Exploration Station...a children's museum

A hands-on place for exploration and discovery!

a facility of the Bourbonnais Township Park District

The first for kids who are going places.

Exploration Station ...a children's museum is a hands-on exploration and discovery museum for children and their families, teachers and care givers. At Exploration Station, children can climb inside the tower of a medieval castle, fly a jet plane, sail on a ship, become a soda shop clerk, drive a tractor and much more.

What's New:

Coming soon: New Parent Resource Center
Please be patient as we make room in our gift shop area for our new Parent Resource Center. The Parent Resource Center will be an area especially for parents. The focus of this resource center will be information on child growth and development, child behavior, health issues, parent and child interaction, as so much more! If you have topics of interest you'd like to see in the resource center, please contact Tammy anderson, Outreach Coordinator, at 815-933-9905, Ext. 2.

Arabian Nights Program re-scheduled to July 10!
The Exploration Station...a children's museum will be re-scheduling the Arabian Night program that was origionally scheduled for Friday, June 5. The program will be re-scheduled to Friday, July 10 from 6:00-7:30 pm. If you would like to join us for this event, please pre-register at any Bourbonnais Township Park District Facility. Please call (815) 933-9005 for facility locations.

New Overnight Packages
Overnights are a perfect way to explore the exhibits of the Exploration Station...a children's museum afterhours. Choose from a variety of packages and overnights can feature programs that can be tailored to scouts to fullfill badge requirements! Check out our printable overnight flyer by clicking here or call (815) 933-9905 for more information!

Bamboo's Cafe is closing June 2, 2009
The tough economic times took their toll on Bamboo's cafe and so it will be closing it's doors this summer. The last day the cafe will offer food is Tuesday June 2, 2009. Thank you to all the patrons who visited Bamboo's cafe over the years and thank you for your support!

Museum Free Days change September 2009
Free days will be changing to free afternoons at the Exploration Station...a children's museum starting September 15, 2009. The free afternoons will be offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays with additional free afternoons offered during the summer months.
A printable calendar of the free afternoon times is now available our our web site.
Learn More

Museum Hours
September – March
Closed Mondays (except special holidays)
Tuesday – Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Office Hours: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

April – August
Monday – Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Office Hours: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Closed on Easter Sunday, Memorial Day
Annual Shutdown: August 31-September 14

Special Celebration Days
Join us at Exploration Station for special days where we celebrate with activities, crafts, and more — just because we can! Activities vary each day. Here are the Days to Celebrate with us at the Exploration Station...a children's museum this summer!

June
5th -World Environment Day
21st -1st day of Summer
24th -UFO Day
25th -Eric Carle's Birthday

July
3rd -Dog Days of Summer Begin
7th -Macaroni Day
13th -Paper Bag Day
17th -Cow Appreciation Day

August
6th -Wiggle your Toes Day
10th -Art Appreciation Day
17th -Joke Day
19th -Potato Day

For more information on our Days to Celebrate please contact Tammy Anderson, outreach coordinator at (815) 933-9905 ext 352.

Exploration Station needs your help!
As we work to meet the needs of all of our visitors, we have to reach out to our members and frequent visitors. This project will take not only large amounts of time but funding as well. Exploration Station is in dire need of an Annual Fundraiser. This fundraiser will raise funds for new and future exhibits, as well as maintenance, repairs, and enrichment activities for some of our current ones. The Exploration Station and staff are looking to raise the bar. We want our visitors to leave here knowing their needs have been met, but wanting to come back for more. If you have experience with fundraising — or just want to help get an annual fundraiser started — please contact General Manager Sarah Winkel at 815-933-9905.

Check out this info about children's museums
The Association of Children's Museum's makes "The Case for Children's Museums" — See what it has to say here.

New Birthday Party Prices
We have updated our birthday party packages at Exploration Station. For more details check out our Birthday Party Pages!
Learn More

Up-coming Inter-Activity Stations:
Inter-Activity Stations are temporary exhibit activity centers for children to play in and explore. Inter-activities change regularly and can have games, craft projects or activities targeted for children ages 5-10 years old.

Arabian Nights Interactivity!
Come experience the enchantment of a far away land. On June 5th, part of the Exploration Station Castle room will be magically transformed. You can imagine that you are taking a magic carpet ride through an ancient Middle Eastern Marketplace complete with a daring snake charmer. You can partake in math and scale activities and learn Arabic numbers and writing. Don’t forget to ask the genie for your three magic wishes! This Interactivity will be open June 5-August 30, 2009.

If you have an idea or display item for a children's exhibit please let us know! We would love to hear about them. Please contact us at (815) 933-9905 or send an email to nicole@btpd.org.

Check Out Our New Membership Packages
Exploration Station ..a children's museum is now offering membership packages that include the Association of Children’s Museums Reciprocal Program that provides FREE admission to more than 130 museums around the country. Learn More

Click on the Association of Children's Museums logo to find out more about ACM! (clicking here will take you to the Association of Children's Museum web page)

New Resource for Parents with Young Children
Check out the new Success by 6 "Parents Page" web site at www.parentspage.org. The Parents Page is written for parents of newborns through age 6, and includes many parenting tools produced by the United Way of America and the Ad Council. Also included on the site is a list of fun activities, area events calendars, and special events involving young children. The "Kankakee County Cares" button is a thorough resource of local services, ranging from parent support groups to early childhood education to child care resources. Most of the parenting tools are available in both English and Spanish.
Learn More

Children must be accompanied and supervised by an adult while at the Exploration Station...a children's museum. And, on the same note, adults must be accompanied and supervised by a child in order to visit the museum.

Admission Rates for Live Animal Exhibit

To continue to give our live animals the care they deserve, the Live Animal Room will has an admission fee of $1.00 per person. All fees will directly benefit the live animals at the Exploration Station. We appreciate your support in keeping our animal friends happy and healthy!

Admission is $1.00 per person.

Children 12 months and under are free.
Museum members and birthday party guests receive free admission to the animal room.

Admission wristbands can be purchased at the Exploration Station front desk during your visit.

Get to Know Our Staff!

Each month we are featuring an Exploration Station staff member to highlight on our web page.
For June we are featuring Andrea Jackson!

Andrea Jackson
Admissions Clerk and Weekend Facility Coordinator.

Andrea loves garage sales, music (especially anything from the Beatles) and chocolate covered almonds. She collects record albums, family reunion shirts and hats. Her favorite vacation destination is just about everywhere and she would like to take a cruise around the world someday.
Favorite quote:
"All you need is love."

Hmmm…so what are my kids really getting out of a children’s museum?
Do you ever wonder what your child gets out of his/her visits, or do you even know that there is so much more going on each and every time you come? Here is just some research information being collected on the importance of Children’s Museums:

Children’s museums encourage children to think for themselves, expand their problem-solving repertoire through creative exploration, and exercise both their bodies and their minds. Indoor and outdoor exhibits, programs, and workshops are designed to engage children in simple and complex forms of play that result in foundational learning. When children are at school or doing their homework, they report they are bored as much as 50% of the time. Children’s museums and other community learning environments give children experiences that keep the “fires of learning lit” by providing opportunities to learn through playing; children’s museums are redefining learning so that children are excited about what they learn not only for the future, but also for the present moment.
—Association of Children’s Museum, “The Case for Children’s Museums”

Bourbonnais Township Park District

Exploration Station ... a children's museum is a facility of the