Magic City Discovery Center

Magic City Discovery Center

The hybrid children’s museum and science center will provide STEAM-based indoor and outdoor activities for children from birth to 14 where kids will have fun while learning skills that prepare them for future careers. The three-story educational building will feature 12 interactive exhibit galleries, focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM). The discovery center is designed for open-ended, layered learning, allowing children to independently and collaboratively engage in lifelong learning through discovery, creativity and play. Some of the interactive exhibits include: Magic Climber – a 37-foot-tall structure representing North Dakota, where visitors will be able to climb from earth to sky, and from prairie dog burrows to an oil derrick, to reach a wire frame B-52 airplane where they’ll get a 360-dgree view of Minot from above the second-floor roofline. Smithsonian Spark!Lab Invention Center – MCDC is working to finalize plans to become the 10th site in the U.S. with a Smithsonian Spark!Lab Invention Center, a state-of-the-art center where visitors and school groups become inventors and innovators. Water Flow Gallery – a dynamic and engaging area where children can experiment with the science and properties of water, including an area to interact with the flow of the Souris River. The Building Gallery – an interactive “construction zone” filled with a variety of materials, images, and experiences that will explore “building” as both a noun and a verb. Outside My Window – designed for children seven years old and younger, the exhibit will be filled with exciting experiences that represent North Dakota’s natural world. Move – a dynamic introduction to the fundamentals of physical science, particularly energy and motion. Other STEAM-based exhibits in the children’s museum will include an aerial flight exhibit, digital worlds,, light and sound labs – all designed to encourage creativity, exploration and problem solving. Magic City Discovery Center expects thousands of families to visit the museum regularly, in addition to the more than 1,300 K-5 children who live on and off the Minot Air Force Base. Designed by Minot-based Ackerman-Estvold, the $14 million project, including exhibit costs, is funded in part by a $6.3 million grant from the Department of Defense, and through public-private partnerships with the City of Minot and Minot Park District.