Nancy's Lake House

This unique and interactive toddler area provides a safe space for our youngest visitors to explore, create and have fun. Sponsored and built by Friends of Nancy Chontow in her memory. She was the Nursery School Director for 30 years at Sugar and Spice Nursery School . It is fashioned after her adored lake house, with a front porch where children can sit and pretend to drink lemonade, plant flowers, watch bugs and play house. There is a make-believe lake with fish for fishing and a raft to climb into, as well as a live fish tank. The area is enclosed and children can sit under the large three-dimensional tree and play games or plant a vegetable garden. Designed by the museum's Early Childhood Advisory Committee specifically for pre-school children, the space is dedicated to Nancy 's memory by the people whose lives she touched the most.

Van Gogh's Bedroom

How often are children encouraged to touch a famous work of art? At this exhibit, they don't just touch the painting, they actually step inside it!

As visitors approach this stunning exhibit they will see a larger-than-life-sized replica of the painting Van Gogh's Bedroom, 1888, Next to this screen will be a wall with text and pictures introducing visitors to the artist, Vincent Van Gogh – his life, times and work.

After viewing these introductory materials, visitors part the screen and step through into a room that exactly replicates Van Gogh's bedroom. They will literally walk into the painting.

The bed in the room, for example, is of the same color and design found in the painting, but visitors can actually sit on it. They can feel the texture of the walls and touch the portraits hanging above the bed. They can open the drawer in the artist's dressing table. They will learn about the artwork while experiencing the difference between two-dimensional art and three-dimensional space.

The visitor then enters the next stage of the exhibit. This room is fashioned after an art school of the 1800's where Van Gogh studied. By recreating his world, we give the visitor the context within which to understand his work. Upon entering the room the young visitors become art students and learn the skills taught by art schools of this period.

John Glenn's
Space Capsule

Come travel with us back in time and space to February 20th 1962 and board Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr.'s Project Mercury Spacecraft, "Friendship 7", the first United States space ship to orbit the Earth! Our replica of America's first space ship closely resembles that of the actual Mercury capsule in size and dimensions. Children can sit in the "astronaut's couch" on board our ship and experience what it may have been like for America's first astronauts.

Thanks to a generous grant from Bayer Consumer Care Division, we will be adding on to the exhibit by reconstructing parts of the Mercury Control Center where children will be able to not only play the astronaut, but could also interact with the astronaut from our new mission control center.

 
The Portrait Studio

The first pictures toddlers draw are generally of heads – their own heads, the heads of people in their families. As the toddlers get older the heads they draw become more detailed and acquire legs and a body. With this in mind, what better place for the Art Studio to begin than with the Portrait? In the Portrait Studio children have many options. They can make portraits from clay using professional sculptor's armatures, draw self-portrait or trace portraits of friends on plexi-glass, or trace their own faces on a huge mirror. While they're doing all this, they're getting acquainted with many famous artists and their work, which hang on the walls. There is a large soft sculpture of a head with removable and interchangeable parts to create a “funny head”.

 
Electricity Exhibit

Learn about electricity without the shock! Our electricity exhibit is finally up and running. You can create static electricity and an electromagnet. See for yourself what materials conduct electricity and why. Generate electricity with our wind or solar power exhibits. See how electricity gets into your house, works behind your walls and powers everyday machines.

Theater Area

Children can dress-up and act on a real stage with a curtain and spot lights to create a play, be an actor or singer and see themselves on TV at the same time. This space allows for group or individual creativity to flow. They can be anything they want.

The Giant Loom

Our Giant Loom gives children an exciting hands-on opportunity to see how weaving is accomplished. By weaving fabric scraps through the large loom, they can contribute to a large group tapestry. They'll be fascinated to try it themselves, as well as to learn the significance of weaving in the world.

Upcoming exhibits: