About SFCM

MISSION
The mission of Santa Fe Children’s Museum (SFCM) is to inspire a lifelong passion for learning by creating educational experiences across the arts, sciences, and cultures that encourage children and communities to explore, imagine, play and grow together.

PURPOSE
SFCM provides a dynamic, informal educational setting comprised of high-quality exhibits, programs, and community events that encourage interactive exploration and discovery, stimulate sensory and cognitive curiosity, and encourage choice, critical thinking, and problem-solving. In particular, SFCM offers a unique feature that most children's museums in the United States only hope to implement: an outdoor education area. This space, called Earthworks, is a one-acre natural learning landscape staffed by environmental educators and structured to build environmental awareness and responsibility while offering a valuable understanding of our regional ecosystem and critical issues such as water conservation.

Today, SFCM educators incorporate core fundamentals of how children learn in all aspects of the Museum including exhibit development, building design, family programming, and staff and volunteer training. It is also recognized that each child learns differently, and we intentionally develop relevant and meaningful educational experiences that engage a variety of learning styles and multiple intelligences. A primary goal at SFCM is for children to understand themselves as learners and to have successful learning experiences.

HISTORY
Incorporated in 1985, as this first Children’s Museum in New Mexico, SFCM is a nonprofit organization and public institution that was founded by four local educators who perceived a need for educational opportunities in Santa Fe that would be distinctly different from those provided at home or school. Convinced that experiential learning is a necessary complement to traditional education, the founders sought to create a dynamic, hands-on learning environment. In 1989, 2,000 people celebrated the opening of SFCM at its current location (1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe).