About three months after it closed during the initial coronavirus shutdowns in March, The Woodlands Children’s Museum is reopening to the public June 15 with four blocks of time available for advance sales.
Preticketed sales for admission to the museum, located in the Panther Creek Shopping Center, are available for time periods beginning at 9 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. Admission to the museum is $7.
“We’re starting slow to ease people back into it,” said Executive Director Angela Colton, noting that the museum will only operate at 50% capacity for the time being—about 140 people.
The facility has undergone cleaning and has been treated with a nontoxic antimicrobial film that is commonly used in children’s museums, she said. The treatment will be used for the next six months.
Managing visitors into blocks of time will help to assist social distancing among young children, she said.
“It’s very difficult to initiate social distancing between two 18-month-olds,” Colton said.
Workshops also start back up June 15 and will continue through the summer in one-week segments for various age levels on topics such as Legos, superheroes, science and the arts.
Although the museum continued to offer online storytime and puppet shows throughout the past three months, the shutdown effectively eliminated all its revenue streams, Colton said.
Aside from donations, the museum relies on four main revenues: birthday parties, admissions, field trips and memberships.
“Our numbers were increasing, but once the end of January hit everything went down,” Colton said of the museum’s admissions. “We probably lost $250,000 in revenue.”
Before the shutdown, she said the museum expected to have 125,000 total visitors this year.
In January, she appeared before The Woodlands Township board of directors to discuss its need to expand before its lease is up in 2022.
The 11,164-square-foot museum is an independent, nonprofit entity, and it has operated in the Panther Creek Shopping Center since 2010. However, some children’s museums work with local governments to secure spaces at a lower cost or a nominal fee, she said.
A needs assessment study was planned for this year to help the facility determine what it will need to continue to grow, and the museum received 600 responses from a survey this spring, she said. Many of the responses expressed the feeling that the museum was an asset to the community, she said.
The museum expects to bring back birthday parties by about mid-July, and events later this year are expected to proceed as scheduled, including a Spooktacular event for Halloween and events with Santa Claus, Colton said.
Upcoming events include Dads and Dogs Day on June 20, featuring the characters Marshall and Skye from “Paw Patrol” along with an appearance by Pets with a Mission, which provides therapy dogs for children to read to.
June 26-27 will be International Fairy Day, featuring costumed staff and an opportunity to make fairy wings.
Colton said the museum will make a few adjustments to try to recoup losses, such as charging a small fee for events like these that were previously included in the admission fee. It is also seeking donations.
“If you just think about little things, if 1,000 people each donated $25 ... if more could become involved and have a stake, that would be fun,” she said.
The Woodlands Children's Museum
4775 W. Panther Creek Drive, Ste. 280, The Woodlands
281-465-0955
www.woodlandschildrensmuseum.org
Hours: Mon.-Sat. 9-10:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m., 1:30-3 p.m., 3:45-5:15 p.m.
$7 admission
