After all, kids do what they want to do. However, it appears that when they see the brush next to the lion’s head, they know what to do with it, and so they automatically pick up the brush and comb through the lion’s mane. One of the problems with interactive children’s museums is that children do not always know what to do at the various stations. Parents try to help, but mostly, the kids just want to throw blocks around. It seems like such a simple concept, and yet, perhaps in a children’s museum, simple is best. On this particular day, the most popular attraction is surprising - brushing the lion’s mane. Their children just watch.įor adults, the highlight of the exhibit is the replica of Dorothy’s ruby red slippers. Parents enthusiastically point to the slippers, but their kids just want to throw more blocks around.Īt other displays, children can dress the munchkins with removable, magnetic pieces of clothing, enter a dark tunnel to prove they have the lion’s courage and dress the scarecrow with scraps of felt. The parents discover that these crown pieces belong to the Glinda the Good Witch display, and they stack them to make a very tall, layered crown. In the center of the exhibit is a yellow brick road, or rather, a yellow brick circle. Large rainbow-colored plush blocks lie scattered on the circle, along with arbitrary pieces of white, jeweled crowns. Kids press buttons to hear lambs, chicks, cows and pigs make sounds, and they pet skin patches to discover which animal belongs to which skin. There is a cow outside of Dorothy’s house that, although plugged in, does not appear to do anything, and no one touches it. When children spin the wheels, the wall spins too, and the sideways floor only adds to the whole tornado effect. Next, children (and adults if they duck) enter Dorothy’s house, where they experience a tornado. The exhibit moves clockwise in accordance with the movie plot.įirst, visitors are transplanted to Kansas, where children can “harvest” crops. A supply of wicker baskets and fake corn, potatoes, tomatoes and bell peppers are ripe for the playing. The signage and maps direct families to the Wizard of Oz Children’s Educational Exhibition, which is clearly the highlight of the museum experience. Produced by the Miami Children’s Museum, this exhibit celebrates the 70th Anniversary of the beloved musical about the farm girl from Kansas who defeated the Wicked Witch of the West with a scarecrow, a Tin Man and a Cowardly Lion. Upon entering the Harvey Meyerhoff Gallery, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” faintly plays above the shrills of children having fun and parents’ exclamations of “Smile for the picture!” They will send you to the security desk to prove you are not a pedophile, and then you will wait in the line. Again. In this line, museum patrons try to keep their kids within the black belt constraints, but to no avail. Instead, the kids easily slip under the belts, running towards the adjacent gift shop where a woman demonstrates a new toy that shoots up foam rockets. If the museum wants kids to stay in line with their parents, they should not have placed an enticing gift shop right next to the box office.įor the parents who manage to keep their kids inside the belts, life is not much better. One father could not find his daughter’s rubber hair band, frantically leafing through his diaper backpack, her coat pockets and finally, admitting defeat, asking “Where does your mother usually put them?” The girl just cried in response.Īnd if after all of this waiting, crying and screaming, you decide to press onwards, the man at the ticket station will tell you that you are a security threat because you are a childless adult. This is probably the only time that people will tell you it is bad that you do not have a kid at 21. Lo and behold, there is another line to actually purchase the tickets. Waiting in this line on a Sunday afternoon is not much different. Little girls complain they are cold, older men roll their eyes and little boys jump around screaming about nothing (probably something sports-related). When the museum finally opens its doors at 12:00, it still takes 20 minutes to get inside. This past Sunday, the line to the Port Discovery Children’s Museum extended all the way to the taxi circle where drunken girls in heels scramble to snag an overpriced ride after last call on a Friday night. By night, Power Plant Live is an alcoholic’s haven, but by day, it is an alcoholic’s worst nightmare - diapers, snot and responsibility.
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