BEAVER FALLS, Pa. (KDKA) – After nearly a decade of success, a children’s pop-up museum in Beaver Falls is ready to expand and a local mother is leading the charge.

Christine Kroger is a mother of three boys and is working to give them and other children a new place to learn and play in Beaver Falls. She is also the founder and executive director of Neighborhood North.

“There just weren’t enough places,” she said. “A lack of resources in Beaver County, particularly Beaver Falls, for play-based learning, the arts and family engagement.”

The Beaver Falls School District established the Museum of Play through a grant in 2015 and offers summer camps, after-school programs and hands-on activities.

“You can paint, do crafts or things like that, or work with 3D printers and laser cutters,” Kroger said. “We also have a market where children can pretend play – do imaginative play. We have a climber, a sky tunnel, a theater room, a bouldering room, and we also have an outdoor area with an exhibition of pollinator garden outside.”

The pop-up museum is popular with many families and Kroger and his team now want to expand it.

“Evidence shows that children’s museums are excellent economic drivers of revitalization,” Kroger said. “We have had very positive reactions from families in our community. Every year we have received more and more visitors. At first we had 7,500 people, until last year we had up to 9,500 people.”

The new North Ward location will be located down the street – an 18,000-square-foot facility in the News Tribune building on Seventh Avenue.

They are trying to raise $10 million by 2026 to achieve this.

Kroger said it has already raised $2 million and hopes to open this new space for young children and teens in 2028.