Mid-Missouri Children's Museum is now open!

Not to be confused with the not fun and uber-lame youzeum....

Inside the unassuming two-story house — east of Columbia near the Route Z exit on Interstate 70 — is a colorful, multi-themed exhibit that more closely resembles a giant playhouse than an actual museum. But that’s not to say it isn’t educational.

Each room offers a different way to learn through imaginative play. In one room, children can don a doctor’s outfit and learn about human anatomy. In another is a pretend grocery store. The art room fosters creativity through finger-painting, and a brainstorming room is filled with puzzles, blocks and other constructive toys.

Wilshire said she was inspired after visiting the Mountain Top Children’s Museum in Breckenridge, Colo.

“I thought, ‘I wish I had something like that to take my son to,’ ” she said.

Carefully scoping out the market, Wilshire traveled to nearly two dozen children’s museums across the country, including The Children’s Museum of Richmond in Virginia, Imagine It! in Atlanta, and Wonderscope in Shawnee, Kan. And she took an adviser along for input — her 5-year-old son, Hunter.

Mid-Missouri Children's Museum link.

Columbia daily Tribune story link.