From a news release:

Peoria PlayHouse forges ahead in programming, fundraising

July 16, 2007, Peoria, IL – Working with partners from the Peoria Park District to the Peoria Chamber of Commerce Community Leadership School, the Junior League of Peoria is bringing The Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum, to be located in the Glen Oak Pavilion, ever closer to reality.

• Programming at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie and Prairie Air Show provide education and fun for area children.
• Fundraising on track with 30% of funds raised; a gift from Jackie and Curtis White establishes The Peoria PlayHouse Endowment Fund; area children participate in Pennies for the PlayHouse.
• Facilities plans preserve historic Glen Oak Park pavilion while providing space for five permanent and one temporary exhibit, as well as educational and administrative spaces.

Programming: The Peoria PlayHouse Jr. provides hands-on learning activities the first Saturday of every month at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie. Begun in April 2003, the PlayHouse Jr. is an exciting first step towards the kinds of interactive learning experiences that will be the heart and soul of the children’s museum. Each session begins with story time feature old favorites and new classics for children, followed by a variety of activities, all tied to the day’s theme. Future themes include What To Do at the Zoo (August 4), In the Trees (September 1), and Pretend I Am … (October 6). The Junior League has partnered with organizations including the Glen Oak Zoo, the Girl Scouts, the Peoria Public Library, and Peoria Art Guild, and many others to present these fun, free, and educational programs.

On Saturday, July 21 and Sunday, July 22, the Junior League of Peoria will provide free children’s programming at the Prairie Air Show at the Greater Peoria Regional Airport. This is the third year The Peoria PlayHouse has partnered with the Air Show to bring children’s programming to the show. Activities will include a parachute games, making UV bracelets, coloring pictures to send to soldiers serving overseas, building with boxes, and an “archaeological dig” in the sand. Children can also have a passport stamped at the various exhibits at the show, which can be turned in for a prize.

Fundraising: With 30% of funds raised in its capital campaign, the PlayHouse is on track to meet all fundraising targets. Most recently, the campaign was bolstered by a commitment from Jackie and Curtis White, who provided the founding gift for the PlayHouse Endowment Fund, which will ensure long-term financial stability for the facility. Local children are also contributing to building their museum, through the “Pennies for the PlayHouse” program, conceived by a team at the Peoria Chamber of Commerce’s Community Leadership School.

The Peoria PlayHouse will be funded entirely through private donations and grants.

Facility and Exhibits: The museum will be housed in the historic Glen Oak Pavilion. The interior will be gutted and renovated, opening up some spaces that have been closed off for many years, while the historic exterior will be preserved and maintained. The Junior League continues to collaborate with the Peoria Park District and the City of Peoria’s Historic Preservation Commission to renovate the facility so that it will once again serve as a gathering place for families as it did when it was originally constructed. Architects at apaceDesign continue to work with the Junior League its partners to highlight the original structure in the interior and take advantage of the original space as much as possible.

All planned exhibits meet Illinois Learning Standards for Early Childhood Education and are tied to the local community’s history, geography, and economy. Exhibits are:

• Family Farm, which includes a barn, farm stand, and crops, where children will learn about local farming as well as food and nutrition;
• All Constructions Great and Small, featuring everything from big yellow earth movers to a supervised building area;
• Motion Commotion, a temporary exhibit that can be removed to make space for traveling exhibits, provides ramps, tubes, chutes, and hoops for balls to travel every which way while children learn about momentum, friction, gravity, and other practical physics concepts;
• By Your River Gently Flowing, Illinois, highlights the ecology of the Illinois River Bluffs area with plants, animals, and a working river complete with operations locks and dams;
• Peoria, Then and Now, which features the history and present of Peoria, from its origins as a Native American settlement through its vaudeville years to its present as a center of medicine and research;
• The Sand Porch, a protected sand play area for children to work and build in; and
• Tot Town, a sheltered area with age-appropriate exhibits and activities for the very smallest children under 24 months.

Scheduled to open in early 2009, The Peoria PlayHouse is a hands-on, interactive children’s museum. It will be a place for children and families to dream, explore, and learn through play. It will be the first and only of its kind in our community. The children’s museum will be made up of six exhibit galleries, the components of which are all tied to Illinois Learning Standards for Early Childhood Education. For more information, please visit http://www.peoriaplayhouse.org.