New Utica Children’s Museum welcomes kids of all ages

UTICA — More than three months after opening to the public, the new Utica Children’s Museum provides activities and educational opportunities for the region’s youngest citizens. Besides its galleries and exhibits, the museum currently has a weekly garden club that started July 23 and continues through Aug. 27 with sessions on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. “We’re going to have a different topic every week,” says Meghan Fraser McGrogan, executive director of the Utica Children’s Museum. “It’s just a great way to educate kids on how they can connect with nature, and we’ll be talking about all different types of gardening and planting topics.” McGrogan spoke with CNYBJ in a July 9 phone interview.   Located within the Integrated Community Alternatives Network (ICAN) Family Resource Center at 106 Memorial Parkway, the “completely reimagined” museum includes a 4,000-square-foot rotunda and a renovated 10,000-square-foot second floor, which has six galleries and 60 custom-fabricated exhibits, the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul said in an April 29 announcement about the museum’s opening. The new museum is part of a larger project of ICAN — the development of a first-of-its-kind Family Resource Center that houses ICAN family-based programs, a community room available for other organizations, and the museum. With more than 60 years of history, the Utica Children’s Museum is one of the oldest children’s museums in the country. The new $8 million Utica Children’s Museum is part of an overall $14 million ICAN Family Resource Center project, Hochul’s office said. In addition to the governor’s grant of $750,000 from state capital-funding sources to support the Utica Children’s Museum, Empire State Development provided more than $1 million in capital funding through the Market New York program. The New York State Council on the Arts also provided a $300,000 capital grant. New York State Assemblymember Marianne Buttenschon (D–Marcy) also secured an additional $125,000 in funding through the fiscal year 2024 state budget, Hochul’s office noted. The organization generally serves elementary school kids, or ages five through 12, McGrogan says, but she also notes the museum includes a toddler forest for children up to three years of age. “There’s definitely something for every kid regardless of age to engage and interact with,” she says. McGrogan says the museum considers itself an extension of the classroom. “The whole museum has been designed very much with New York State education standards in mind.” Reservations to visit the museum are recommended but not required, she adds.

Museum galleries, exhibits

The 14,000-square-foot museum includes exhibits designed as exciting play-based experiences with many benefits for children, per Hochul’s office. The museum has six galleries with more than 60 exhibits, McGrogan tells CNYBJ. The galleries include Build it Up, which exposes kids to the trades; the World Market is a cultural area that highlights all the cultures in the Mohawk Valley; the Let’s Experiment gallery is a STEM-based (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) gallery with activities and challenges that focus on inventions, such as race cars. In addition, the Seasons gallery focuses on the four seasons in the Mohawk Valley; the Cove area, which has low lighting, soft furniture, and calming colors to “create a sense of peace and relaxation throughout” for children and adults with sensory needs, per the museum’s website; and the Climber, which McGrogan describes as a “showstopper” when people walk into the museum, is a two-story, enclosed jungle gym that the website says provides “physical challenges and safe risk-taking to build confidence.”   As the Utica Children’s Museum website says, “Children’s Museums show our youngest citizens that they are valued and important. We create a space for connection, exploration, cultural awareness, and growth.” “The opening of the new Utica Children’s Museum marks an exciting milestone for our community and for families across Oneida County,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, Jr. said in the state’s announcement. “We are proud to have invested $500,000 in the museum’s incredible climber exhibit — an innovative space that will spark curiosity, encourage hands-on learning, and inspire the next generation. This facility will be a cornerstone of childhood development, offering opportunities for school readiness, career exploration, and meaningful family engagement. I applaud ICAN and all our state and local partners for bringing this extraordinary vision to life.”

Recent history

On March 4, 2020, ICAN and the Utica Children’s Museum announced the museum would be moving and rebuilt at 106 Memorial Parkway in Utica. A week later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the former museum closed sooner than expected. Virtual programming was created and provided to the community’s children, per the history page of the museum’s website. In October 2021, ICAN and the Utica Children’s Museum held a groundbreaking event for the new location. The Rotunda on the new building was completed in 2023, and the new museum opened to the public on May 1 of this year, the website says.