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Coco Warner ReportingYou could say it's a dream that's been 14 years in the making; since opening its doors at the Ogden City Mall in 1992-- the Treehouse Children's Museum has wanted a home of its own. Now they have it -- the new 28 thousand square foot building officially opened just a few weeks ago.
Lynne Goodwin, Executive Dir. Treehouse Museum:"Our favorite response from children is just that intake of breath when they come in and see the tree. It's sort of the gasp of wow!"
There's also lots of pointing and running and playing. Each exhibit at the new Elizabeth Stewart Treehouse Children's Museum in Ogden is meant to inspire, entertain and teach. There's the theatre room that seats 150 people and the art garden, which allows children to explore their inner artist.
The trains are always a big hit, not to mention the music room, which takes the idea of banging on pots and pans to a whole new level.
Margit Lister: "This is great, it's really all kid friendly. They can touch things, play with things and it's just a lot of fun!"
The centerpiece to the museum, of course, is the treehouse. It stands 30 feet tall, has 28 branches and over 70,000 leaves.
Lynne Goodwin, Executive Dir. Treehouse Museum: "And eventually, pretty soon we'll have a slide that we'll be adding. We have a parachute drop with little parachutes that you drop down to a target that we'll be adding-- all kinds of fun things."
Most impressive is all of the community support and donations that made this tree grow and finally flourish.
Lynne Goodwin: "This is really a treehouse that was built by the community. Many people donated and as you come in our lobby you see on the wall a big giving tree and it just represents a few of the people who supported it, thousands literally."
It's a gift that thousands of children can now enjoy.
