The South Shore Children's Museum aims to make American history fun for kids through interactive play. The museum held its grand opening in a new and larger two-room space at the Hanover Mall on Saturday

HANOVER – The not-for-profit South Shore Children’s Museum, once the Hanson Children’s Museum, held its relaunch in a larger space at the Hanover Mall Saturday.

Founded in 2009 and formerly a traveling exhibit, the American history focused museum had occupied a smaller space in the mall in the past year in the Sears wing.



“Our other space was a vanilla box,” said Juvelyn Hartweg, founder and director of the museum.



“For any museum, this is a turning point. We’re exhibiting our emerging stage. It’s a trial period to see if we’ll sustain operations. We need to draw in the funding from local businesses and from federal and state grants.”



Hartweg said around half of visitors stumble in the museum without planning in advance. The other half hear about the museum through word of mouth or advertising such as the museum’s sign on Route 53.



“It’s an up and coming trend,” said President of the Board Althea Johnson about museums moving into malls. She said that malls also want to be more family-oriented to avoid losing customers to outlet shops.



The two room museum includes exhibits featuring the history of the Old North Church, a quilting table, a covered bandwagon, a Native American Experience exhibit and a Cranberry bog exhibit. The museum is currently fundraising for a Mount Rushmore exhibit.



Hartweg became passionate about museums early on as a babysitter when she realized that kids need to play and learn out loud in an interactive space -- outside of the quietude of a library.



“It’s not a looking museum. It’s a touching museum,” she said about the South Shore Children’s Museum.



Ten year old cub scout Ethan Olson of Rockland said, “I think it’s very fun and good for littler kids. When I came here, I thought it was one of my favorite places in Hanover. I like the Indian exhibit. I just like how you can interact with stuff they would wear like animal tails.”



Dave Capozzi of Weymouth took his 5-year-old daughter Annabelle to the museum on its opening day Saturday. “My mother loves taking her over here. It’s great. She could spend hours here. It’s very cool.”



Celia Nolan of Hull brought her children to the museum’s opening day, “I think it’s fantastic. It’s definitely more play-focused.” She said she planned to take her knitting with her next time and that the museum was more convenient to visit than other larger children’s museums in the area like the Boston Children’s Museum which would require more elaborate planning in advance.



“I think this is the best idea ever. Teaching kids history, not just jumping on jumpie horses,” said Joanna Lomba of Pembroke who also brought her two children.



Jennifer Savio, a member of the board, said, “There’s nothing like this on the South Shore.”



Admission is $3 for children and $3 for adults. “We want to make it affordable for people to come,” she said.



Board member Jean DiGiacomandrea added that she was hopeful about the museum’s continued growth even as funding is sometimes difficult to allocate at this stage, “Our own building would be wonderful,” she said.



The museum is open Tuesday - Saturday 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. and also hosts birthday parties.



Natalie Ornell may be reached at nornell@ledger.com.



