Release date: February 6, 2008

Photos are included in this document.

For additional information, please contact:

Lynne Jele, Marketing & Membership

Phone: 630-637-8000 ext. 2600

ljele@dupagechildrensmuseum.org

Museum Bubbling Over About Walgreens’

Help To Provide A Wheelchair Accessible Bubble Booth

Naperville, IL – Bubbles. Lots of Bubbles. Children of all ages thoroughly enjoy the Bubble Booth at DuPage Children's Museum! In fact, often parents get into the act, squeezing themselves onto the platform and pulling up that giant bubble, just to see how it feels.

Now, thanks to a generous gift from Walgreens, DuPage Children’s Museum has created a new, wheelchair-accessible Bubble Booth, to allow even more children, groups of children and families to have fun inside a bubble. By standing on a small platform, they can pull a color-shifting, full-body bubble up and over their heads!

Talking about this new exhibit in the WaterWays exhibit neighborhood, Cynthia Mark-Hummel, the Museum’s Director of Exhibits and Programs says, “This change is definitely in keeping with the Museum’s commitment to providing wonderful, hands-on educational experiences for all children…and there’s more room on that platform for Mom and Dad, too!”

The unusually shaped platform and bubble hoop prototype was created with help from Nicor Gas, another Museum supporter, which provided some of the testing materials to Peter Crabbe, the Museum’s Associate Director of Exhibits and Design. After thorough testing, it worked – and a new, more inclusive exhibit was ready for fabrication and is now available to everyone visiting the Museum!

The Museum’s commitment to providing an accessible Museum is not just with bubbles. In fact, DuPage Children’s Museum was a 2007 winner of the national Universal Design for Learning Award from VSA arts and the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM), for the Museum's support of exhibits and initiatives that demonstrate learning standards for inclusive practice.

More about the Museum’s awards and recognition can be found at: http://www.dupagechildrensmuseum.org/welcome_awards.html

DUPAGE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM:

DuPage Children's Museum helps kids learn how to succeed. Throughout any given day, hundreds of visitors come through the Big Red Door of the Museum to engage in three floors of fun, hands-on activities. It is a playful environment where children 6 months to 10 years old and the important adults in their lives learn and play together in thoughtfully planned “neighborhoods”, with exhibits and programs designed to promote skill development in math, science and the arts. It helps prepare them for a future where curiosity, creative thinking, imaginative problem solving and learning skills will be needed to interact with technology that is yet to be invented, to solve problems we can’t imagine and work in new kinds of jobs that don’t exist today.

DuPage Children’s Museum, a top Chicago area cultural attraction, is the place where learning comes in to play™! The Museum is a non-profit organization and depends on donations and sponsorships each year, for over $4 of every $10 of its annual budget. Your support helps us reach families and makes a difference in the lives of thousands of children in our community. Thank you for all you do!

Location: 301 N. Washington Street

Naperville, IL 60540

Phone: 630-637-8000

Hours* Monday: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Thursday: 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Sunday: 12 - 5 p.m.

*Call for special seasonal hours.

General Admission: $7.50 per person, ages one through 59.

$6.50 per person, ages 60 and over.

Admission is never charged to shop the Explorer Store.

Free Parking. Wheelchair Accessible. Quick walk from Naperville Metra Station.

Annual Memberships: Several types of memberships and gift memberships are available. Please visit www.dupagechildrensmuseum.org or call 630-637-8000 for more information.

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