.”

The venue will launch Friday, Oct. 23, even as COVID-19 remains a major health concern — and at a point when many area schools still aren’t holding in-person classes full time.

So they’re taking similar precautions that other Kansas City area attractions instituted as they reopened over the summer and fall after coronavirus-induced closures.

Wonderscope will limit its daily activities to two separate sessions with a max of 250 guests at each one. They will spray down and clean all surfaces between sessions, then have cleaners come in and repeat the process that evening.

“Fortunately for us, the museum is large enough that the hallways are quite wide, so there will obviously be signs directing folks one way and keeping to the other side to exit. And we have fabulous outdoor spaces with plenty of room for adults to play as well. We are requiring everybody over the age of 3 to wear a mask while they are in the museum the entire time, and we also have hand sanitizing stations throughout,” she explains.

Learning while playing

The fun is divided into separate exhibits. In Crossroads, kids can climb aboard a locomotive or inside a covered wagon. Or they can play with a “tornado” in Wonder Climber. They can shop for groceries in Wonder Market or enjoy harnessing liquid in WaterWorks. They can prepare “food” in KC Café, measure how hard they can kick a ball in On the Move! or create things in Creation Station and Design Lab. Outside, NatureScope offers a trio of durable play areas.

The exhibits are built around the concept of STEAM, but also every exhibit displays a feature of Kansas City.

“You’ll see fountains, barbecue, the arts, transportation, big sporting events — everything here you go through will have a Kansas City experience,” Hill says.

She believes the key to the design is integrating the A in STEAM.

“STEAM incorporates the arts, which are literary, performing and fine arts. I think everybody realizes that when you have STEM, you still need a person who can write something fun about it or draw a picture to illustrate it or add a creative element. So STEAM to us is far more encompassing,” she says.

Social/emotional development is also stressed.

“It’s great if little kids know their ABCs and the numbers and the colors,” she says, “but if they don’t understand how to share, how to take turns, how to play with others nicely, they’re still not going to find success in school.”

The target age is 10 and under, but Hill says kids who are 11 or 12 will still find things they will enjoy and find value in.

What’s the difference between a children’s museum and just a place where kids go to play?

“The educational elements that go to it,” Hill replies.

“Everything in here — whether it’s the maker space, the art space, the water table or the sports stuff — there’s an educational component behind all of it. Nothing is in a space ‘just because.’ It’s all there to serve a very specific purpose that is part of learning social, emotional or brain development for young children.”

The original Wonderscope opened in 1989, housed in a retrofitted elementary school donated by builder Vic Regnier. In 2017, a $15 million capital campaign was launched to pay for a move. Once again, the Regnier Family Foundation became a major donor, and ultimately earned the naming rights for the new structure, whose full name is the Regnier Family Wonderscope Children’s Museum of Kansas City.

In addition to the original building being “super old and falling apart,” Hill says the main decision to relocate was the need for space.

“We wanted something on one level that was wide open and high, and we wanted the outdoor space. Kids need light and brightness and airiness. It’s part of the brain development in how they learn and grow. And all of the research that’s come out recently is about the need to be outside and have natural light.”

She also notes that families with strollers didn’t like maneuvering through a parking lot or dealing with escalators and elevators. Here, they can exit the car and walk straight in with their kids.

As for the previous location in downtown Shawnee, it’s been purchased by a developer and may eventually be turned into an apartment complex.

Finding inspiration

Hill and her team spent months visiting museums in Arkansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Washington when developing the ambitious enterprise.

“We looked to see what they were doing. But, more importantly, we selected architects and exhibit designers who have years of experience with building children’s museums and understanding the flow and what is needed. Like having that extra door up front to put field trips in so they’re not disturbing the flow — there are little things somebody else just probably wouldn’t think of,” Hill says.

“As children play, they learn. It is as simple as that,” says architect Mary Haizlip, principal in charge of management at Haizlip Studio, who helped design the new Wonderscope.

“Inspiration for the museum experiences was drawn from the cultural crossroads that helped build Kansas City’s contributions to sports, food and music, as well as from the physical crossroads of rivers and railways. Creating an inclusive museum where all children can play and learn about themselves and their community guided the design.”

When Wonderscope is finally completed and open for business, where will it rank compared to those other museums that were scouted?

“I think we’re right up there,” Hill responds.

“In Kansas City, we’ve needed a children’s museum that brought us up to scale with St. Louis, Lincoln and Omaha. I know a lot of families who often go to the Omaha Children’s Museum. I think we can compete with them pretty easily. We’re hoping families from Omaha will now come to Kansas City.”

While the suspended bus may provide the signature visual, Hill has other favorites.

“I love the Crossroads,” she says of the section devoted to KC’s train and transportation history. “The (Wonder) Climber is also great. I find there’s just so many elements in there that can be interacted with at different ages and different levels.”

Haizlip adds, “It’s impossible to point to one part of the museum I am most proud of. The kaleidoscope of experiences — from the exterior of the building through the interior galleries to the exterior gardens — all work together to send the message, ‘I fit here! This place is for me!’”

Jon Niccum is a filmmaker, freelance writer and author of “The Worst Gig: From Psycho Fans to Stage Riots, Famous Musicians Tell All.”

Grand opening

What: Wonderscope Children’s Museum will have its ribbon-cutting ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 23, and will open that day 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. (Online reservations required.)

Where: 433 E. Red Bridge Road.

Regular hours: 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 1 to 4 pm. Sundays. (Max capacity 250 for each session.)

Admission: $12 for children, $9 for adults, free for children under 2.

Memberships: Members-only play session 9 to noon Thursday, Oct. 22. Annual memberships start at $80.

Information: See wonderscope.org.