Northwoods Children

Start a fire, watch the stars, listen to common camping sounds, sing a campfire song, explore a bear cave and sleep in a tent

Catch your shadow on the wall

Harvest vegetables, weave a rug, cook and eat a make-believe meal, ride a horse, take care of your pioneer baby and more.

The cabin brings out the child in all of us!

Compare shopping in a side-by-side set of grocery stores - one side is modern, the other is more like it would have been when grandparents were growing up.

Weigh and measure, then figure your bill using a modern register with scanner or manually (like the good old days)

Close yourself in a giant bubble (currently under renovation)

Make a number of simple and fun projects in the art center. The projects change with the museum's themes. The Art Center is the home for Facilitated Craft Workshops on the weekends during the school year and on weekdays during the summer. Call for details.

The attic has clothes for all ages and imaginations

Even boys can get into the fun!

Not up on your constellations? -- Explore them at your own pace - press a button and find the star or constellation as it would appear in Wisconsin's Winter night sky.

Can you recognize the most common birds in Northern Wisconsin by their shape alone?

Can you identify the most common birds of Northern Wisconsin by their call? Push a bird to hear its sound, OR play a game (by yourself or against someone else) to learn these common bird calls.

Build a road, clear snow from a mountain pass, or play farmyard games on the bulldozer computer. Blocks and other toys are available for exploration as well.

Press a button to move the train through tunnels and around the homes in the Founder's Village. Press a button to turn the light on in one of nearly 50 buildings in the display. Another button makes skaters skate on an ice skating pond and another controls the skiers on a ski hill.

Teamwork, and communication are the keys to spotting fires and putting them out in this exhibit.

This exhibit explores how dams are used to channel river and precipitation into forces used for industry in Wisconsin. Control a dam, make it rain, and press other buttons on a self-guided tour of a Wisconsin Watershed model.

Use a manual pump to run a water wheel and generate electricity, experiment with how water moves across different shapes, make water appear to climb uphill with a strobe and flow valve, and try your hand at figuring out a water maze. (Currently under renovation)

Operate on a doll, explore a number of computer programs on human anatomy, relax in the dental chair, repair a "broken" leg or arm, view X-rays, drive an ambulance and save the day in this exhibit.

Here a dad experiments with an Amadinda - one of several musical instruments available for exploration.

Hey Mom! I got one! This is one of the most popular (and wet) exhibits at the museum. Guests try to catch wooden fish floating in real water using magnets on fishing poles. Each fish is painted to represent a different Northwoods fish species and can be compared to trophy mounts of the actual fish.

Even moms get "caught up" in the fishing experience.

The museum's newest exhibit featuring a giant tree that reads stories to guests. It also makes a very cozy place to settle in and read a book out loud to a child!

Here a guest is engrossed in a book as he listens through the "tree-phone" as the reading tree reads one of nearly 20 favorite books.