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.
Starting from the first months of maternity leave, I had experienced 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, without being overly programmed. Something in addition to our parks and places like the ROM, Science Centre and AGO, which we had visited often but felt were more suitable for ‘older’ kids. I did not want to just create a huge indoor playground for rainy days, because I saw 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 could learn 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.
And that is how the Children’s Discovery Centre came to be. 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, who has been ‘my right hand to my left hand’ and has helped take this idea ‘from good to great’.
However this is just the first step as we are only open to September 30th in this location, and then finding a permanent home will be our next step, based on the success of our pilot project. So thank you for your support and please tell your friends and family to visit us too!
Please enjoy your visit today: play, explore, learn, create, get messy, dress up and just imagine!
Thank you for visiting us today!
Jeanhy Shim
CEO and Founder Children’s Discovery Centre