Church History Museum launches ‘A Firm Foundation’ children’s exhibit
Mar 20, 2026, 10:39 AM | Updated: 12:04 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — The latest exhibit at the Church History Museum lets kids connect to the history and future of the Salt Lake Temple through multiple interactive activities.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said the exhibit was given the title of “A Firm Foundation.” The church’s General Primary President Sister Susan H. Porter called the exhibit “a place of joy.”
She said, “There are two parts. One helps them see what it must have been like to build the temple back in the day of oxen and pulling and then they get to see what it’s like now to strengthen the temple with our rebar and our modern equipment, so they can actually have those experiences.”
The exhibit’s curator, Tiffany Bowles, said they’ve been working on this new exhibit for about four years.
“We plan for this to be here through the entire open house, probably all the way through 2027 until the temple is rededicated,” she said. “We don’t quite know when that’ll be yet. So, but this exhibit will be here until then.”
Bowles said kids will be able to interact with the exhibit in several different ways.
“We’ve got a(n) ox yoke photo up here so they can take a picture in the ox yoke. We tried to have all sorts of senses engaged in the exhibit,” she said. “So we’ve got things that kids can build. They can build arches. They can build temple spires. We’ve got a train table they can play with.”
New children’s exhibit at the Church History Museum. (Don Brinkerhoff, KSL)
“And then, probably our most interactive element is we have a construction area where kids can move foam stones with a crane and they can also move the stones in and out of some tunnels that we have built.”
New children’s exhibit at the Church History Museum. (Don Brinkerhoff, KSL)
“And again, all of this is just to reinforce that idea that buildings need strong foundations and we likewise need strong spiritual foundations as well,” Bowles continued.
She said David Jungheim is the creator of the LEGO temple.
“He spent nine years building it and it uses over 35,000 LEGO bricks, so it’s quite a masterpiece.”
New children’s exhibit at the Church History Museum. (Don Brinkerhoff, KSL)
Church Museum Director Riley Lorimer said they wanted an interactive exhibit to make it easier for kids to learn about the Salt Lake Temple and to engage all of their senses.
“Children don’t learn as well from just sitting and looking or sitting and reading. They want to move their bodies. They want to interact. And that’s what we’ve created here,” Lorimer said. “We’ve created an opportunity for kids to interact with real history and do activities that help them learn about the history of the temple and learn about the importance of building their foundation on Jesus Christ.”
New children’s exhibit at the Church History Museum. (Don Brinkerhoff, KSL)
“I think it’s an amazing thing to see the original artistry on that trumpet and we’ve displayed it down real low so that kids can get right up to it and see it and feel a connection to the people of the past,” she said.
Lorimer said they originally planned to put the original trumpet back on the statue, but that didn’t work out in the end.
“The trumpet has become a part of the permanent collection of the Church History Museum, an important part of our history and Maroni has a new trumpet on top of the temple,” she said.
New children’s exhibit at the Church History Museum. (Don Brinkerhoff, KSL)
There is no cost to view the exhibits at the Church History Museum.
“More than half of our visitors at the museum come in family groups. It’s so important for us to have both dedicated space for children in this exhibition and also other activities for children in all of the other exhibitions,” Lorimer said.
