Great Lakes Children’s Museum launches hands-on health exhibit for kids

Great Lakes Children’s Museum has turned play into a public-health lesson, launching Healthy You, a multi-phase exhibit initiative at Curiosity Place in the Grand Traverse Mall that uses hands-on play to teach children about bodies, feelings and healthy habits.

The first phase began during the week of May 18, when the museum transformed a playhouse space into the Curiosity Clinic, a neonatal-themed environment filled with lifelike baby dolls, child-sized stethoscopes, exam tables and diagnostic kits. One set of baby dolls was donated by Kaitlyn Verbanic of NurturedMI Maternal Massage Therapy, giving young visitors a chance to role-play caregiving in a setting that makes medical care less abstract and less intimidating.

The project was built with the Grand Traverse Community Foundation, Munson Healthcare and Northern Shores Dental Group, a local partnership that gives the exhibit more weight than a typical museum install. Organizers have framed the work as early health education that is accessible, engaging and age-appropriate for children across Northern Michigan, with a clear emphasis on the social-emotional side of wellness as well as the physical side. The second phase, Mission Curiosity: The Human Brain, is designed to focus on mental health and emotional well-being, and the museum says it is meant to travel beyond Traverse City so more families across the region can experience it.

For parents looking for a practical stop in town, Curiosity Place is open at 3200 W. South Airport Rd., Suite 420, in the Grand Traverse Mall. Admission is $9 per person age 1 and up, and hours are Sunday and Monday from 12 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The museum says its exhibits are designed for children ages 1 through 10, and Traverse City Tourism lists Curiosity Place as a Certified Autism Center, a detail that matters for families seeking a more predictable, sensory-aware environment.

The health focus also fits a broader local pattern. Munson Healthcare’s Healthy Futures program began in 1998 as a free support service for pregnant women and families with young children, offering nurse home visits and monthly educational updates on development through age five. Munson and the children’s museum also partnered in 2019 on a healthy-eating event for parents and children. Founded in 2001, the Great Lakes Children’s Museum said in a 2024 profile that it had reached 645,000 children and adults through hands-on exhibits and programs, a track record that helps explain why this new exhibit is being treated as more than a novelty.