The Children’s Museum of Denver is growing up.

Yesterday, president and CEO Mike Yankovich announced the groundbreaking for a $15.8 million, nine-acre campus (including renovations to the current building) with two new wings, a slew of one-of-a-kind exhibits, a year-round outdoor experience area, and a new name: The Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus. “We have a critical role to play in Colorado’s early childhood education community,” Yankovich said. The new site “will support school readiness: math, science, literacy, and 21st-century skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and resiliency.”

It’s a necessary transformation. Overcrowding has long been a problem at CMoD: Since 2003, museum attendance has grown 73 percent, and to about 350,000 people annually. Sara Carpenter, chair of the museum’s board of directors, called CMoD “the most crowded children’s museum in the country.” The new site will more than double the square footage, both inside and outside (including additional parking), and is expected to serve about 450,000 people in its first year. A dedicated school group entrance will create breathing room in the public entryway. Perhaps even more exciting: Sponsored admissions (a program for low-income children and their families) will be handed out to around 25,000 students and teachers (a 66 percent increase from previously). Exhibits will open on a rolling basis, starting in late summer, and the museum will remain open throughout construction.

“Denver is going to be a world-class city because of our future: investing in our young people,” said councilman Albus Brooks at yesterday’s press conference. “The Children’s Museum is such an important piece of that future.”

Bonus: Read more about the museum’s dedication to learning through play.

Click through the slideshow to see what you—and your kids—can expect from the new museum.

All images courtesy of the Children’s Museum of Denver

Daliah Singer
Daliah Singer
Daliah Singer is an award-winning writer and editor based in Denver. You can find more of her work at daliahsinger.com.