East Asian Rhythms Exhibit Opens at Great River Children’s Museum in St. Cloud

(KNSI) – The Great River Children’s Museum in St. Cloud has landed a traveling exhibit that brings the sounds of the Far East to central Minnesota.

East Asian Rhythms opens to the public Tuesday, September 29th, and runs through January 10th, 2027. It fills about 1,500 square feet in The Hatchery, the museum’s temporary gallery. The display features instruments from China, South Korea and Japan. Most of them are drums, but there are also sound bowls, bells, chimes and gongs.

Jake Judd/KNSI News

GRCM Chief Executive Officer Cassie Miles gave KNSI News a sneak peek and explained the hands-on setup does more than make noise. “A lot of kids are really fascinated by that idea of rhythm and sound and that cause and effect. If I swing this mallet, that drum is going to make a beat. And that makes me feel pretty powerful as a three-year-old, right? Like I can control this thing.”

She says not everything in the exhibit is about percussion. “There’s a K-pop stage in there. You know, you can stand in front of those pretend microphones and be on stage in front of the roaring crowd, right? Your imagination can go wild in that sort of exhibit.”

For anyone worried about the volume, the museum has headphones and earplugs on hand, and the earplugs are free to keep.

The traveling exhibit was created by the Minnesota Children’s Museum, which rents some of its exhibits to museums around the world. Miles says museums have to get in line to reserve one, and some have a long waiting list.

“They are quite costly. You can imagine the costs that go into building this sort of exhibit that can be set up and disassembled and traveled around. So shipping and assembly takes a lot of work and a lot of effort and a lot of donor dollars.”

The museum used grants and donations to bring East Asian Rhythms to St. Cloud. It’s the third exhibit to fill The Hatchery since the museum opened in June 2025.

Looking ahead, the museum has a new Cozy Kitchen afternoon series starting Friday, sensory programs for Sensory Awareness Month in October, Halloween activities, and its annual New Year’s Eve bash.

Fall field trips are open for booking. Grant funding and a fall discount bring the cost down to between $3 and $8 per student, and chaperones get in free. Schools can find details, and the public can get more information on upcoming events by clicking here.

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