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Children's Museum of Pittsburgh to reopen
The Waterplay area
Joe Appel/Tribune-Review
The Garage/Workshop
Joe Appel/Tribune-Review
The Attic
Joe Appel/Tribune-Review
The Theatre
Joe Appel/Tribune-Review
Kurt Shaw covers the art scene for the Tribune-Review. He can be reached via e-mail.
At more than 80,000 square feet, the newly expanded museum will offer a variety of exhibits, performances, classes, demonstrations and activities that will help children better understand themselves, others and the world.
Outside, the difference between the old Children's Museum of Pittsburgh and the new one is obvious, where the old-world charm of the Old Post Office Building, which has been the home of the museum since 1991, has been connected to the old Buhl Planetarium via a new three-story structure that functions as exhibit area and new entrance -- complete with a porch swing. But inside, it's an entirely new world, where permanent exhibits throughout are designed to meet the needs of a wide range of ages in a multi-sensory, multi-disciplinary approach to learning.
"We think that kids can appreciate good design as well as adults," says Jane Werner, executive director of the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. "We had a real commitment to design that you can see throughout."
Much of that design approach was with hands-on learning in mind, giving kids the ability to explore the world in new and unexpected ways.
For example:
In the Entryway, children can race their parents to the second floor Nursery or third floor Waterplay area via a three-story climbing wall.
In the newly expanded Art Studio, which now takes up the entire first floor of the Old Post Office where it once took up only a portion, kids will be able to paint, sculpt and make prints as they have in the past, but now be able to mix paint, make paper and create silk-screen and lithograph prints, as well as work on a variety of clay projects.
In the Waterplay area, a 53-foot long "river" of water will offer a variety of splish-splashing fun in the form of a lock and dam, various hand-crank whirlpools and a multitude of fans for blowing self-made sailboats around. Not to mention a whole corner dedicated to the creation of real working fountains out of PVC pipes.
In the Garage/Workshop, kids can fill a real Mini-Cooper with imaginary gas from a real gas pump, as well as see how a various parts of a car work such as the engine, transmission and differential. They also can work with real tools to make objects from wood and recycled materials as well as climb ramps and platforms to reach an interactive "Ball Track" suspended in the former planetarium with which rubber balls can be made to do various aerial acts.
In the Nursery, infants and toddlers can fine-tune their motor skills with a variety of interactive toys that make sights and sounds such as a "See Saw Bubble Wall," a giant light peg wall and a variety of "plinkies" that make various noises and different designs when turned.
In the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, anyone can play Mister Rogers for a day by donning a sweater and driving the trolley in the life-size re-creation of the original "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" television set.
In the Attic, kids will be able to take part in a variety of illusions, such as playing the part of master puppeteer via a video interface and joystick that controls puppets; get dizzy in a "Gravity Room," where everything is at a 30 degree angle; slide down a slide made out of an old bowling alley; and become a ghost, albeit a holographic one.
In the Theatre, kids can dress up and apply makeup to stage their own theatrical productions or just sit back and enjoy a number of performers, guest artists, storytellers and puppeteers that are planned to perform there at different intervals, not to mention regular live broadcasts of "Saturday Light Brigade," a family radio program that airs Saturday mornings from 6 a.m. to noon on WRCT 88.3 FM.
In the outdoor sculpture court called The Backyard, kids can play on a musical swing set, run their hands through bubbling mud, control the water coming out of a massive fountain or play in and around the 25-foot "Poodle Sphinx" that once was inside the museum, but now has been weatherized for outdoors.
In the Traveling Exhibits Gallery, children will have a chance to interact with many national traveling exhibitions as they have in the past beginning with "En Mi Familia," which was developed by the Austin Children's Museum and features a variety of activities based on the daily lives of Mexican-American families as depicted in paintings by children's book author Carmen Lomas Garza.
And if it all proves a little too much, there's plenty of "Quiet Rooms" on hand for overactive kids or tantrum taking toddlers. "It's really important for kids to have a quiet space, so we created all of these areas for that," Werner says, adding that parents can also expect to find plenty of family-style bathrooms for those potty-time jitters as well.
Grand opening weekend activities
When: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Regular hours: Beginning Nov. 8. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays; noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Closed on major holidays.
Admission: $8; $7 for age 2-18 and senior citizens; free for those younger than 2.
Parking: $5 in the museum lot. Free parking with a shuttle bus will be offered on Saturday only in the Red 6 lot across from {NC Park on General Robinson Street beginning at 8:45 a.m.
Where: Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, Allegheny Center., North Side.
Details: (412) 322-5058 or www.pittsburghkids.org.
Saturday
Sunday
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