Posts Tagged ‘museums’

A lot of us have heard of Madame Tussauds Wax Museums. Famous for its wax replicas of famous people, Madame Tussauds is a popular tourist attraction. Believe me; when the real celebrities come out to get a first look at their duplicates, it’s quite a scene. Now, the original Madame Tussauds is in London, but today there are several in the United States: Las Vegas, Washington DC, and New York have had their wax museums for a while now, and this past summer one opened in the epicenter of celebrity worship, Los Angeles. What better place to celebrate plastic (okay, wax) people than Hollywood, California? Madame Tussauds Hollywood highlights the glamour of show business, without focusing of the seedy side: This makes it a great stop for a family vacation in Los Angeles, California.

Tweens may not always be thrilled about visiting a museum, wax or otherwise. However, the Jonas Brothers wax figures are at Madame Tussauds Hollywood now through November 10th. Further, from now until December 31, 2009, the museum is offering kids free admission with a paid adult. What seems like campy good fun – taking a photograph with the wax Jonas Brothers – may be just what a family needs to get their tween excited about museums. There are plenty of museums in Los Angeles for the culture-minded, of course, but pop culture has its appeals too.

To get the complimentary children’s admission to Madame Tussauds Hollywood, print out this document.

I can’t begin to tell you how family-friendly Phoenix, Arizona is. A couple of days ago I gave a thumbs up to The Legacy Golf Resort for its family fun atmosphere but I didn’t tell you everything we did during our stay in Phoenix. You can read about our first evening at the Botanical Gardens here. On day two we went to the Phoenix Children’s Museum which is as much fun for us grown ups as it is for the little ones. The 55,000 square-foot museum is located in the historic Monroe School building and as soon as we entered the spacious first floor the kids were off to explore. Instantly our two tots became enthralled with the wall of wind pipes, which are several clear pipes blasting with air. The kids put scarves and balls in one end and they come shooting out of the top for the kids to try and catch.

It ends up the fun was just beginning.

Not long after we arrived The Deedle Deedle Dees (a fantastic kids’ band)  began jamming, which was great fun for the parents as well the children. The tunes could be heard up to the second floor as we cruised around. The second floor has an art room where children can tap into their artistic side and take home their projects. The house in the photo is painted a different color every day. Fortunately for my daughter the color of the day was pink – her favorite color! Also on floor two is an exit to the outside gated courtyard where the top photo was taken. The kids enjoyed running on the grass until they decided to return inside and continue exploring.

Many hands-on experiments lined the museum halls, including a trike path where the kids could ride around and around. There was a bit of a traffic jam and a long wait to ride, so we moved on to the third floor where there we found a spacious room for infants and toddlers to play safely (our kids are too big but it looked perfect for the little cuties). Past that was an even larger area for the older kids which consisted of a grocery store and kitchen, including a “brick oven” for “baking” pizza! Just outside the grocery store, in the wide hall my daughter had great fun scooping ice cream into cones, passing them to customers, while my son couldn’t get enough of the hundreds of  hanging Styrofoam tubes.

By the end the kids were worn out and so were we – but it was such a great time. I hope we can return to the Children’s Museum of Phoenix soon!

We go to New York City several times a year, but we try to make these vacations during the warmer months. Once, a cold rain turned to hail in April, and my California daughter said, “This rain hurts my nose!” That’s when it really hit home for me that my kids really aren’t being raised in the same climate zone as were their parents. That surprising weather led us to spend a lot of times in the great museums in NYC (hey, they’re indoors, aren’t they?) and my children enjoyed all of them, albeit in different ways.

The Best Museums for Children in New York City

American Museum of Natural History, 79th St and Central Park West – It goes without saying that the Hall of Biodiversity is a big hit with kids of all ages. The giant blue whale hanging from the ceiling practically compels younger children to run in maniac circles underneath it, and the walk-through diorama of a rainforest is really interesting for older kids (it looks accurate, but lacks the humidity, buzzing insects, and soft squishy ground of the real deal). Time it right, and the Butterfly Conservatory will be open, too. I credit an early visit to the Butterfly Conservatory with my older daughter’s long-standing interest in entomology. The small Children’s Discovery Room is only appropriate for younger kids.

The Hayden Planetarium, 81st St and Central Park West – Renamed the Rose Center for Earth and Space several years back, this is part of the AMNH, but with a separate entrance. Younger children may get scared at the Big Bang Theater – mine freaked out – but older kids will love it. The narrators of the Hayden Planetarium shows are Tom Hanks and Jodie Foster. The Space Theater’s Field Trip to the Moon is beyond cool for kids (and, admittedly, plenty of adults) who are interested in outer space.

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan, 212 W. 83rd St – This one is best for the younger set. Even my freaked-out-by-the-Big-Bang 6 year old was bored here after a few minutes. But preschoolers have lots of fun running around this museum, playing with balls, on tables with water, and the like. On a cold or rainy day, simply giving kids the physical space to run amok is worth the price of admission. Hotel rooms (and apartments) are too small!

New York Transit Museum, corner of Schermerhorn St and Boerum Place – My children don’t fall in this category, but I know plenty of little boys who are endlessly fascinated with all things transportation-themed. For kids who love trains, subways, and the like, this museum is worth a trip out to Brooklyn. The New York Transit Museum is based in a real station from the 1930’s.

The South Street Seaport Museum, 207 Front St – If your kids enjoy modes of transportation, they’ll probably also like looking at examples of New York’s maritime history. Most tourists visiting NYC plan on getting a good view of the Statue of Liberty, which is easily seen from the South Street Seaport. The city feels different down here – more open, with the smell of sea in the air. There’s still plenty of bustle of course – this is New York City we’re talking about – but the whole area is a living testament to New York’s shipping past. The actual museum is an exhibit on board on board one of the two tall ships permanently docked here – the Peking, to be exact. Kids can examine what it was like during the heyday of NYC’s prominence as a shipping port, and what life was like on the ship. There are two onshore galleries as well.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 5th Ave and 82nd St, and Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St – These are two world-class art museums in NYC, and no museum-loving, art-appreciating adult should miss them. However, taking the kids to these museums can be a chore. Some children may be fascinated by the mummy exhibit at the Met, while others’ attention may momentarily be held by MoMA’s Jasper Johns retrospective. But kids are kids, and we can’t expect them to have the same tolerance for long, studied strolls through what seem to them to be an endless parade of portraits and the like. Leaving these famous museums off the list seemed remiss; please make sure your children know that there are behavioral expectations at these stolid old museums, and if need be, a reward for good behavior at the end.

Sony Wonder Technology Lab, on 56th St between Fifth and Madison – Older kids (I’d estimate ages 8 and up) will be totally thrilled here – there’s a robotics lab, an interactive design lab – this means creating video games – and a very, very cool nanotechnology center, using forced perspective. Exploring the Sony Wonder Technology Lab easily brings out the kid in many grown-ups too… Please, mom and dad, remember to take turns! Other interactive exhibits here include a Virtual Surgery room, a Timeline of the evolution of technology through the ages, a Motion Capture room, and more.

I’m intrigued by museums housing odd artifacts and memorabilia. For some reason, wacky museums kept coming up in conversation with reps from different destinations whom I met at Travel Media Showcase in September.

Three of the strangest I heard of were actually located not far from Kansas City, where TMS was held:

Leila’s Hair Museum in Independence showcases 160 wreaths and more than 2,000 pieces of jewelry made out of, you guessed it, human hair. Apparently, in the Victorian days, families would create these “works of art” as keepsakes to honor their loved ones; the designs were in a horseshoe shape, so new pieces of hair could be added as the family grew. I don’t know why, but for some reason this really grosses me out. I know it’s just hair, and, yes, I saved a lock from my kids’ first haircuts, but making jewelry, tiaras and wall-hangings out of it… ick.

St. Joseph’s Glore Psychiatric Museum is housed in what used to be the Missouri “State Lunatic Asylum #2″ and gives visitors a glimpse into how mental illness was treated over a century ago. There’s a giant human treadmill that resembles a big hamster wheel; artwork made from nearly 1,500 objects (nails, safety pins) that a former patient swallowed; lobotomy instruments; electric shock therapy devices; and vintage photos from the “asylum” days.

The Kansas Underground Salt Museum is less wacky, more unusual. Hard-hat-wearing visitors descend via elevators 650 feet straight down into the earth. and ride around on little motorized carts to see salt deposits that formed millions of years ago. The temperature in this exotic subterranean world is a constant 68 degrees with comfortable humidity, creating ideal conditions for storing costumes from famous movies, like Batman. This Hutchinson museum is a bizarre mix of geologic wonder and Hollywood.

The first night we descended upon Kansas City for the 2008 Travel Media Showcase we and the other attendees had the fabulous opportunity to experience the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

When we pulled up to this museum I instantly recognized a scene I had only seen in photos (see left). The museum grounds are home to the 22-acre Kansas City Sculpture Park, designed by architects Dan Kiley and Jaquelin Robertson. Over 30 sculptures are on display, but I have to admit the kid in me adores the over-sized badminton birdies. (What is it with my fascination of tiny towns and over-sized art? Does Alice in Wonderland come to mind?) It ends up that I am not the only one fascinated by the sculptures. You can see some of Sheila Scarborough’s stunning sculpture photos at Perceptive Travel.

Once we were inside the museum, the evening started out with a wine tasting of local Missouri wines (did you know Missouri has a thriving wine industry?). After mingling, several exchanges of business cards and reuniting with old friends we headed over to the Roselle Court Restaurant. The 15th-century Italian courtyard took my breath away. Relaxing in such an exquisite location was a wonderful way to unwind from a long day of air travel and a lovely welcome to Kansas City.

SoCalGal and I were lucky to sit with our friend and fellow-writer Gary Singh from San Jose. Throughout dinner we marveled over the museum’s beautiful architecture and the fact that admission to this entrancing museum is FREE. Yes, free! I learned that evening Nelson-Atkins believes sharing exhibits with the public is as important as offering a public education. The Vacation Gals applaud Nelson-Atkins for their generosity and say “thank you” for a beautiful and memorable experience.

On my free day to tour Kansas City after Travel Media Showcase, I checked out the National WWI Museum, just a few blocks from the Crown Center and my hotel, the Hyatt Crown Center. I wish I’d gotten my act together and arrived at the museum with more time to spend admiring the amazing array of WWI memorabilia here — the security folks had to kick me out when the facility closed at 5 p.m.

The National WWI Museum opened less than two years ago. It’s built into the ground under the Liberty Memorial, a majestic complex of structures, including a 217-foot tower and a massive wall sculpted with designs representing different facets of the war. The monuments were dedicated November 11, 1926 — exactly eight years after the Great War ended.

But down below in the museum is a staggering number of artifacts and objects from the era. It houses not only weapons, uniforms, correspondence and tools that had to do specifically with the war, but also exhibits that showed what was going on “back home” while brave soldiers fought on the front.

The most poignant items are first-person testimonies — diary entries of German schoolchildren detailing shopping for groceries when the government mandated rations, and letters that U.S. Army nurses sent to family telling of infantrymen who’d lost legs, but who remained appreciative of their medical care.

Then there are huge cannons and machine guns, propaganda posters, genuine draft cards, a 1917 Harley Davidson motorcycle, newspaper clippings, and telegrams from the Army notifying mothers that their sons had died in battle. All of the authentic objects come together to tell so many stories of the Great War from so many perspectives.

An excellent 12-minute movie with fascinating images and film footage from the turn of the century explains some of the complicated events that led to the start of the war. And a large timeline details other important events that took place between 1914 and 1918. Still other exhibits offer visitors the chance to hear poetry, prose and music from the era; or you can learn more about the war via interactive “what would you do” questions on giant computer screens

I felt a sense of reverence in the museum. With all of the incredibly moving images and music and narration, visitors are transported back to a very challenging time in history. While young children who like to play “army men” may enjoy looking at some of the museum offerings (the giant tank is pretty cool), I think this attraction is best suited for ages 12 and up. Students who have covered this era of history in school could place the objects and information in context — and appreciate it all the more. I sure did.

In my previous Arts in New Orleans I and II posts I wrote about the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Today’s post is about the Contemporary Arts Center located at 900 Camp Street, across the street from the Ogden. Many years ago the building was a K&B Drugstore warehouse. Today, it’s a spacious, 10,000 square-foot multi-disciplinary arts center. The entire building shouts “creative.” Even the transition between the first and second floor is a cool circular ramp.

During my visit to CAC one of the exhibits was called “Something from Nothing.” Fifteen international artists were invited to New Orleans to create something from nothing. Jay Weigel, CAV Executive/Artistic Director, explained the artists started their projects without any supplies and were to beg, borrow, barter, or find the items used in their works. My interest was piqued. And that explained the hard-to-miss “cloud” suspended over the entrance. Moms, can you find the “Boppy” among the mesh of mattresses and pillows in the photo above?

Another display of interest consisted of stacks of filing cabinets filled with live plants and a water-fountain. Genius! Who would think unattractive office filing cabinets could be turned into something serene? Interestingly, the CAC’s eye-catching front desk (made of colorful glass plates and shaped in a semicircle) was designed by Gene Koss whose work is displayed in the Harrah’s hotel lobby where I stayed during this trip to New Orleans. Admission is $5 and students and seniors are $3. Be sure to stop in, you never know what may be on exhibit.

I recently had the honor of staying at the stunning Harrah’s New Orleans. The first thing I did upon entering my 20th floor room was run to the window and when I looked outside was I ever thrilled. Talk about a room with a view!

Over my several-day stay I watched tugboats, barges, and ferries make their way along the crescent of the Mississippi River. Observing the maneuvers of these floating apparatuses was like watching an artist at work.

Speaking of artists, New Orleans is brimming with talent and it has the museums and galleries to show for it. Even Harrah’s has a proud collection of artwork and photography displayed throughout the hotel. The lobby has a fabulous display by glass artist Gene Koss while my room was graced with breathtaking photographs taken by Lee Tucker and Richard Sexton.

The evening of my New Orleans arrival I was whisked away for an evening of New Orleans art and culture I will never forget. If you happen to be in town on a Thursday evening you must, must, must stop in the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. The museum comes to life through the weekly concerts performed in the museum’s atrium. (Over 400 musicians have performed here since Katrina.) From the moment you enter through the front door you will easily be convinced you’ve walked onto the set of a live Broadway musical. Toes are tapping, hands are clapping, and don’t be surprised when your neighbor stands up and starts dancing or maybe grabs you for a partner. Throughout the evening guests can roam the multi-level museum and its exhibits and stop at one of the many bars set up throughout the museum. The concert can be observed from the various floors. The evening is family friendly, complete with a crafts table for the children.

Recently, while we were enjoying the indoor pool/waterpark at our local AmericInn (only $5 per kid; which beats the price of the local rec center!), my son picked up a brochure for Denver’s Downtown Aquarium. He’s been carrying the flyer around with him everywhere: “When can we go, huh? When can we go to Denver to feed the stingrays. Can we go soon?”

Clearly, a trip to the Mile-High City is in our future — probably this spring. Or maybe after April 19, when Elitch Gardens opens for the season. To think we have this mega amusement park and water park sort-of in our backyard, and our deprived children have never been. Horrors!

If a family vacation takes you to Denver when the warm weather hits, here are my top attractions to visit:

Downtown Aquarium takes visitors on a journey through various habitats, both under and above the water–from the desert to the coral reef, and from the beach to a sunken temple. The Aquarium Restaurant is a cool place for families to get a bite to eat — you can get up close and personal with a variety of marine life in the 150,000-gallon tank that surrounds the eatery. Special programs allow you to dive with the sharks, be a marine biologist for the day, even sleep at the aquarium overnight. Open year round.

Elitch Gardens is smack dab in the middle of downtown Denver. It’s hard to miss the giant roller coasters, Ferris wheel and other major rides. Thrill rides at Elitch’s (as it’s called by locals) include the Mind Eraser coaster and the Tower of Doom; family-friendly attractions are the 74-year-old carousel, the Tea Cups and the Star Toons Studio with rides for kids under 54 inches tall. Getting wet at the Island Kingdom Water Park is included with your admission: free fall in a cliff dive, frolic in a giant treehouse, relax on the lazy river and more. Open on the weekends from end-April through end-May, then daily through mid-August, and again on weekends through end October. Water park is open mid-May through Labor Day.

Children’s Museum of Denver is ideal for kids from infancy through eight years old. Conveniently located in downtown Denver, just off of I-25 and 23rd Avenue, the museum offers interactive “playscape” for various age groups. In the “Center for the Young Child,” babies, toddlers and preschoolers have a safe place to explore, climb and make believe at a pretend fishing pond. Bigger kids can explore a real fire truck, sell goods at a market, make train tracks, shoot baskets and put on a puppet show. Open year round.

Denver Zoo in City Park, five minutes from downtown Denver, is home to more than 4,000 animals representing more than 700 different species, including 144 endangered animals. From penguins and polar bears to tarantulas and turtles—you name the animal, and you can likely find it at the Denver Zoo, consistently among the state’s most popular tourist attractions. The zoo is especially festive during the winter holiday season, when the annual beloved Zoo Lights, with millions of sparkling animal displays and glittering trees delight visitors and locals alike. Open year round.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science is also in historic City Park and offers intriguing exhibitions for school-age children and their parents. Ongoing museum exhibits include Egyptian Mummies, Prehistoric Journey and Space Odyssey.  The Discovery Zone offers hands-on opportunities for learning (although kids just think they’re having fun!) with crafts, digging for fossils, even singing karaoke. The IMAX theatre and the Gates Planetarium offer multiple daily shows.

Visiting southwest Colorado with children? Here are top things to do in Durango in the summer months.

I remember being a kid and racing through any museum my parents had the temerity to drag me to, mindless of whatever exhibit they thought would enrich my apparently blighted youth. What was I looking for?

Why, the gift shop, of course! What else could possibly have been the point of bringing such a distracted and recalcitrant child to The Most Boring Place on Earth? Imagine my complete jaw-dropping shock when I was informed, yet again, that no, the museum store was not my personal playspace and no, I was not getting anything. I’d collect myself (and my jaw), and commence the next stage of youthful swag-acquisition. Those of you who have kids, or remember your youth with unfortunate clarity, will recall that each stage grows progressively louder, sometimes escalating to the tossing of the head and the stomping of the feet. This process was repeated so often in my childhood that it’s surprising my parents ever took me anywhere, frankly.
They must have occasionally caved and bought me whatever doodad I saw as just reward for having suffered through my parents’ attempts to give me culture and class, or I’d have realized the temper tantrums were futile. Research by psychologists has proven that unpredictable, sporadic rewards have a stronger reinforcement for behavior than do no rewards, or predictably timed ones. I think of this fact often when gearing up my kids for their own life-enrichment-through-museum-exposure. What I have done from the get-go is try to stick to our “every 5 times” rule: Every five visits to a museum, aquarium or zoo gets each child one visit to the gift shop. No temper tantrums so far, and because they can predict when they are allowed and not allowed to get a treat at the end of a family outing, the pressure is off and they enjoy all the museums, zoos and aquariums that much more. Score one for the behavioral psychologists!