Open Just a Year, The Children's Museum of Franklin is Expanding

Growing like Topsy, to use a dated idiom, is what the Children’s Museum of Franklin  has done over the past year, logging more than 70,000 visits since its first day. Having just passed that one-year milestone,  on Wednesday, the Museum celebrated the opening of its new 4,000-square-foot outdoor play and exploration space with a ribbon cutting (held indoors due to unexpected road reconstruction on Cottage Street).

Present for the event were State Representative Jeff Roy, pictured above with Museum co-founders, Meg Hagen and Erin Gallagher, and State Senator Becca Rausch as well as  Town Administrator Jamie Hellen, Town Councilor Max Morrongiello, and many others involved in funding and supporting the museum.

Roy noted that he and Rausch had secured $50,000 in funding for the museum in the state's FY 2027 budget.

According to the museum, the new outdoor space extends the Museum experience beyond its walls, creating additional opportunities for children to `get messy, experiment, create, gather and learn through play.' Designed with accessibility and open-ended exploration at its core, the space includes:

• Accessible pour-in-place surfacing
• Messy art and creative play
• A hands-on water pump and tubing system\
• Giant bubble play
• Picnic tables for gathering, creating and eating
• A signature Farm to Fridge exhibit created in partnership with Garelick Farms

The Farm to Fridge experience introduces children to the journey of milk from the farm to their refrigerator through hands-on, imaginative play.

Children's Museum of Franklin is a nonprofit, hands-on museum on a mission to empower children and families to discover, imagine, and grow together through play and exploration. Through interactive exhibits, engaging programming, and a commitment to accessibility and belonging, the Museum creates opportunities for joyful learning for visitors of all ages.