Mesa natural history museum gets $10K grant to increase accessibility

PHOENIX – The Phoenix area’s only natural history museum will become accessible to a wider range of young dinosaur lovers thanks to a grant from the charity arm of the Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament.

The Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa announced Monday it will use a $10,000 award from Thunderbirds Charities to modify its Exploration Station.

The changes will make the hands-on activity room for children ages 6 and under more accessible to vision- and hearing-impaired visitors and low-proficiency English language readers.

The Exploration Station features activities and books about paleontology designed to encourage play, inquiry, creativity and family interactions, according to the museum’s website.

It includes a fossil lab and an exhibit where kids can create their own dinosaurs.

The Exploration Station is open during regular museum hours, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. Sundays.

The Arizona Museum of Natural History, which opened in 1977, is located in downtown Mesa at 53 N. Macdonald.

It’s an autism-certified museum with quiet areas and gallery sensory guides posted throughout the facility and online.

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