White Plains CitizeNetReporter - <i>King Komments</i> Councilman Resumes Children's Museum Crusade

WPCNR KING KOMMENTS. By White Plains Councilman William King. August 20, 2002: The "Councilman Columnist" gives some concrete ideas for what a Children's Museum in White Plains should display. He is working to obtain National Historic Site status for Chatterton Hill and Purdy House in White Plains.

From Indianapolis's award-winning Children's Museum, which I just read about:

1. A life-size, moving, roaring Tyranasourus Rex (there are also such T Rex's at the Norwalk Aquarium and at Toys R Us in Times Square)

2. A carousel (merry-go-round)

3. A replica of a one-room schoolhouse for kids to playact (there also was one at the now defunct City Life Museum in Baltimore which my then 4-year-old daughter loved)

Ideas from Illinois

From the DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville, IL, which I just visited, the best exhibit was a simulated workshop where kids put on goggles and use hammers and screwdrivers, etc. - it is sponsored by a local hardware chain.

The best exhibit at the Children's Museum of Manhattan was where kids can crawl through "Joe or Jane's intestines," although I thought this idea could be improved on maybe to the whole abdomen - similar things have been done on videos in cartoons such as the Magic Schoolbus and Rugrats.

What Should Go In a White Plains Children's Museum

A children's museum in White Plains should:

1. Highlight our history - I am working with the White Plains Historical Society separately in applying to the National Park Service for national historic site status of Chatterton Hill (Battle Hill) and the Purdy House.

2. Focus on the arts

No videos, please.

One thing I have seen in a few children's museums that I have found to be deadly boring and should be avoided at all costs is the use of tv videos, which kids can see just as easily at home.

A "Hot Suburb" Sparks the Imagination.

To generate interest and advertise a fundraising effort, I saw a great idea in Naperville, Illinois. Naperville is a western Chicago suburb with a population now of 130,000+ and is viewed as a "hot suburb" with a Victorian historic district and a "crunchy" downtown, including the DuPage Children's Museum.

All around Naperville, they have painted carousel horses on poles, each advertising a different charity but many were for a new children's hospital. At first, I thought the horses were advertising the coming of a carousel in their Downtown which they may also be for.

I'll try to contact Met Life this week about the Sears store site. Councilman William King


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