The Frisco location is themed as a town square and includes a restaurant, hospital, home and other buildings typically found in a city.[/caption]
Inside Play Street Museum, the room is filled with the chatter of children exploring the miniature town square. A boy, dressed in firefighter gear, pulls on a hose to put out the "house fire" while a group of children climb in and out of the "burning building." The play is unstructured at Play Street Museum, and it is done so purposefully.
“If we don’t allow them to [have freedom], then we’re really stifling their creativity,” owner Courtney Muccio said.
Muccio opened the first Play Street Museum in 2014 in Frisco. Two other museums are located in McKinney and Plano. Muccio spent years in preschool education and said she became frustrated with the academic structure of the classroom.
“I really felt like kids needed to play, and that’s how they learn best,” she said. “They have a lifetime of sitting at a desk.”
Muccio said she has visited children’s museums with her children and saw they were not interacting as much as they should with the exhibits. So Muccio got the idea of creating a small-scale museum with interactive spaces and unstructured play.
The Frisco location is designed as a town square, complete with a miniature versions of common city locations. While playing, the children can develop social and problem-solving skills, Muccio said.
he museum is designed for children up to age 8. Children are free to use the objects in each building with which to play.[/caption]
“One of the things that is important especially for preschool children to learn are social skills,” she said. “When they’re playing, they’re able to do that because they’re interacting with a lot of different children. They’re learning to share, they’re learning how to communicate.”
Muccio said the next chapter for Play Street Museum is to franchise the business. She is also growing the Play Street Museum Foundation, which provides free parties and events for families experiencing loss.
“I opened Frisco just hoping someone would come play,” Muccio said. “My vision when we opened wasn’t this big, but the response was so great that we opened a second one.”
Play Street Museum 5729 Lebanon Road, Ste. 120, Frisco 469-362-8624 www.playstreetmuseum.com Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
