Museums For Every Generation
By: Joe Volz Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2006-10-17 09:33:20.278350-04:00
With 10 grandchildren to spend time with, I’m always on the lookout for innovative places to take them. Kids like anything interactive; they are bored by just listening to lectures or looking at exhibits.
Here are a few notable museums around the country that satisfy both grandparents and children.
The Visual Arts Center, Richmond, Virginia
A recent trip to this southern city filled with Civil War memorials brought me into a unique art center. Previously called The Hand Shop, it has been renamed The Visual Arts Center.
What made this visit outstanding was learning how to draw caricatures from a talented staff artist, Kirk Patrick O’Brien. Over the course of an hour, he amused and taught us basic techniques that lay at the heart of any caricature or cartoon. The class highlight was drawing our own caricature of President Bush.
The class produced a caricature that was recognizably Bush—wiry hair and lopsided grin included, although it did take us several attempts to generate a likeness.
Advanced registration is required to participate in any one day workshop. If you don’t have time to register for a class, visit the Art Center anyway. Just looking at the various special exhibits will get those creative juices flowing.
The Maryland Science Center, Baltimore Maryland
The Maryland Science Center at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor features interactive areas where children can learn by doing.
The Body Link section is a high-tech environment with lots of exhibits focusing on health and health care aimed at pre-teens and teens alike. For example, visitors can test their nutrition I.Q. or measure their body’s pulse and heart rate while pedaling on a stationary bike.
Another section, called Kids Room, is appropriate for pre-schoolers. Here, they kids can float boats down a river channel, operate the fish cam in the submarine, and dress-up like a turtle.
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland
A trip to Hagerstown, 60 miles northwest of Washington, introduced me to the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. It’s celebrating its 75th anniversary.
For children, there are a couple of offerings to keep their attention. One is a scavenger hunt where kids are given a map with pictures of art or snap shots of a part of the museum and asked to look for objects. Once found, they can write the answer down on paper.
There is also a Museum Eye Spy game with a list of questions with pictures. Children are asked to select from multiple-choice answers to match objects.
Sea World, San Diego, California
No trip to the famous Sea World is complete without a visit to Shark Encounter. Here, children and grandparents enter a 57-foot walkthrough acrylic tube that runs through the 280,000-gallon tank. You’ll find many different sizes of sharks swimming here including sand tiger, bonnethead, blacktip and whitetip sharks.
Sea World also contains a must-see water world for Shamu, a majestic killer shark. He stars in shows aimed at giving visitors an understanding of these mysterious marine mammals. Shamu’s gentle antics change many minds that previously though killer sharks were man-eaters.
Another popular attraction is Rocky Point Preserve. You can enjoy feeding the comical dolphins at specified times during the day. There’s also an underwater viewing area to watch the dolphins at play. See otters dive for crabs and sea urchins as well.
The Studebaker National Museum, South Bend, Indiana
The Studebaker National Museum in South Bend is an attraction that will please anyone enamored of cars. Over 70 Studebaker-built vehicles are on display including the family’s 1835 Conestaga Wagon, a vehicle that served well, in the age before automobiles.
The Studebaker Brothers first successful business was building horse-drawn wagons. As the largest wagon builder in the country, Studebaker pioneered the way to the West, carrying soldiers to battle and transporting families from their farms to town or church.
Once automobiles began to replace wagons, the Studebakers were the only wagon builder that made the transition successfully. An exhibit traces the way Studebaker transitioned from wagons to autos.
Exhibits include “Hail to the Chiefs: The Presidential Collection” of roadsters and the cars that Notre Dame’s famous coach Knute Rockne was hired by the company to promote for two years. Also on display are the last Studebakers ever built, a blue and white 1966 cruiser, and a 1963 Avanti, a once-prestigious sports car.
The museum moved into its new building in 2005, which is next to the Center for History. Ambitious visitors might want to visit both. The Center will feature a special display through early 2007 on Knute Rockne that includes lots of Notre Dame football lore.
Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis emphasizes hands-on learning experiences. Although created primarily for children, it appeals to children of all ages. Its many exhibits stimulate children’s intellectual curiosity and love of learning.
The 80-year-old museum has 11 major galleries including Dinosphere, a recent addition that ties in with the Harry Potter phenomenon. The addition features a 66 million-year-old Dracorex hogwartsia (from Rawling’s character Draco meaning “dragon” and Rex meaning “king”). The three archeologists that discovered the artifact donated the dinosaur head to the Children’s Museum.
The Carousel Wishes and Dreams exhibit encourages parents and children to play together. It features an antique carousel originally installed at an Indianapolis park in 1917. Families can ride the carousel together and then travel through a maze of mirrors and down a playhouse alley to the games and puzzles arcade.
The National World War II Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana
The National World War II Museum in New Orleans strives to preserve the history of the war and its meaning in peoples’ memories.
Exhibits include events leading up to the war, the Allies’ landing on the beaches of Normandy on D Day in 1944, and other air and sea battles that led to the final victory. Many photos of D Day, never seen before, are on display.
Opened as the National D Day Museum in 2000, the museum name is now the National World War II museum. Located in downtown New Orleans it survived Hurricane Katrina and reopened just a few months after the devastating hurricane.
Related Links
Books
Find these books online at Borders.com
Fodor’s Around San Diego with Kids
By Cynthia Cuadra Winters, Foder’s Travel Publications, Inc., 2003.
Frommer’s San Diego 2006
By Caroline Kallas, Mark Hiss, DK Publishing, 2005
Baltimore’s Harbor Haunts: True Ghost Stories
By Melissa Rowell, Amy Lynwander, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2005
Frommer’s Maryland & Delaware
By Mary K. Tilghman, Wiley, John & Sons, Inc., 2006
Frommer’s Virginia
By Bill Goodwin, Wiley, John & Sons, 2006
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