FAQ

Project exploration, schematic design, and fundraising are happening now. 

If things go as planned, Omaha Children’s Museum would continue to operate its current location at 20th Street and St. Mary’s Avenue and move to its new home at The RiverFront in late 2027.

Omaha Children’s Museum has a nearly 50-year legacy of nurturing growth and development in young children — much of it from a nearly 80-year-old building that was originally a car dealership. This project would create a dynamic, purpose-built children’s museum with spaces inspired by our community, informed by some of the state’s leading experts on early child development.

The project would allow the museum to further enhance its accessibility and affordability efforts through intentional and inclusive building and experience design, operations, and community partnerships.

Omaha Children’s Museum is partnering with project champions Susan and Mike Lebens and local nonprofit Heritage Omaha to explore the project. Heritage Omaha has a history of developing impactful philanthropic projects designed to enrich the Omaha community, including Omaha Public Library’s new Central Library and the Kiewit Luminarium. Heritage Omaha will facilitate fundraising and the building project in partnership with Omaha Children’s Museum.

Nebraska is a vibrant early childhood development research hub. This project brings together Omaha Children’s Museum with Nebraska’s early childhood experts, including representatives from the Buffett Early Childhood Institute and Munroe-Meyer Institute, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Nebraska Extension, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha Public Schools, Buffett Early Childhood Fund, and other museums, all partnering to inform extraordinary experiences shaped by best practices in early child development.

Omaha Children’s Museum has engaged internationally-renowned architecture design firm Snøhetta and local partners Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture. Award-winning exhibit design and fabrication firm Roto is working on the exhibits. For a full list of project partners, visit the Partners page.

The proposed location is 8th and Douglas streets along Omaha's Heartland of America Park at The RiverFront, near the Skate Ribbon and a short walk to Kiewit Luminarium. 

Other plans near the site include an adjacent City of Omaha parking garage and a NuStyle Development residential complex.

The new museum would offer inclusive exhibits and programming that spark joy, curiosity, and connection, intentionally designed for young children and their caregivers of varied physical and intellectual abilities, developmental stages, and cultural backgrounds.

It would also feel uniquely ‘Omaha’, honoring the Omaha Children’s Museum’s nearly 50-year legacy and featuring nods to Omaha’s neighborhoods, Nebraska’s landscape and wildlife, and community life and art.

See our Engage page for information about how you can share your ideas.

Exhibit planning for the new Omaha Children’s Museum is underway. If you have ideas on what you’d like to see in the new space or new ideas to share, let us know by filling out a community survey.

The potential new location at 8th and Douglas streets in downtown Omaha is accessible to pedestrians and close to public transportation, including an ORBT bus stop and a planned 8th Street Omaha Streetcar stop. Site plans for the new location also include an adjacent City of Omaha public parking garage to complement existing public parking options.

As planned, Omaha Children’s Museum would continue to operate its current location at 20th Street and St. Mary’s Avenue throughout the fundraising for and construction of its new space, transitioning to its new home at The RiverFront in late 2027.

Omaha Children’s Museum began in 1976 when a group of Omahans excited about starting an educational program for area children filled a station wagon with art supplies and traveled to area events. While the museum eventually found a more permanent home, the station wagon pictured in the plans for the new museum is a nod to Omaha Children’s Museum’s humble beginnings. You can read more about the history of Omaha Children’s Museum here.