Caretakers of Wonder is a network of cultural organizations working on climate change issues, impacts, and adaptations facing museums and the young children we serve.
The project is led by Madison Children's Museum in partnership with Environment & Culture Partners, the Association of Children's Museums, Verdis Group, and seven museums in the collaborative.
The Climate Action Playbook will be posted here this spring. We’ll send an email when it’s ready. If you aren’t on our email list yet, sign up below.
The Climate Action Playbook is a resource for museum professionals to communicate with and provide programs to support children eight and under—and the adults who love them—in building compassion, climate knowledge, agency, and hope for a bright climate future.
A toolkit website, hosted here, will provide further resources for museums wanting to address climate change and become more sustainable in their work and facilities.
Caretakers of Wonder is funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Climate Smart grant.
The project was launched in 2022 with a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services MG 252083-OMS-22. Nine museums participated in the project’s first two years.
Virtual Summit Recording
View any and all sessions on the Madison Children’s Museum YouTube channel. This free, online event hosted in July, 2024, featured experts in climate education, early childhood psychology, museum leadership, and equity. Learn about how museums can help foster resilient, caring, and hopeful young children in the age of climate change. Learn more…
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Get notices when new resources are posted and stay up to date with the project.
Contact Us
Send questions to caretakersofwonder@madisonchildrensmuseum.org.
More About Caretakers of Wonder
The changing climate is putting children’s physical and mental health at risk. There are resources available to help older children cope, but there is little available to help younger children and their caregivers. That is why the Caretakers of Wonder project was created.
Caretakers of Wonder is a national project that connects young children to nature, fosters empathy, and instills a sense of agency. Those are resiliencies kids need now to thrive in the world—and later to change it. The project, through work with partner museums, supports caretakers to help children grow and be healthy. And parents learn how they can take and model action in this global crisis—in straightforward and hopeful ways.
The project collaborates with experts in climate education, communication, early childhood psychology, climate action, and emissions reduction.
The institutions on the project are also modeling solutions by reducing their carbon footprint.
This project is led by Madison Children's Museum in partnership with the Association of Children's Museums, Environment + Culture Partners, expert advisors, and partner institutions.
Current partner institutions are the Association of Children’s Museums, Chicago Children’s Museum (Chicago, IL), Children’s Museum of Southern Oregon (Medford, OR), Louisiana Children’s Museum (New Orleans, LA), Madison Children’s Museum (Madison, WI), Museum of Discovery & Science (Fort Lauderdale, FL), and The Wild Center (Tupper Lake, NY).
The Discovery Museum (Acton, MA) and the National Children’s Museum (Washington, DC) partnered with the project previously.
The consortium has hired environmental consulting firm Verdis Group to conduct individual assessments of each organization’s greenhouse gas emissions and more. Assessments will help individual museums move their sustainability work forward by providing baseline energy audits in all areas of operations—from food service, to lighting, to air travel. The Caretakers of Wonder Toolkit will provide an outlet to share this work broadly, helping to spark climate action planning across the larger museum field.
