About the Oklahoma WONDERtorium

September 22 2009

Our Mission

The Oklahoma WONDERtorium inspires curiosity to learn through play… for a lifetime.

The Museum will:

• Provide children and families a quality leisure activity where they can experiment, play, use their imaginations, and share ideas.
• Give parents and care givers an opportunity to have interactive experiences with their children.
• Provide an opportunity for children to learn by “doing,” where learning is fun and multi-sensory.
• Nurture cooperation and understanding among generations and cultures and encourage children and adults to learn from one another.
• Promote the physical, emotional, and cognitive growth of children and families.
• Reach out to children of all backgrounds and cultures.
• Compliment existing resources in the community.

Brief History

The Oklahoma WONDERtorium, Ltd. is a “museum without walls” serving Payne County, Oklahoma, and specifically the communities of Stillwater, Cushing, Perkins-Tryon, Glencoe, Ripley and Yale. Our programs have also extended to Lincoln (to the south) and Pawnee (to the northeast) counties. The museum’s historical focus has been to provide outreach programs that take hands-on, play-to-learn encounters and activities right to elementary classrooms, preschools and child care centers.

Because our outreach is beyond the city of Stillwater, the Board of Directors decided to change our name in 2009. Formerly, from 2001 to June 2009, we were known as Stillwater Children's Museum. We are now Oklahoma WONDERtorium, Ltd. (OWL, for short). We have ambitious plans to further the mission of OWL into a regionally-, and quite possibly, nationally-known children's museum.

Our Nation’s Children’s Museums

Children's museums are fun, interactive environments – some indoors and some outdoors – where children are free to play-to-learn. Children's museum's produce programs and exhibits that transcend age and experience, and empower children to set their own pace – reading a book, pretending to shop in a mock-stocked grocery store, or exploring exhibits and environments meant to reflect the real world of science, arts and humanities, and nature. Children's museums offer opportunities for family learning as well as time to bond with family and friends.

The Oklahoma WONDERtorium is a member of the Association of Children's Museums (ACM), a global leader, advocate and resource among organizations serving the learning needs of children and families. ACM's mission is to build the capacity of children's museums to serve as town squares for children and families where play inspires creativity and lifelong learning. Currently, ACM serves more than 500 museums, businesses and individuals.