Peoria’s only children’s museum is celebrating 10 years of discovery in Glen Oak Park.
The Peoria Playhouse Children’s Museum is owned and operated by the Peoria Park District. Officials say the development and opening of the museum was a process of more than a decade, starting with collaboration with the Junior League of Peoria in 2002.
“It’s always held a special spot for me, regardless of, not only with my kids, but also because of the work that went into this on a professional level,” said Park District Executive Director Emily Cahill. “This is just a confirmation that what we’re doing in the park and what we’re doing with the Peoria Playhouse Children’s Museum is the right thing.”
Cahill said almost a million people have visited the distinct building with its massive wraparound porch since it officially opened in 2015.
Inside, the building is filled with exhibits aimed at fostering children’s play and curiosity. Some examples include a water table, a ball drop, a “maker’s workshop,” and an exhibit on different tools.
“We have visitors, especially right now during the summer, that come down from Wisconsin or over from Iowa. We’ve had international visitors. We draw from everywhere,” said Museum Director Melissa Sierra, who estimated they average around 60,000-70,000 visitors each year.
“We do put an emphasis on what is unique about Peoria, our agricultural base and development surrounds the area, but also it’s a cool little urban, funky space right in the middle of Illinois.”
In the Playhouse’s decade-long run, the COVID-19 pandemic presented the largest challenge. Sierra said, at the time, museums of all kinds had to radically reconsider how they could bring learning experiences to their community.
After the pandemic, Sierra says museums are a “must have.”
“For a kiddo who was [age] 2 or 3 in 2019, 2020, that puts them at 5 or 6 – those are prime years for their benchmark development,” she said. “Here at the Playhouse, they get to interact with other kids. Huge social emotional component. They get to learn those motor skills, stretch those hands and feet and minds and really exercise and develop their play muscles.”
The staff at Peoria Playhouse is celebrating the institution’s birthday this Saturday with free admission, storytelling and some birthday-themed activities. However, there’s a much bigger celebration of the Playhouse’s place in Peoria being planned: a significant expansion.
“It was exciting to offer it as a birthday present, but it’s things that we know need to happen,” said Cahill.
The plans, presented to the media in the concept stage Wednesday, include enclosing a segment of the building’s porch with glass, refurbishing and expanding existing exhibits, making smaller usability and quality of life improvements and “leaning into” exhibits with themes like career exploration.
Cahill said one of the original exhibit designers from the museum’s development in 2005 will return to work on the expansion. Initial estimates for the project come in around $800,000.
“We’ve been working on this for a while, but I imagine that we’ll start to see some things moving around as early as fall, winter,” said Cahill. “We have to be mindful of the Playhouse's busy seasons. We don’t want to interrupt people’s use of the facility.”
The expansion is funded through a combination of grants from the private Gilmore Foundation and money from issued park district bonds. Cahill says initial timeline estimates place project completion within the next 12 months.
