Discovery Gateway
Encyclopedia
Discovery Gateway, formerly The Children's Museum of Utah (TCMU), is an interactive, hands-on children's museum located in downtown Salt Lake City
, Utah
, USA
. Comprising over 60000 square feet (5,574.2 m²) of exhibit space, Discovery Gateway is located at 444 West 100 South in The Gateway
.
, keep an enormous machine humming, or peer into a “penny drop” to see how every little bit adds up. Just behind the Garden is Kid's Eye View, a kid-sized town where kids can shop in the Market, build structures in the Construction Zone, or feed the animals on the Utah Family Farm. Within Kid's Eye View is Hatch, Waddle, and Fly, an area dedicated just to children under the age of three.
The third floor of the museum features the Story Factory, where kids direct the action by putting on a play
, drawing a comic strip
, or making a stop-motion animated film. Also located on the third floor is the Studio, where the worlds of science
, invention, and art
meet. The museum's outdoor terrace houses Saving Lives From The Sky, which includes a real Intermountain Healthcare
Life Flight helicopter
for visitors to learn about rescue operations.
program, Reaction Time, to every 5th grade class in the state of Utah. Over 55,000 children from every county in Utah have participated in this program.
of Utah, operates Junior Achievement City, the only JA Enterprise Village/Finance Park program facility within 700 miles (1,126.5 km) of Salt Lake City. Junior Achievement City offers hands-on experiences for school groups that support learning about economics, the free enterprise system, career options, and personal finance. Junior Achievement City is located on the fourth floor of the museum, and is currently open only to school groups.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Comprising over 60000 square feet (5,574.2 m²) of exhibit space, Discovery Gateway is located at 444 West 100 South in The Gateway
Gateway District
The Gateway District is a large open air retail, residential and office complex in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The complex is centered around the historic Union Pacific Depot in downtown Salt Lake City...
.
History
The Children's Museum of Utah was founded in 1978 and opened its doors in 1983. For most of its history, TCMU was located in the former Wasatch Warm Springs building two miles north of downtown Salt Lake City. The museum started with only eight exhibits. By 1998, TCMU had grown to 140 permanent exhibits and over 15000 square feet (1,393.5 m²) of public space. That year, it had become evident that TCMU had reached the physical limits imposed by its current building, and the decision was made to relocate and expand to better serve the community. In 2002, a bond issue was approved by Salt Lake County voters to fund the relocation of TCMU to a new, larger building in the Gateway District of Salt Lake City. Ground was broken on the new Museum on 22 September 2005. Less than one year later, on 16 September 2006, TCMU opened to the public at its current location and officially became Discovery Gateway.Exhibits
Everything at Discovery Gateway is designed with kids in mind. The exhibits are all interactive and hands-on. Exhibits on the second floor of the museum include the Garden, where kids can play music together on a giant marimbaMarimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
, keep an enormous machine humming, or peer into a “penny drop” to see how every little bit adds up. Just behind the Garden is Kid's Eye View, a kid-sized town where kids can shop in the Market, build structures in the Construction Zone, or feed the animals on the Utah Family Farm. Within Kid's Eye View is Hatch, Waddle, and Fly, an area dedicated just to children under the age of three.
The third floor of the museum features the Story Factory, where kids direct the action by putting on a play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
, drawing a comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
, or making a stop-motion animated film. Also located on the third floor is the Studio, where the worlds of science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, invention, and art
The arts
The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompass visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts – music, theatre, dance and...
meet. The museum's outdoor terrace houses Saving Lives From The Sky, which includes a real Intermountain Healthcare
Intermountain Healthcare
Intermountain Health Care, Inc., DBA as Intermountain Healthcare, and formerly known as Intermountain Health Care , is a non-profit healthcare system and is the largest healthcare provider in the Intermountain West. Intermountain Healthcare provides hospital and other medical services in Utah and...
Life Flight helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
for visitors to learn about rescue operations.
Special exhibits
A special exhibits gallery hosts rotating exhibits from museums around the nation. Previous exhibits have included Robots: The Interactive Exhibition, Sesame Street Presents: The Body, and Invention at Play.Programs
Discovery Gateway's programs explore science, art, and the humanities. Workshops and classes are geared to meet the needs of children ages birth - 12. Early Childhood Education classes take place daily in the Curiosity Shop and let kids practice fine and gross motor skills. Programs and workshops for older kids take place in the Workshop Room and often focus on the exhibits at the museum. Discovery Gateway prints a calendar of classes every month.Outreach
Discovery Gateway offers a chemistryChemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
program, Reaction Time, to every 5th grade class in the state of Utah. Over 55,000 children from every county in Utah have participated in this program.
Junior Achievement city
Discovery Gateway, in conjunction with Junior AchievementJunior Achievement
Junior Achievement or JA or JA Worldwide is a non-profit youth organization that was founded in 1919 by Horace A. Moses, Theodore Vail, and senator Winthrop M. Crane. JA focuses on educating kids in K-12 about the free enterprise system...
of Utah, operates Junior Achievement City, the only JA Enterprise Village/Finance Park program facility within 700 miles (1,126.5 km) of Salt Lake City. Junior Achievement City offers hands-on experiences for school groups that support learning about economics, the free enterprise system, career options, and personal finance. Junior Achievement City is located on the fourth floor of the museum, and is currently open only to school groups.