Our Town Lexington: Dawson County Children’s Museum

LEXINGTON, Neb. (KOLN) - The Children’s Museum in Lexington provides families with a wide variety of interactive learning centers housed in a renovated Pizza Hut building.

Pat Longly, who is the museum director, started giving programs at the library back in 2010. The programs expanded until she found a downtown Lexington building that housed the museum for four years before COVID brought changes.

Longly and her husband then purchased the old Pizza Hut building when it came up for sale. Her husband refurbished the entire building with a new roof, new ceiling lights and other improvements. The museum has operated in the current location for four years.

As you might imagine, the interactive centers at the museum are designed to engage children. The museum features dress-up areas, medical and school centers, and a grocery store. Children can use puzzles, visit a puppet center and play in a toddler area.

A transportation center includes a push-button area where children can pretend to be astronauts, put on masks and launch rockets. The museum also has a train table and cars for road races.

The museum changes its STEM table periodically. The current theme focuses on the Arctic with polar bears and penguins.

A fort area serves as what Longly calls a “magic treehouse fort” where children can climb up, go into the fort and slide down. Bean bags and books are placed underneath for reading. An outdoor center features a kayak where children can pretend to catch magnetic fish with poles. Tree critters move around as children relocate them.

The Lexington school system brings field trips to the museum, and people travel to the museum from other towns, such as Sumner or Eustis. The museum creates monthly posters and flyers explaining topics, dates and locations. Saturday programs include learning activities, stories and family-oriented activities. Longley said children are to come with grandparents or parents.

“Our idea is to have a spot for young families,” Longly said. “Little ones need to come and interact and have things that they wouldn’t normally have at home.”

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