WonderTrek Children’s Museum Visits Brainerd Library for Good Old-Fashioned Play

The WonderTrek Children’s Museum brought its mobile museum program to the Brainerd Public Library on Wednesday. The program uses “loose parts,” which allows children who attend to create and build using their imaginations and problem-solving skills.

With the program, children are not given any instructions when they attend an event – they’re simply able to let their minds run free.

“The goal for children when they come to the museum is definitely to just see what they can do with all the loose parts, see where their imagination takes them,” said WonderTrek Play Lab Worker Vanessa Bauer. “We love to just let the children play, giving them that opportunity to problem solve and create new things and use their imagination is what WonderTrek is all about.”

“It’s an invitation for all children of all abilities to be able to play with the materials and create what they want,” explained Aimee Tagtmeier, WonderTrek’s Program Operations Manager. “So, yep, you’re going to have some kids who are just jumping all over. Then you have other kids who are creating structures.”

With so many children today focused on screens, Wondertrek’s Children’s Museum aims to provide an old-fashioned approach to playtime and develop relationship-building skills.

“This provides such an opportunity for them to develop relationships, build the relationships in such an organic, natural way, the way that we are all intended to as kids, to learn how to play together,” stated Bauer. “What we would do as children is go to a park and play and use our imagination with the things that were available, and this is kind of bringing the kids back to that.”

WonderTrek is set to break ground on a 2,500-square-foot play lab and five acres of outdoor exhibits for recreation next spring. The project has been in the works for a few years and has people involved buzzing with anticipation.

“I think everyone’s really excited because it has been a long time coming, so it’s been a long process,” added Tagtmeier. “There has been a lot of people who have put a lot of work into this, for the Region 5 and for our community and for our kids. It’s exciting and it’s really motivational, I think, to see the community backing WonderTrek and then just our team and all of the work that they’re putting in to get this open for our community.”

In addition to the outdoor exhibits and 2,500-square-foot play lab set to break ground next spring, Wondertrek is planning to build a 30,000-square-foot facility on the same complex. The WonderTrek Children’s Museum serves Region 5 in Minnesota which includes Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd, and Wadena counties.