Chicago Children's Museum

Chicago Children's Museum is awesome! I can say this without hesitation as a former employee and fundraiser for this incredible community resource. One of the best experiences of my professional career was to be part of moving Chicago Children's Museum from North Pier (20,000 sf) to Navy Pier (60,000 sf). The staff is wonderful and the whole place is about the connection between learning and play.

G stands with Suchomimus, brought to Chicago Children's Museum by the rock star paleontologist Paul Sereno, PhD and team. She looks at G and says, 'yum, you are a tasty morsel'

Also in this post you see him digging for Suchomimus in an exhibit that recreates Sereno and team's dig in Northern Africa in 1997. He loved it!!


The three story climbing schooner is also a favorite. I've done it in heels and a party dress! Kids walk onto the schooner, can climb below into the hull and see Great Lakes fish, then climb the mast to the bird's nest and the rigging floating above the stairs. They are terrified at certain points, but in that really good way that builds confidence, and come bounding off the plank with an incredible smile. "Let's do it again!"


I loved this display in the offices of Chicago Children's Museum--its the CCM staff art show. The creativity and energy of this staff is boundless. You see it in the outreach to the community, in the programs and interactions on the floor of the museum and in the passion of the staff to move the organization forward.

I was so very pleased to see my dear friends and former colleagues Jennifer Farrington, Elizabeth Lach, Catherine Brill, Tsivia Cohen and Elaine Bentley--in action.

The purpose of children's museums around the world is to inspire and channel curiosity shown from the crawling baby to the leaping seven year old to the grandmother who brings them to splash, build and create. This is where everyone's brain is engaged, regardless of your learning style. This is where everyone's heart swells. This is where the seed of life-long learning is planted.

I am incredibly thankful that my career started in a children's museum, and at Chicago Children's Museum in particular.

Form, Balance, Joy--CALDER

Day two of Chicago Road Trip began at the Museum of Contemporary Art (http://www.mcachicago.org/) This exhibition is one of the primary reasons to stay and play in Chicago this time. It is on display through October 17th. It is gorgeous!!

I walked into the gallery to see the room filled with Alexander Calder's mobiles and stabiles (non moving scuplture) and was joyously stunned. It is such a treat to see it all displayed in one space. The multiple pieces--how they float and balance and cast shadows--is incredible.

Across the hall, MCA asked several contemporary artists to interpret Calder and their works are also fun, engaging, whimsical. G stands here in front of the MCA and the banner shows one of Nathan Carter's pieces.

G stands next to a piece by Martin Boyce that  identified on his "Chicago Spy Quest" adventure.  He had a terrific time matching up sketches of the contemporary artists work done by his favorite art teacher Julie Pfieffer, just for him. 

If you haven't heard of or read the books Chasing Vermeer, The Wright 3, or The Calder Game by Blue Balliett, and illustrated by Brett Helquist, look them up now!  These are terrific stories introducing students to mystery, art, philosophy, design, math, and Chicago institutions.  My kids loved them and so did I! 

So there is your MuseuMom homework...Read Blue Balliett's series and then take a road trip to Chicago before Oct 17, 2010 to see the Calder exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art.  The Art Institute and Frank Lloyd Wright locations should also be on the agenda, but Calder exhibition is on a deadline.   

More posts to come including Chicago Children's Museum reunion and G's view of the Art Institute of Chicago classics. 

U-Boat Exhibit @ MSI

Our first stop on the Chicago road trip was a quick one. We really only had about an hour and a half to hit MSI before we needed to get moving to next stop of family dinner on the North Shore. We agreed we'd focus on two things, Science Storms and the U-505 Submarine. http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/u-505/
I did not opt for tickets to get on the Sub this time, although I have done this in the past. It is a great experience to go inside the sub, but I did not think that seven year old would have patience for it (it's about 15-20 minute guided tour) or the capacity to be the small space. It is well worth it though for older kids. Honestly, I was a little claustrophobic on it myself.

I love the preamble of the exhibit, setting the context. This video is a mixture of historic footage and scripted new footage shot to re-enact the capture sighting, disabling and capture of U-505 by the US Naval Hunter Task Force.

The boys were captivating by the story of the capture of the ship. When they turned the corner to see her, "WHOA!" was the word that came forth.

They also really enjoyed the simulation of driving the submarine. This exercise shows how the sub crew had to work together to make the sub move, dive, surface, etc. Their training mission was accomplished!

They were fascinated by the story of how the US had to tow the sub from the coast of Africa, where it was captured, all the way across the Atlantic to Bermuda to keep the Germans from knowing the sub (and its code breaking equipment) had fallen into the hands of the US.

Boys were also really intriqued by the explanation how the ship came to be in Chicago. It was moved from Bermuda, up the Eastern coast, into the St. Lawrence Seaway, through four of the five Great Lakes and then faced on last hurdle--how to cross Lake Shore Drive to MSI without damaging the roadway or stopping traffic. Amazing story. The video that showed a reunion of the US commander who captured U-505 and the German commander of the sub once it was installed at MSI in 1962 was also pretty cool.

One of the neatest videos in the exhibit is the super-speed video showing how U-505 was moved into this new gallery space, built exclusively for it. Remember, it sat outside the museum from the early 1960's until mid-2000's. This video shows how the space was excavated, how U-505 was loaded onto a truck and driven, very slowly around the museum to its new location and then lowered carefully into the new space. Literally the building was built around the sub and now it is encased in the building and preserved for many millions more to see and remember.

More from Science Storms at Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago. G, our in-house artist, was particularly interested in this light room. It demonstrates how color changes, or how we perceive color changes, when light waves are manipulated. I am a big fan of the MSI staff "lab coats." They are in different colors (notice staff member in black coat interacting with my kids). Perfect play on the scientist identity.



G also demonstrates the listening spot as we learn about sunlight and how light waves refract to show rainbows.
He is also demonstrating the Bernoulli's effect station, feeling the wind in his hair.



OK-having tech difficulties...trying to include in this post images of the giant swirling avalanche demonstrating machine and the video that was posted above it.  The boys also entered in the tornado chamber to feel what 80mph feels like. 

Chicago Road trip

Road Trip to Chicago this past week. First stop, MSI--Museum of Science & Industry (http://www.msi.org/). Science Storms is the newest permanent exhibit to be unveiled. Fascinating! It covers avalanches, tsunamis, light waves, gravity, physics, tornadoes, hurricanes, rainbows, storms of all sorts.

I loved the listening stations around the hall. These are specific spots where audio is piped up from the floor to accompany a video explanation. Audio is always a challenge for exhibit developers in this kind of space and closed captioning doesn't always deliver the info in the most compelling way. Why is it easier and more engaging to hear the info than to read it?