Go “Out on a Limb” with your kids issues

By Torleif Sorenson

If you have young children (or grandchildren), you know that despite busy schedules and a tight economy, time spent with them is never wasted. But if you’re looking for something new—or different—to do and share with them, then you should consider going “out on a limb” with them at the Minnesota Children’s Museum.

Hands on, baby
“Out on a Limb” is the name of a traveling exhibit that opened just a couple of weeks ago at the Minnesota Children’s Museum. The point of this hands-on program is nature-themed play designed to fire kids’ senses of sight, sound, touch and movement using hands-on artwork, a large tree-house and building a fort—using safe materials in a safe environment, of course.

The four sections of this exhibit are called Whirlwind, Light Play, Forest Jam and Gnome Home and are loaded with fanciful scenery designed to encourage kids to explore.

As Kylee Breems, public relations director for the museum, points out, “The exhibits also provide practice with thephysical skills of climbing and balancing, which really helps children develop their self-confidence in outdoor play.” One of the ideas, Breems says, is to give kids the chance to play in a somewhat unstructured setting so that they control their connection and interactions with the exhibit’s features. “Out on a Limb” was created by Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose, Calif., and will be on exhibit at the Minnesota Children’s Museum through Jan. 24, 2010.

The third time’s the charm
The Minnesota Children’s Museum is now in its third location. There was nothing terribly wrong with the museum’s first two locations—they simply outgrew them. The museum opened as “Minnesota’s AwareHouse” in downtown Minneapolis in Dec. 1981, then when space constraints and increasing attendance demanded, they moved to an 18,000 square-foot space in St. Paul’s Energy Park district in 1985. The “new” museum now offers 65,000 square feet of space, including five permanent exhibits that cater to kids from infants and toddlers to more sophisticated activities serving kids up to age 10 and, of course, their parents.

Friday on my mind
One attractive option for visiting the Minnesota Children’s Museum is the extended hours on Fridays, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. On weekends and Tuesdays through Thursdays, the museum is open until 5 p.m. And with the parking ramp conveniently across 7th Street and numerous Metro Transit bus routes serving downtown St. Paul, access to the museum couldn’t be much easier.

So go ahead. Go “out on a limb” with your kids/grandchildren.

You can find information on the Minnesota Children’s Museum—including membership—at their Web site: http://www.mcm.org.