West Hartford Children's Museum Awarded Grant for Dinosaur Exhibit

WEST HARTFORD, CT – The Children’s Museum was recently awarded a $35,000 grant from the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority (CHEFA) to support the development of an original exhibit on Jurassic era dinosaurs and Connecticut’s role as a dinosaur habitat.

The new, upcoming exhibit will provide children and families with opportunities to discover how scientists have determined what we now know about dinosaurs that existed in Connecticut and beyond, according to a release.

Unlike many other dinosaur exhibits, The Children’s Museum’s exhibit will uniquely uncover the little known roles Connecticut and New England played during this era in addition to unfolding contemporary scientific research in ways that young children will find approachable, engaging, and hands-on.

The Museum will feature tactile, family-friendly educational stations and activities alongside actual fossils, samples, and natural resources that have been preserved locally.

“Since dinosaurs are always a popular topic among children, we started to re-think them within the context of what occurred in our own backyards. Through this exhibit, we’ll provide something really unique for families, schools, and Connecticut as a whole,” Museum Executive Director Michael Werle said in a release. “CHEFA’s generous support is helping this important project become a reality.”

The Children’s Museum was one of only 23 recipients of CHEFA’s Nonprofit Grant Program this year.

“We are pleased to support this project, helping to provide Connecticut children and their families with hands-on educational experiences about our state’s fascinating history,” CHEFA Executive Director Jeanette Weldon said in a release.

The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, the Center of Integrative Geosciences at the University of Connecticut, and Dinosaur State Park will join The Children’s Museum as project partners. Each has contributed to project planning and will lend educational resources that will be incorporated into the exhibit.

Together forming a unique scientific and educational network throughout Connecticut, the exhibit will also encourage visitors to also venture to the other three sites for additional learning experiences.

The Children’s Museum contracted internationally renowned exhibit designer Paul Orselli to lead the exhibit’s design and fabrication. Design and development are currently underway, and the exhibit is slated to open in February 2017.

Image via The Children's Museum Facebook page.