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 Are you looking for a safe, hands-on play area for your youngest ones? That Kids’ Playce provides an expansive, sheltered place for fun, interactive activity for children ages 6 and younger.
The Fossil Pit
Enter Kids' Playce, and you will immediately find something that every child loves: a dig pit. In the Fossil Pit, children can dig through soft rubber shavings with plastic shovels and buckets, delightfully unearthing numerous dinosaur “bones.” This hands-on play will introduce young visitors to archaeology and prehistory, since digging for previous civilizations is what allows us to explore life as it was before we knew it. When the digging is done, lead your little ones to an interactive, child-friendly archaeological “map ” puzzle sticking to the side of the soft walls surrounding the dig pit; here, youngsters can piece together a soft puzzle of archaeological discovery.
The Fossil Pit provides a safe place for young children to begin to explore the world of archaeology. Lead them to the Fossil Pit for delightful digging fun!
SunWatch Thatched Hut Replica
For children six and under, the SunWatch Thatched Hut Replica is an important place; every Monday and Wednesday at 11:00 a.m., a knowledgeable staff member from the Museum’s Education Department offers an interactive activity. Visit us at this time, and your child might hear a new story or participate in an age-appropriate craft; visit us any other time, and your child can still take part in hands-on activity by creating a rubbing of a natural history-themed tablet with large pieces of chubby chalk designed especially for little fingers. No matter what time you visit, the SunWatch Thatched Hut Replica provides a unique haven for younger visitors.
Tree House and Slide
Climb up into the Tree House and Slide area on the first floor of the Museum and get a bird’s-eye view! From your perch inside the Tree House, you can see people climbing the nearby rope ladder, splashing happily at the water table, and learning the properties of matter and motion in Oscar Boonshoft Science Central. To expand your vision even further, peer inside a periscope from inside the Tree House, which will give you a closer look at all that’s happening around you. When you’re ready to rejoin those on the floor, simply climb back down the stairs—or sail down the convenient yellow slide!
DO Lab Jr.
The principle behind Kids' Playce is that “play is a way of knowing.” In the DO Lab, Jr., children can gain some hands-on experience with sorting, grouping, and shape and color recognition. Here, one small table with a train track on top allows your child to discover how a train travels. Another small table, lit up from underneath, offers more freeform play; translucent, different-colored blocks fit together on top the table, glowing softly from the table light. At the DO Lab Jr., your child can become a creative problem solver! |
