ABOUT US
Welcome to Children's Discovery Centre!
We are so excited to finally open the doors to Toronto's first and only children's museum designed specifically for our youngest kids, aged 6 and under. What started as a 'dream' 11 years ago when I visited the Bay Area Discovery Museum in San Francisco with my 2-year old nieces, turned into a serious 'passion project' less than two years ago when my daughter was 4 years old.
Ever since the first months of maternity leave, I had been experiencing the frustrations that many parents with young children feel today - of looking for 'something to do' or 'somewhere to go' that is fun, engaging and educational, but without being overly programmed either. Something in addition to our parks and places like the ROM, Science Centre and AGO which we visited often but felt were more suitable for 'older' kids. Yet I also did not want to just create a huge indoor playground for rainy days because I was also seeing through my own daughter just how capable and eager little kids are to explore, discover and learn, even from the youngest age.
This is when I remembered back to my first visit to that magical place in San Francisco where young kids learned through play... and then I did what I normally do: I took out a paper and pen and started figuring out a way to create a place like this in Toronto for my daughter and for all of our youngest children.
So that's how the Children's Discovery Centre came to be, but this has only become a reality because of the generous support from an incredibly talented team of early childhood development experts, curators, architects, designers and consultants, as well as grassroots support from family, friends, neighbours and colleagues who have shared in our vision. Special thanks to Laura Aaron of Rouge Consulting whose production experience and expertise helped take this idea 'from good to great'.
However, this is just the first step as we are a grassroots pilot project initiative, only open to December 31st in this temporary 'pop-up' location. Finding a permanent home will be the next step depending on the success of this pilot project.
So please visit us today to play, explore, learn, create, get messy, dress up and just imagine, and to show your support for our pilot project and a future permanent Children's Discovery Centre!
Thank you,
Jeanhy Shim
Founder + CEO
