Lakeland children’s museum changing its name, moving to new location
LAKELAND, Fla. - Explorations V Children's Museum in Lakeland, a fixture of the city's downtown, is becoming the Florida Children's Museum at Bonnett Springs Park.
"Explorations V Children's Museum was founded in downtown Lakeland in 1991," stated Kerry Falwell, CEO of Explorations V Children's Museum. "We've spent the last 30 years building a culture in Central Florida investing in early childhood and the importance of hands-on learning."
Families familiar with the location on Kentucky Avenue know the educational benefits of the brain-teasers and other building blocks of creative learning through music, art, history in addition to traditional subjects.
The move to Bonnett Springs Park is going to create more learning space.
"This is the first opportunity that we're going to be able to do outdoor education," said Falwell.
There is an entire outdoor garden planned with living and growing learning space outdoors for children to feel, touch and experience.
"The centerpiece of the front yard is ‘Blinky'. He was an icon in downtown Lakeland in the '70s. He was a real alligator with one eye," Falwell explained.
The ‘Blinky’ alligator sculpture will be a huge attraction in the outdoor play area.
READ Interactive art at Pinellas County parks bring out inner child, draw attention to mental health
"He's going to be 100 feet long from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, and is 17 feet tall," stated Falwell.
But that's just one part of the play area.
"We really want to get kids excited about movement and strength," shared Falwell.
READ: Volunteers needed at organization giving school clothes to kids
The new venue, which is expected to open in 2022, allows so much more space for the museum's core principles to be developed, families can look forward to even more of what is exciting at the current space in downtown.
LINK: To learn more about the Florida Children's Museum project, visit https://explorefcm.org/.
The current museum space is located in downtown Lakeland at 109 North Kentucky Avenue and is open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Sundays.
CONNECT WITH FOX 13: