More than Art: An Experience for Kids

When was the last time you went to an exhibition that tolerated, no WELCOMED, toddlers? This group of underserved citizens isn't exactly the type that's likely to make a donation or start blogging about the merits of your museum. From an institution's point of view, toddlers and babies might just be the last frontier of constituent cultivation. As the mother of an almost-two-year-old, I certainly understand why this is often the case, but maybe it shouldn't be. Kids this age are actually quite responsive, little sponges that they are, and more eager to learn than most adults who enter an exhibition with a preconceived notion about what makes a successful presentation and what ruins it. At age two, there's none of that. Any new information is good information--the gooey stuff that's likely to become lodged in the sticky corners of the brain.

My daughter's class recently had the pleasure of visiting Jim Henson's Fantastic World (organized by SITES), now on display at the Smithsonian's International Gallery in Washington, D.C. It was a joy to see the youngsters sit on their hands and knees in front of the cases and shout (in outside voices, mind you), "Look! Bert, Ernie!" Seeing Kermit in person was especially exciting for some, but even for those who didn't know Kermit, they were still able to identify him as a happy, green frog. These are big concepts for toddlers, who are everyday striving to make sense and verbally describe the landscapes around them. In Henson's world--as in the exhibition--colors are big and bold; art is imaginative and fresh and as much about "process" as about the finished product itself.

For the kids, the most engaging part of the exhibition was surely the Resource Room, a hands-on and "Hensonesque" space replete with colorful picture books to flip through and story boards to design. A full-scale puppet theater and a heaping basket of puppets inspired them all as they ran around exchanging Big Bird puppets for Elmos, making each babble in its own hilarious voice. Felt faces, mounted low to the ground, were another crowning jewel of the Resource Room. Kids could rummage through a variety of Velcro noses, crazy mouths, furry mustaches, and big ears to create perfectly silly faces (I had to force my child to leave this station). Floppy bean-bag chairs, in every color imaginable, rounded out the experience for the toddlers. When the kids were all bouncing on the chairs--each with a big, toothy grin on his or her face--I realized that somebody understood the need to entertain and educate the youngest of audiences. And when kids are happy, you guessed it, parents are even happier.

Comments

[berry]

I wasn't going to comment as this post was written a while ago, but I found myself asking a lot of questions when I read it. I think it is important to find the blogs that you read regularly and stay involved in the discussion in a regular, relevant and timely manner. So I'll be back and see whether you'll be answering :o).

[Heather Shelton]

Hi Tom,
I just checked the itinerary, and it doesn't look like the show is going to NY. It will be in MS, MA, CA, and IL next. If you want the scoop on what's in the show, check out the website: http://www.sites.si.edu/henson. There's a really good podcast that one of the curators did last year.
http://www.sites.si.edu/henson/podcast.html

[Tom Bolger]

Will the Jim Henson show ever come to the N Y C or State areas? Thanks.

[Alex]

Fantastic post! we need more of those . I'm a parent from Romania and i find your topic extremely interesant being though in here we can't read something like this very often .

[Panadol]

Good topic.