More than two years in, the marriage of Tohono Chul Park and Children’s Museum Oro Valley is a match made in…the Sonoran Desert’s special magic, leaders of both organizations agree.
Families with young children have discovered the 49-acre desert corner at Ina and Paseo del Norte in Oro Valley. They are having “a unique experience these kids aren’t going to get anywhere else,” said Hilary Van Alsburg, executive director of Children’s Museum Tucson/Oro Valley.
Jamie Maslyn Larson, president and CEO of Tohono Chul Park, hopes children and parents all grow to love the park, the desert and the planet. “If we have a big impact on these kids’ lives, hopefully, they become stewards of nature,” she said.
While the union was “a leap for both of us,” Van Alsburg now describes it as “a great collaboration…This is a shining example of how big partnership works successfully. It’s been amazing.”
Maslyn Larson calls the Children’s Museum presence “transformational” for the park she’s led for more than three years.
It “shook up the idea of who Tohono Chul is for,” she said.
Namely, the 40-year-old park is for everyone. That was the vision of Tohono Chul founders Richard and Jean Wilson, who “raised their kids here,” and invited their young friends to “run wild on the desert,” Maslyn Larson said. “They wanted people to come. This is not a nature preserve; it is a public space.”
Yet “the traditional demographic of a garden…generally skews older,” said Danielle Sombati, director of guest experience at Tohono Chul. Adults are drawn to Tohono Chul’s natural desert beauty, trails, quiet places, galleries, shops, the Garden Bistro, the greenhouse…all the things that prompted Travel + Leisure magazine to name it one of the world’s 10 best botanical gardens.
When Maslyn Larson arrived at Tohono Chul in 2022, “it shocked me how few children were here. We had no space for kids,” no place where families could “be together, safely.”
Her office is near the original children’s garden at Tohono Chul, which had a “fantastic” water feature, but lacked amenities. Through an open window, Maslyn Larson overheard a man call it “the worst children’s garden I’ve ever seen.”
Soon thereafter, Van Alsburg called, exploring the possibility of a move.
“They’re increasing our rent,” at CMOV’s longtime Oracle Road location, Van Alsburg told Maslyn Larson.
“We need more younger families,” Maslyn Larson told Van Alsburg. Yet, she thought, “We absolutely have no room.”
Then, after a visit to the Children’s Museum, Maslyn Larson and staff took a closer look at their own facilities. They decided a classroom off Northern Avenue, on the park’s east side, could meet the museum’s need for inside space. Outside space? Tohono Chul has acres of it, with trails and places to discover. And its east side had shady, structured spaces easily convertible to thematic play.
The colocation “seemed within striking distance for us to make improvements here, quickly, bringing children in here,” Maslyn Larson said.
“I think that could work,” she told Van Alsburg.
It took several months to “get it all launched,” Maslyn Larson recalled. Takeoff was Jan. 2, 2023. Full flight was immediate.
The previous January, Tohono Chul counted 120 children on its grounds. In January 2023, the number of kids went up 10-fold, to 1,200.
“I think there was an expectation” of that, Van Alsburg said. “It was very intentional.”
In its first year at Tohono Chul, 37,000 adults and children came to the Children’s Museum. Counts have been above or near 30,000 guests each of the last two years, comparable to annual totals at CMOV on Oracle Road, Van Alsburg said.
“It would have taken me three years or more to build up that kind of programming,” Maslyn Larson said. Children’s Museum Oro Valley was “plug and play.” And play. And play.
Spaces in which to grow
At its previous location, Children’s Museum Oro Valley had 3,000 square feet of inside space, and 600 square feet outside. At Tohono Chul, it operates within 600 square feet inside, 5,000 square feet of child-centered space outside…and a desert garden at its doorstep.
“We’ve been able to shift the focus to nature play,” moving from “significantly indoor” space to the openness of Tohono Chul and the “beautiful, special” Sonoran Desert, Van Alsburg said. Children’s Museum Oro Valley has expanded its demographics beyond the youngest kids. “We have experiences for all ages.”
“There are so many ways kids benefit from access to nature,” Maslyn Larson said. “That’s fundamentally what drives me.”
“Multi-generational communities are essential to human experience,” said Sombati, who came to Tohono Chul as a child, and loves seeing families at play today. “All walks of life, all ages, come together and experience something. It’s really beautiful to see.”
Maslyn Larson wants all kids to “understand and fall in love with and appreciate nature. It’s not a ‘one and done’ thing. You need to have contact with nature, and a lot of dosage.”
“Let’s highlight the joy for kids,” Van Alsburg said. “You get to grow up in this amazing location. And teaching kids, ‘you get to have this. Take care of it.’”
The Children’s Museum move to Tohono Chul “has proven that when we welcome people in with the right formula, the community will respond,” Maslyn Larson said. “It isn’t enough for us to have gardens. We need programming and intentional experiences for families.”
“We’re excited to see how we grow,” Van Alsburg said.
This article appears in Jul 24-31, 2025.