ROM reimagines play-based learning with nearly 3,000 square feet of space
On Monday, July 24, ROM launched WonderWorks — a full reimagination of the Museum’s beloved play-based learning space, designed to foster fun and creativity. WonderWorks offers a wide variety of interactive activities including a storytelling nook, tabletop puzzles, building-block stations, light tables, and touchable wall activities for visitors to enjoy during Museum visits. These hands-on activities invite kids to socialize, experiment, problem-solve, share ideas, and most importantly, have fun!
This new space builds on ROM’s long history with hands-on learning and activities and builds on that tradition with recent research on how kids learn. While the intergenerational and interdisciplinary space is engaging and open to all, it has been designed with a focus on children three to eight years old. The space encourages self-guided and free-form experiences, with museum facilitators available to support creative learning by asking questions, sharing stories, and listening to ways visitors connect Museum experiences to their everyday lives.
This new space is the first iteration of WonderWorks — a visitor-centric space designed to evolve based on visitor use and feedback. As WonderWorks changes over time, ROM will introduce new elements and experiences to facilitate meaningful engagement and support ROM’s core vision to encourage gathering, spark conversations, and inspire learning.
Through imagination and play, WonderWorks provides an age-appropriate introduction to ROM’s vast art, cultural and natural history collections.
WonderWorks is the newest of the ROM’s initiatives to ensure that the Museum is an important part of growing up and lifelong learning. This space is presented alongside the kid-friendly Patrick and Barbara Keenan Family Gallery of Hands-on Biodiversity, which offers touchable specimens, interactive displays, photo-ops, and trained facilitators to invite younger visitors to actively engage with the Museum’s natural history research and collections. Additionally, ROM offers programs geared to young children, such as ROMKids Junior, and the ever-popular Saturday Club and Summer Club.
This summer, visitors will also enjoy Free Main Floor access, until September 4, including daily performances celebrating Toronto’s diverse cultural communities inside the Museum and at the ROM’s outdoor performance space. ROM’s Free Main Floor initiative is generously supported by the Temerty Foundation.
About the Royal Ontario Museum: Discover more at the Royal Ontario Museum, where jaw-dropping dinos, glittering gems and mysterious mummies are just a few of the treasures on display. Expect extraordinary experiences as you and your family explore how the earth and its cultures have evolved, and how the changes we face today will shape the world we’ll live in tomorrow. Learn More
