New second-floor features at Discovery Playhouse geared toward older kids

An airplane. A theater. An art studio. These are just a few of the new features at the Discovery Playhouse in downtown Cape Girardeau. The grand opening of the second floor, which features 17 new exhibits, takes place from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.

“Right now we’re focusing on our big kids,” Pansy Glenn, executive director of the Discovery Playhouse, said. Since the museum opened its doors on Broadway in 2010, its focus has been on the 8-and-younger crowd. “This whole upstairs is geared for children 8 to 12.”

The museum held a ribbon cutting last week and, on Sunday, an appreciation party for members and donors.

“It was fantastic,” Glenn said, “and very well-received.”

There are four large exhibits on the upper floor. The first is a large 1963 red Cessna airplane that looms large as visitors top the staircase.

The Dogtown Press Theater allows children to explore their dramatic side.

“I watched kids last night at the theater. They were having a blast,” Glenn said. “They were really putting on a show.”

Glenn also intends to buy a karaoke machine with auto-tuning capabilities for the theater exhibit.

Phoebe’s Art Studio is an installation that will allow the older children to paint and craft with a variety of media. Glenn said they have ordered a Nebula Strip, a 4-by-8-foot interactive screen that will allow children to play and draw without a mess.

“It’s from the Netherlands. There’s not one anywhere in the United States,” Glenn said.

She plans to market it to children’s hospitals and to the Association of Children’s Museums.

The Tinkering Workshop rounds out the four largest exhibits on the upper floor, Glenn said. Snap circuits, Lego boards, sewing machines, soldering irons and wood-burning kits all will be available for use.

The upper-floor installations are intended for older children. Glenn said she hopes to keep younger visitors relegated to the downstairs exhibits “so we can have all these things out and we don’t have to worry about the little guys,” she said.

Other installations in the expanded museum include the “Discovery Ninja Warrior Room” as well as an electric bicycle race, a bubble room, a duck-blind game and BEAM, a motion-sensing game system that projects 12 games onto the floor for interactive play.

“There’s just lots of stuff,” Glenn said.

The museum also features a planetarium, which Glenn intends to make available to schools to use for classes.

“We’re also going to reach out to home-schoolers,” Glenn said, hoping to arrange a day for social interaction and learning.

A party room that can accommodate 50 people also is available.

Glenn said the expansion was made possible through Neighborhood Assistance Program tax credits.

The tax credits were awarded to the Discovery Playhouse by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. The Neighborhood Assistance Program helps not-for-profit organizations and businesses raise private-sector funds by state tax credits to businesses that make contributions to community improvement projects. The program guidelines allow tax credits equal to 50 percent of the contribution value.

The museum’s Neighborhood Assistance Program credit program concludes at the end of 2016. Glenn said they hope to sell more credits before the end of the year to pay for a chair lift to the upstairs exhibits. Right now, the upstairs is not accessible to those with disabilities.

“We’re still selling NAP credits so we can get a chairlift,” Glenn said. “Even though we built most of the exhibits and have that almost completed, we still need to sell NAP credits to get everybody up there.”

While the grand opening is scheduled for Sunday, the second-floor expansion is available for museum-goers. After more than three years of planning and preparation, Glenn is thrilled to watch the work of donors, volunteers and exhibitors pay off.

“It does my heart good to see all this.” Glenn said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

bbrown@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

502 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701