All too often children are told they can’t touch, they need to keep still and above all else to be quiet, but at the new Delaware Children’s Museum it’s all about kids being kids.
The affordable, interactive museum will open Saturday, April 24, with a variety of math, science and technology exhibits for children ages 1 to 12.
Executive Director Julie W. Van Blarcom said the museum is a hybrid of two Philadelphia children’s museums — the Please Touch Museum and the Franklin Institute — and unlike anything else in Wilmington.
Here are a few things to know about the museum:
Exhibits are designed to immerse children in learning.
In the exhibit, Bank on It, children can buy a toy and then pull a level on a machine where a golf ball rolls down and touches everything the money they paid would affect, said Van Blarcom. With Power of Me, children can get on a rowing machine decked out like a scull boat, and then watch a video of rowing down the Christiana River that is timed to how fast they are row while having their heart rate monitored.
“Here a child thinks they are playing in a boat but what they really are is using their core muscles and exercising their imaginations,” Van Blarcom said.
Over in Econnect, she said, there’s a child-sized home that shows how installation works and what makes a house sustainable. There’s also a place where kids can crawl to see how water is captured and pretend to be raindrops.
“By allowing kids the opportunity to immerse themselves into a concept like rainwater, it gives them a chance to understand,” Van Blarcom said.
Elements within each exhibit are for different age levels.
Kids will approach exhibits in different ways depending on their age, Van Blarcom said. For example, with the 35-foot water table, the little tykes can play with the boats. Six-year-olds might enjoy the system of locks while an 8- or 10-year-old can use the lever to turn the Archimedes screw or water pump that powers the paddlewheel, which creates electricity.
Spend a few hours or make a day of it.
An average visit could take anywhere from one and a half hours to two and a half. However, with free parking there’s plenty to do in the Riverfront vicinity, whether it’s catching a Blue Rocks baseball game, having lunch at one of the nearby restaurants or visiting the Russell W. Peterson Wildlife Refuge on the other end of the Riverfront.
Email Jayne Gest at jayne.gest@doverpost.com.
