How do you explain eco-friendly insulation to a child?
You could check out a few heavy, technical manuals from the library and do your best to sketch a legible diagram incorporating terms like cellulose and polystyrene.
But it might be more effective to let the kid roam through a child-sized eco-house with walls covered in blue jeans, a form of sustainable insulation they can relate to, said Julie Van Blarcom, executive director of the Delaware Children’s Museum.
That’s exactly the kind of hands-on learning experience kids will be able to get when the Riverfront museum opens it doors in less than a month, she said.
“The premise of the museum is fun, play and learning, in that order,” Van Blarcom said.
The museum, with seven hands-on exhibits, plays to children’s natural curiosity and playfully competitive spirit, she said.
The theme of the museum is sustainability, Van Blarcom said, and all the exhibits relate to stewardship, whether it be preserving the natural world or learning ways to keep a healthy mind and body.
One exhibit, The Power of Me, teaches children about the importance of exercise through play.
The brightly-painted walls guide kids to equipment that tests their strength and balance, while an interactive, lighted rock wall challenges their hand-eye coordination – one game has kids use their hands and feet to touch a series of lit sensors as quickly as possible.
The exhibit also shows that technology, like video games and television, doesn’t have to be the enemy of healthy kids. Children will be able to hop on a rowing machine, challenging their strength and endurance, while watching the Christina River slip by on a video screen, Van Blarcom said. The faster they row, the faster the video moves.
A hi-tech stage uses green screen technology to put kids right in the middle of a ballet, a line of Irish dancers and a Nanticoke Indian drum circle, she said, showing them that exercise can be as simple as dancing to their favorite music.
If their feet get tired, the children can try their hands at a near-life-sized game of operation, which will teach them about anatomy, or test their knowledge of the food pyramid on a brightly-colored stair climber.
And that’s just one exhibit.
Other exhibits run the gamut from financial literacy (where ping-pong balls painted as dollars bounce their way through the money cycle) to a kid-sized eco-house (built entirely out of reclaimed and recycled materials).
Six months after its groundbreaking, the museum is abuzz with the noises of pounding hammers and buzzing circular saws, but Van Blarcom is already envisioning the bright, yellow building filled with kids of all ages, dashing from exhibit to exhibit.
“It’s going to be vibrating with energy, enthusiasm and hands-on learning,” she said.
