I miss (the concept and experience of) Exploris and think it would be beneficial for Marbles to re-adapt aspects of the interactive cultural exhibits that I remember. I think that would help with expanding “aged up” attractions and maintain the mental engagement for older kids and visiting adults… if they are ever able to ‘expand’ somehow.
Exploris was such a unique place and I’m still salty about the loss of such an experience that hasn’t quite been replicated anywhere else in the area (that I’m aware of) since the rebranding. Idk if I’m adequately recalling or if it’s because I was getting older myself, but I remember most of the exhibits at Exploris feeling much more “grown up” and appealing to a wider age range of kids/young adolescents. I know the rebrand was supposed to appeal to a younger age group, but I was around 12 when it happened and recall feeling very annoyed and turned off to what then felt like a “dumbing down” of the museum. I genuinely loved Exploris from an anthropology/humanities-centric POV and wish today’s kids could enjoy that same, if not better, experience. The Museum of History isn’t in the same vein and a school classroom doesn’t cut it.
Perhaps not at the current Marbles site, but I definitely believe older kids/ pre-teens (like 9 - 13/15) could use an age-appropriate interactive museum experience of their own without being surrounded by snot and screaming children.
And if such an attraction were preferably located somewhere downtown, that’d just be another cool texture adding to the cultural fabric of the city. 