CMoR LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

The Children’s Museum of Richmond’s engaging learning environments create an integrated, multi-sensory experience and explore the central theme: “Me, My Community, and My World.” The environments help a child recognize and build on what is familiar and allow them to make connections between their own experiences, the people and places that surround them, and the world beyond their community. CMoR’s exhibits are designed to foster creative, unstructured play and discovery.

The learning environments interpret the natural, built, and expressive elements of the world around us and encourage visitors to discover the connections between the three. The exhibits are hands-on and fun and weave learning concepts from the Virginia’s Standards of Learning, NAEYC Standards and Virginia’s Foundation Blocks of Early Learning.

The Natural World

Our Great Outdoors

Explore the outdoors while you are inside the Museum. Our Great Outdoors explores the richness of nature in our region. Take a tour of a Virginia limestone cave, float a miniature boat down the James River, climb up a tree and crawl through a riverbed. Then discover our new Backyard – it’s really outside.

James River Water Play

Float boats down the James River inside! James River Water Play shows the real features of the James River’s islands, bridges and canal as it flows through Richmond. Young engineers can create dams and make their own floods. There are waterwheels; squirts and a waterfall to make the most of indoor water play.

Treeclimber

Climb up to the top of the tree get a bird’s eye view of the Museum. Stretch your muscles as you navigate through a series of branches for the best view in town.

Cave

Who lives in Virginia limestone caves? How are they formed? What’s the difference between stalactites and stalagmites? Come and have a tour with our cave guides and find out.

Aquarium

Get a bottom up view of our aquarium. You have to climb through the riverbed to get to it and it is worth the trip.

The Backyard

The CMoR Backyard is our new year round outdoor space where children can explore the natural world. Activities include: a big sandbox, water squirts and a small flowing stream, musical instruments to play, a stage to perform on, self guided weaving and painting with water. Just like inside the Museum, there is a separate Early Childhood area suggested for children up to THREE years old – also with water and sand play

The Feeling Good Neighborhood

Explore the role of food in our lives as a complete system – from start to finish. Pick apples, drive the apple truck to the grocery, shop in the market, cook and serve food in the café, and finally crawl through the tummy just as your food does.

NEW! The Apple-a-Day-Orchard

Our newly expanded apple tree has plenty of room for all ages to pick apples. Learn where our food comes from as you harvest apples in the perpetual orchard. Now you can watch the apples travel up the auger from inside the tree. Discover how old the CMoR Apple Tree is by counting the rings.

U-Shop Market

Children know all about this familiar place – but in the U-Shop Market they run the store. Just like in a real grocery store you can stock the shelves, be a cashier or shop for tonight’s dinner.

What’s Cooking Kitchen and World Café

In the What’s Cooking Kitchen children are in charge as they cook and serve make believe delicacies to their grown up customers.

Tour de Tummy

The food journey is almost complete as you trace the path of food through the digestive tract – burps and all – and learn how our bodies convert food to energy.

The Built World

How it Works

This learning environment helps children form conclusions about their physical world as they experiment, test, construct, design, and climb.

The Light Table

Explore a world of shapes and light as you mix colors.

The Inventors Lab

In a room full of different kinds of blocks you can build what ever you can imagine – from a tower taller than you are to a cantilevered bridge.

NEW Exhibits!

DinoZone

Our very own dinosaur Seymour has some company. Work like a paleontologist using tools to discover fossils in two large dig pits. Slide down a Stegosaurus and ride on replicas of a baby Triceratops and Apatosaurus. Create some rubbings to take home to remember the dinosaurs you’ve met.

School Room

Come play school in our new schoolroom. Work like a teacher writing on the chalkboard. The room is complete with desks, charts and a felt board.

The Expressive World

The Art Studio

Experiment, create, express and explore! The Art Studio encourages both individual and collaborative visual arts experiences utilizing a wide variety of recycled materials, child-sized tools, and innovative art techniques. Many types of media including painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, and crafts are explored through the use of color, patterns and textures.

CMoR Playhouse

Through the universal languages of movement, costumes, and puppets, children explore show biz in the CMoR Playhouse. A stage with lights, music, props and costumes inspires children to improvise through dramatic play. A small puppet theater is perfect for telling your favorite fairy tale.

Shadowplay

Four interactive screens with whimsical themes inspire children to use their shadows to gather flowing sand, become a landing site for butterflies, “herd” marbles and blend colored balloons.

Little CMoR

Little CMoR, designed for infants to three year olds, is a safe, developmentally appropriate area for creeping, crawling, tumbling and exploring! There are puzzles, books and blocks, a kitchen to cook in and cars to drive for dramatic play. As children move and participate in multi-sensory experiences, they enhance their motor skills, develop group social skills and enjoy cooperative and independent exploration.

To find out more or receive a copy of this information, contact our Director of Education at 474-7016 or click here.