News

Marbles Kids Museum presents its annual Kickoff to Kindergarten with two events to celebrate the major milestone of starting school with purposeful play and practice to prepare children for the first day of school. Kickoff to Kindergarten will be held on Saturday, August 17 from 9am-5pm for traditional calendar students. New this year, rising year-round kindergarteners can attend a special Kickoff to Kindergarten on Friday, June 6 from 5-8pm.

This summer, Pogo, a creative and vibrant eatery with a focus on fresh, local and healthy options, will be a welcome addition to the Marbles Kids Museum campus and the flourishing downtown Raleigh restaurant scene. Pogo will replace Roly Poly in the Wells Fargo IMAX® Theatre building at Marbles. The current space will be transformed into a comfortable, contemporary lunch and dinner destination for museum guests, IMAX movie-goers and downtown diners.

Broadway Series South in collaboration with Casa Mañana of Fort Worth, TX announced today an exciting new theatre series, Storybook Theater. The four shows feature a professional cast of Equity actors in shows staged specifically for children and families. Proceeds from Storybook Theater benefit Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The 2013 inaugural season showcases four popular children's tales; beginning in March with Rapunzel! A Very Hairy Fairy Tale; and continuing throughout the year with Disney's Winnie the Pooh, Kids; Dora the Explorer, Live! Dora's Pirate Adventure; and Frosty the Snowman.

Marbles Kids Museum announced today that it received a grant from the National Inclusion Project as part of a new partnership to offer a comprehensive inclusive experience to meet the needs of all visitors by introducing access kits for guests with disabilities and providing nationally-recognized inclusion training for Marbles staff. Marbles provides playful, meaningful learning experiences for all children, and this partnership with the National Inclusion Project will enable the museum to build on the success of its first five years, making an even stronger impact on the entire community.

The 2nd Annual Marbles BIG IDEA Forum will feature Red Hat President and CEO Jim Whitehurst. The dynamic lunchtime event to be held on Wednesday, October 3, will bring together 300 corporate and community leaders for a peek inside the minds of Whitehurst and thought-provoking business author and executive coach Ron Wilder.

Through the power of IMAX ®3D, audiences will be transported to one of the most remote and spectacularly beautiful places in the world and experience an emotional story of love, family and hope, when the documentary adventure To The Arctic 3D comes to Marbles IMAX on April 20.

“To The Arctic” opens at the Wells Fargo IMAX Theatre at Marbles on April 20 with a pre-release party featuring producer Shaun MacGillivray on Wednesday, April 18, 5:00-8:30pm. Join Wake County educators, dignitaries, special guests and students from Bugg Elementary School for real snow, hands-on educational activities, goodies and giveaways. In addition, children’s book author Katie MacGillivray will read excerpts from her companion book, The Adventures of Charlie Mac.

Marbles Kids Museum is a winner of the Triangle Business Journal 2011 Healthiest Employer Awards. The awards recognize companies that make wellness a reality for their employees and bottom lines.  Marbles and other honorees were recognized at an awards luncheon on Thursday, December 8, 2011, at the Crabtree Marriott Hotel. 

Marbles Kids Museum has created a new exhibit to encourage children and families to be more physically active and make healthier choices. Opening Friday, November 11, the new “Power2Play” exhibit will feature the kid-favorite Center Ice synthetic hockey rink with a new announcer’s booth and mini-jumbotron; Center Court with a supersized basketball net and different heights of hoops; soccer play area; healthy kitchen; dance studio for our young tumblers; Power2Play gym promoting fitness fun; and a safe play zone for small sports sluggers.

Marbles Kids Museum has partnered with Time Warner Cable and its Connect A Million Minds initiative to offer the Forces of Nature IMAX Learning Lab to student groups from across North Carolina.

North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue will help launch the inaugural Marbles Big Idea Forum on Wednesday, October 5, speaking on how innovative leadership in business, non-profit and community service is shaping our state.

On Saturday, August 20, Marbles Kids Museum presents the 8th annual Kickoff to Kindergarten to celebrate the major milestone of starting school with purposeful play and practice to prepare children for the first day of school.

Marbles Kids Museum named David Fountain of Progress Energy as Chairman of the board of directors for 2011-2012. Other officers include: Kyle Prairie of the Carolina Hurricanes, Vice Chair; Amy Hutchinson of WakeMed, Secretary; Doug Driver of Wells Fargo, Treasurer and Finance Chair; Shawn Winstead, Community Affairs Chair; Blount Williams of Alfred Williams & Company, Development Chair; Patti Bartis of Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, LLP, Personnel Chair; and Molly Sapienza of RBC Bank, Immediate Past Chair.

Raleigh, N.C. (April 18, 2011) — Marbles Kids Museum is planting a 22-foot tall giant flower that's powered by the sun. POWER FLOWER, a new solar exhibit sponsored by Progress Energy, will open in the Museum’s Castaway Cove Kids Garden on Earth Day, Friday, April 22. Kids experiment with the flower to see how solar energy makes its petals move. Marbles worked with ClearScapes to design POWER FLOWER in partnership with Southern Energy Management, who provided the solar design, engineering and installation. All of the partnering companies are based in the Triangle. 

Banfield Pet Hospital® is partnering with Marbles Kids Museum to create an exhibit celebrating the health and wellness of pets. Opening Saturday, March 19, the new pet hospital will feature exam tables, kennels and real veterinary tools. In the exhibit, children and their parents will be able to check vital signs of pets (stuffed animals), review X-rays, dress up in doctor coats and even take their four-legged friends on a walk in the museum.

The Wachovia IMAX Theatre at Marbles will celebrate its grand reopening on Tuesday, February 1 with a special screening of Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D at 6:30pm. A troupe of traditional Tahitian fire dancers will entertain invited guests before the film which features 10-time surf champion Kelly Slater. Festivities begin at 5:30pm, and movie buffs are invited to stay for a 7:30pm screening of Hubble 3D.

The Wachovia IMAX Theatre at Marbles will close January 10 for upgrades and will reopen in early February with enhanced audio, a new state-of-the-art IMAX projection system, new carpet and more comfortable seating.

Marbles Kids Museum and the North Carolina Symphony announced today a brand-new collaboration to put the magic and creativity of music right into the hands of Triangle-area children. Held at the museum and hosted by North Carolina Symphony musicians and staff members as part of its NCS Kids program, Music Makers is a family-friendly exploration of music and performance that will be held one Saturday a month.

Marbles Kids Museum was awarded Best Educational Program and the annual Big Idea award for its educational IMAX Learning Lab program by the Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) at the 2010 GSCA Achievement Awards in Chattanooga, TN. The Achievement Awards honor the best practices of the year for giant-screen theaters worldwide. The Big Idea award is given in recognition of an exceptional single idea, campaign or element.

Marbles Kids Museum kicks off the summer with Family Fun Night on Thursday, June 10 from 5:30pm to 8:00pm at the museum in downtown Raleigh. Family Fun Night, held quarterly and sponsored by Kerr Cares for Kids Foundation, provides an evening of play and learning entirely for children 10 and under with special needs and their families. This after-hours event allows these children to experience Marbles in a calmer, less crowded environment. Museum exhibits offer opportunities to enhance language development and social skills through purposeful play. Programs and activities are provided by Voices Together Singers, The Miracle League, Cat5 Canes and the Museum of Natural Sciences.

Grown-ups gathered on Saturday, June 5, for the Marbles Superheroes Ball. The gala, benefiting the Imagination Fund at Marbles Kids Museum and emceed by John Forslund, play-by-play announcer for the Carolina Hurricanes, celebrates two local superheroes for their contributions to kids in our community. The inaugural Superheroes for Kids are Laura Aiken, Director of Advocates for Health in Action, and Danny Rosin, President and co-founder of Band Together.

Everyone wanted to be a superhero when they were a kid and now Marbles Kids Museum is providing that chance with the Superheroes Ball on Saturday, June 5. Grown-ups unite for an epic evening that will have guests dancing to live music, enjoying cocktails and dinner, and celebrating two local Superheroes for their contributions to kids and the community. A live auction will feature high-end items from the Angus Barn, Blue Water Spa, Gallery C and The Umstead Hotel and Spa in addition to exclusive, private parties at Marbles Kids Museum and the IMAX Theatre. Party-goers can also buy a chance to sparkle from Bailey’s Fine Jewelry.

Five teams of local architects, designers and engineers took over Marbles Kids Museum on Saturday to create structures built for feeding, not housing. Instead of bricks, the teams used cans of food for Canstruction 2010, a national competition established by the Society for Design Administration. Making its 11th appearance in Raleigh at Marbles Kids Museum, Canstruction 2010, benefiting the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, opens today and runs through February 14. This year’s local theme is “Cartoon Heroes”, encouraging teams to display the can-do spirit of familiar do-gooders of the cartoon world.