Florida Children's Museum opens to families at Lakeland's new Bonnet Springs Park

LAKELAND, Fla. - The Florida Children’s Museum just opened with the blast of air cannons and a shower of confetti and streamers. Families took their first look at the museum Friday morning. 

The children's museum is the latest addition to the City of Lakeland's newest park, Bonnet Springs.

The Florida Children’s Museum is two stories of hands-on activities developed through "played based learning." On opening day, staffers wore shirts with peace, love, play.

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"It is the basis for what we want kids to walk away with," said Kerry Falwell, the museum’s CEO. "We want them to be at peace with themselves. We want them to love themselves and each other, and we want them to play."

The reincarnated museum is more than twice the size of the old one, known as Explorations V Children’s Museum which was housed in a vintage building in downtown Lakeland for 30 years.

In recent years, with the area’s explosive population growth, there just wasn’t enough room anymore. After years of planning and $7 million in new exhibits, the new Florida Children’s Museum was launched.

For details about hours and ticket prices, visit explorefcm.org.