Children’s Museum offers stimulation and fun for children of all ages
5th March 2012 · 0 Comments
By Mary LaCoste
Contributing Writer
The New Orleans Children’s Museum is a great place to take young people, particularly on March 18 or any of the other third Sundays of the month. That is when families can get in for free. A grant from Target stores pays for the admissions. Inside: Fun and —don’t tell the kids— great opportunities to learn. There, young and old will find out about architecture, New Orleans culture, economics and a host of facts about engineering, perception and how to make a really huge bubble.
Older kids need to take advantage of what the museum has to offer. They sometimes feel they have “been there, done that,” remembering field trips when they were younger. Going through with 20 classmates is not the same as going with a family. When children are older, particularly if they are with a grown up, they can see the museum in a totally different way.
Ms. Simonne Robinson, managing director of the museum, says going with an adult “allows for quality experiences not possible with a class. These shared experiences are quality time that can continue at home.” Adults often admit they had a good time and learned something themselves.
Young and old like the exhibit that greets them near the door where an eerie voice invites them to stand on footprints and be told how tall they are. The voice will scold if they cheat and stand on their toes. Nearby, a skeleton on a stationary bicycle will pedal as fast as a young person seated on a companion bike! Nearby is a rock-climbing wall (not high enough to be dangerous) and a huge glass ball which, when touched, seems to produce lightning.
Old and younger children also like to test their strength on rope and pulley devices. There are hula hoops to try and tabletop trains that children can push along a complicated system of wooden tracks. There is a bubble area, gears to move, fun house mirrors and much more.
That is just the first floor. A ride up the glass elevator goes to a magical area where there is a grocery store for pretend shopping and the cashiers are other children. The café has realistic plastic food where children can pretend to be waiters, customers or cooks. Child sized houses, true to New Orleans housing styles, invite imagination play. Grownups can participate as long as they bend low to enter the tiny doors. A miniature Jackson Square is a place where grandmothers love to take pictures.
Future engineers can try building with large units they can assemble and try to solve construction problems with other children. They can play on tables of block and face the challenge of how high a tower they can make. Kids may want to try being weatherpersons on closed circuit TV. Nearby, teen volunteers may be able to lend a hand.
Transportation is important in New Orleans. To underscore that fact is the front of a St. Charles streetcar for children to climb on and pretend to operate. Nearby is a ship to be loaded and unloaded with cargo and some neat mathematical skills to absorb.
There are exhibits that encourage health and safety not far from a Cajun cabin. Some will try out a wheelchair or don a costume. Exhibits change or move around from time to time. Guided by input from families, teachers and volunteers, revisions are made.
Ms. Robinson advises adults to stay off their cell phones and focus on interacting with the children in their group. This time is of great value. She reminds teachers scheduling field trips to ask about lesson plan help from staff members.
The museum offers art activities and special events. There is a website, www.lcm.org, that gives good information like the $8 admission costs and any changes to the regular hours of 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and noon to 4:30 p.m. on Sundays. Costs for birthday parties and group rates are available. The telephone number is (504) 523-1357.
The best bargains are family memberships. Two family visits can cost as much as a membership that allows for any number of no-cost visits for a year. Grandparent plans are popular and include admission for grandchildren. Extra benefits are gift shop discounts and newsletters about events.
The biggest bargain is the wonderful time children can have exploring the New Orleans Children’s Museum where young and old will enjoy experiences that grow imaginations, minds and spirits.
This article was originally published in the March 5, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper
