A Mother’s Day Reflection on Wonder, Play, and Community

Mother’s Day is a chance to celebrate the women who help shape a child’s earliest view of the world. Mothers, grandmothers, and caregivers often become a child’s first teachers, showing them how to explore, imagine, and find joy in everyday moments. 

At WonderTrek Children’s Museum, that same spirit is building a place where children and families in the Brainerd Lakes Area can learn through play for generations to come.

For Shannon Wheeler, that mission feels deeply personal. A WonderTrek board member since 2018 and an early childhood educator, she’s spent years advocating for children and the importance of preserving play in childhood. As a mother of four children between the ages of 2 and 11, she describes motherhood as “her most challenging and joyful job.” Through her work with WonderTrek, she has helped create the initiative’s foundation by working with consultants and the local team on exhibit designs, WonderTrek’s approach to learning through play and exploration, and the overall framework that will guide the organization into the future. 

Beyond the planning, she keeps returning to one idea: children need more opportunities for joy, exploration, and unstructured play.  Seeing the vision of WonderTrek start to become reality has filled her with hope, while also reminding her that community support is still needed to bring the full project to life.

Raya Newbold at WonderTrek Site Visit

That same belief in childhood wonder resonates with Raya Newbold. As a mother of nine, she understands how quickly childhood passes and how important meaningful spaces can be. After losing her daughter at a young age, her family created a community trust to support local projects that make a difference, including WonderTrek. Through her work with JustServe, she also helps connect volunteers to opportunities that move the project forward. Raya believes children cannot learn to value the outdoors without first having places that invite them into it. She sees something sacred in the way children notice details adults often overlook, finding beauty in what others might call ordinary.

For Ginger Augustinack, supporting WonderTrek is rooted in both family and community. Coming from three generations of educators in the Brainerd Lakes Area, she immediately recognized the value of a space that encourages learning through play. Her first donation, an engraved paver that reads “Grandma Ginger’s grandkids,” felt tangible, meaningful, and financially accessible. Living just a short bike ride away, she looks forward to one day visiting with family and watching her grandchildren experience a place that is about more than play, in Ginger’s words: “it is about discovering the world.”

This Mother’s Day, the stories of these women remind us that creating spaces for children is also a way of caring for a community. Through their love, vision, and generosity, WonderTrek is becoming more than a museum. It is becoming a place where wonder will grow.