The Detroit Children's Museum was built in 1917 but closed last year due to budget cuts at the Detroit Public School district. It reopened June 26. (www.michigan.org)

The Detroit Children's Museum, which was shuttered last year amid cost-cutting by the city's school district, has reopened.

The museum now has hands-on components incorporated into all exhibits, museum director Julie Johnson said.

Newly displayed items include the skull of an extinct mammal Andrewsarchus, masks and Civil War artifacts.

The cash-strapped Detroit Public School system used to run the museum, but closed it last August.

'It's been here since 1917. This is a very important part of Detroit.'—Julie Johnson, director

The Detroit Science Center now operates the museum under a 10-year agreement that is expected to save the state's largest district US$11.9 million.

The museum reopened June 26.

"We didn't lose this gem," Johnson said. "It's been here since 1917. This is a very important part of Detroit."

Dinosaurs to dolls featured in 93-year-old museum

The school district still owns the museum, which has more than 100,000 artifacts.

New acquisitions will belong to the Science Center, which has brought in some if its displays such as a towering model Tyrannosaurus rex.

"The Detroit Children's Museum was not a core part of our operations," Robert Bobb, the district's state-appointed emergency financial manager, said in statement.

"The museum needed to be given the stability of not being in the annual school budget cycle."

The 93-year-old museum houses dinosaur bones, dioramas, costumes and dolls from around the world.

It also has an extensive collection of rocks, fossils and crystals, some of which are being presented in new displays.

The new preschool area will include a puppet theatre and live turtles.

Some of the museum's mainstays remain, including a stuffed Bengal tiger named Champ in an expanded animal exhibit and the horse sculpture "Silverbolt" outside.

In the main exhibit hall, more than 500 items are on display -- about twice as many as a year ago, Johnson said.

In one display, a large doll house that sits behind glass is paired with another where children can play with dolls.

The museum mostly had been used for field trips, Johnson said.

Those will continue, with programs available for schools, daycare groups and community centres, but the Science Center also plans to promote the museum for family visits.