The newly expanded Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum is now open to the public; it hosted a celebratory block party on May 11. Visitors can walk through a woodland, climb on a “mountain” and stand inside the control booth of a 13-foot-tall robot. The lead designer behind the new experience is Manchester resident Yoshi Akiyama, a former Imagineer and chief designer of Tokyo Disneyland.
Wonderfeet is a traditional children’s museum, executive director Danielle Moore explained in a phone interview. Unlike ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, or the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, Wonderfeet doesn’t focus on teaching educational concepts. It’s devoted entirely to encouraging self-guided play.
Its colorful playscapes stimulate kids’ imaginations and give them tools such as building blocks, costumes, hard hats and plastic vegetables that they can use in open-ended ways.
Playing pretend helps kids develop language, math and social skills, Moore said. Plus, it’s just plain fun. One thing she often hears from busy families is that they don’t have as much unstructured downtime as they used to. “The opportunity to just have undirected play is something [kids] ask to come back for,” she said.
Many of the exhibits are funded by local employers such as Casella, Green Mountain Power, Heritage Family Credit Union and Killington Resort. It’s a way for businesses to support a resource for local families and also encourages kids to see themselves living and working in the community in the future.
Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum, 66 Merchants Row, Rutland. $3-$8; free for kids under 1. wonderfeetkidsmuseum.org
This article was originally published in Seven Days’ monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.
This article appears in Kids VT, Summer 2024.
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