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Sunday, March 1, 2009

Please Touch Museum


Today was mostly about the girls again. I went to church twice this morning. Once early with Marie, and then we both went to her son's church after that. The pastor did a nice show and tell time with the kids afterwards, burning last year's palm fronds and grinding the ashes to show how they are made for Ash Wednesday.



After lunch we headed for the Please Touch Museum at Fairmont Park, in a former World's Fair building. It's just wonderful for kids, and we took lots of pictures, but I'll just show a couple that don't make the girls too recognizable since they are not mine.



There were all kinds of play spaces that were all tied to learning something. Here are A and M in the hall of mirrors. There was a place to tinker with vehicles, a water feature with toy boats, a place to build foam aircraft and see if they would fly, a room with kid-powered machines, a jungle room to make music, a big carousel, and more.



This picture is for my friend Ratty at The Everyday Adventurer. One whole section of the museum is based on Alice in Wonderland. He sometimes takes Alice on his adventures. Since this has always been one of my favorite stories, I couldn't help but think of him as we passed the Cheshire Cat, painted the rose bushes, or played croquet with a flamingo and hedgehog.

The day ended with fancy big-city pizzas (meaning unusual toppings and various cheeses- not just a ton of pepperoni and mozarella), and bedtime for two very tired little girls.



I will end with a picture for the grownups. These are some of the statues associated with the Please Touch Museum. It is simply a gorgeous building in its own right that had been empty for several years. It's great to see it put to such a wonderful new use.

5 comments:

Rick (Ratty) said...

This looks like a wonderful place! I can imagine that grownups would like it as much as the kids do. This is the kind of thing I wish they had in every city. I'll have to make sure I show this one to Alice , since I'll be seeing her in a few days. You must have had a great time!

Sharkbytes (TM) said...

Hi Ratty-
The girls were completely entertained for several hours and it was hard to get them to leave even with the knowledge that they will be able to come back again. And all of the exhibits, except maybe the carousel are learning experiences, not just entertainment.

Anonymous said...

The museum is fascinating. It's nice to have a hands-on place for the kids. They learn and appreciate so much more that way. Disney actually captured the Cheshire Cat quite well, didn't he?

Anonymous said...

This is rely cool Sharkbytes ! Ratty and Mother Goose told me you wrote about the museum in a post.

Sharkbytes said...

Hi Mother Goose and Alice! I'm really pleased to have you stop by. Alice, I thought of you all through the exhibit. The art was all based on the original drawings from the book. You could see Alice falling down the rabbit hole, play croquet with a flamingo and a hedgehog (well, ok, they weren't alive in the museum), you could have tea with the mad hatter and the doormouse, and more. My little friends from Philly are 6 and 4. I don't know how old you are, but I know you would have liked it.