BY JACKIE DEMALINE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
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Yoshi Kiji, Kanako Kiji and Olivia Jordan enjoy the Energy Zone.
(Craig Ruttle photo)
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Two weeks ago, Gretchen Glaza, 4, was helping test the new Cinergy Children's Museum that officially opens Oct. 24 at Cincinnati Museum Center.
Gretchen, pigtailed and purposeful, was hard at work in the Energy Zone, feeding brightly colored balls into an air stream that kept them merrily dancing in midair. She rejected all offers of red, yellow, green. Purple was the color for this job.
Gretchen is one of 22 million visitors expected at U.S. children's museums in 1998.
Thank a baby boom generation for creating the Age of the Children's Museum.
"Parents have become aggressive about seeking leisure-time activities that also provide informal learning strategies," said Janet Rice Elman, executive director of the Association of Youth Museums.
Gretchen, meanwhile, tried to load her purple balls into the air stream, the larger purpose being to direct the air stream (and the floating balls) toward a funnel and drop the balls in. The balls rolled through a transparent pipe to the Big Bucket overhead. There are eight separate "work" stations feeding balls into the bucket. They are all part of a larger "machine."
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Ryan Wood navigates a rope bridge.
(Craig Ruttle photo)
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When the bucket fills, it opens up and rains the balls back down. The lesson: cause-and-effect relationships.
The museum's creators will tell you it doesn't really matter how long it takes Gretchen to notice an educational purpose to her play, or if she ever does. "Play to learn, learn to play," Ms. Elman said.
It was in the 1960s that Mike Spock (son of Dr. Benjamin) pioneered the concept of "interactive" at the Boston Children's Museum. The popularity of interactive play and learning surged. In this region, COSI (Center of Science and Industry) in Columbus caught the trend early, opening in 1964. Lexington Children's Museum debuted in 1990. Children's Museum of Cincinnati opened at Longworth Hall in 1994.
"The time parents have to spend with their children is shrinking," Ms. Elman said. "They've become thoughtful about how they're going to spend that Saturday or Sunday afternoon."
Teresa Malott of Fort Mitchell sat on a bench bordering Water Works, where kids experiment with the variety of ways water can exert force.
Nearby, Mason Malott, 2 1/2, was crowding against his brother Paul Craig, 5. Together they directed a stream of water against an aluminum water wheel.
"They've been there for half an hour," Mrs. Malott said. The family became Children's Museum-goers when Paul was given a membership for his birthday in the early days of the museum at its original Longworth Hall site. Now that it's reopening, they'll rejoin, she said.
A children's museum, she said, is a perfect choice for parents with three boys ages 2, 5 and 8.
"It's more hands-on," she said. "It exposes them to different cultures, different kids. We live in such a small town, it's great to have a place where they can mingle with real kids."
Paul Craig crawled under the water channel to examine a pulley system. An older boy, about 10, explained how it worked. The two-person effort requires filling a bucket with water, raising it by pulley and tipping it into a funnel where the stream powers a wheel and rings a bell.
He lent a hand when Hope Booker, 6, of Roselawn, in a wheelchair, couldn't quite handle the project on her own.
Union Terminal addition
Museum Center executive director Dick Glover calls the Children's Museum move to Union Terminal "a win-win" situation, adding to the variety of attractions there. He expects the children's museum "to improve our financial stability" to the point of eliminating the center's deficit.
No two children's museums are alike, said Ms. Elman, because ideally they are developed to fit the needs of their communities. Many museums do have one thing in common, Ms. Elman said: water. "Children love water."
During the recent trial run here, the busiest stations were Water Works, Energy Zone and The Woods, a "wilderness" playground complete with treehouses and cricket sounds. At Water Works, several dads were spotted making and sailing toy boats in a corner without a child in range.
If no two museums are alike, the people who manage them share a lot of issues. Earlier this year directors gathered in San Jose, Calif., heart of the Silicon Valley, for a session on creativity and technology.
"The technology is here," Ms. Elman said. "The question is how do we use it effectively? It's a constant conversation in the field, and a difficult one -- high-tech or high-touch?"
Then there's the field's hottest topic, evaluation. Are kids learning as they're playing? Are children's museums a good investment for parents and funders?
Study seeks answers
The most comprehensive study to date will be published by the end of the year by the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The study encompasses the more than 150 members of the Association of Youth Museums.
Ms. Elman said the study will raise the question of "relating the results to families, other museums, the community."
Happily, these grown-up questions were not weighing on the mind of Brian Koeppler, 9, as he figured out the shortcut to filling the Big Bucket in the Energy Zone. (You can find it in the center of the station.)
He recruited some help, they filled the Big Bucket in a twinkling, he sent his father into the drop zone and the balls came tumbling down, all over Dad.
It was a good day's work, a good day's play, a good day's learning.
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