Circumscribing an arc across the southwest, from Phoenix to San Antonio, are three of this country’s most innovative, imaginative kids museums. What they all have in common is the sine qua non of such children’s sites: interactivity.
First, Phoenix. Children’s Museum of Phoenix is a deep-desert gem – literally and figuratively. Up on the third floor there’s a child-sized gallery replete with paintings of Arizona flora, fauna and fun. Then there’s Building Big, where kids can construct forts, lean-tos, dens and the like. All the building material is right there, stuff that allows them to fashion columns, beams, roofs and walls. Something for toddlers? Ian’s Corner is also on the third floor, and lets them putter about in whimsically-shaped cars mimicking a pencil, tube of toothpaste and even a pickle.
A bit farther east, follow the rising sun to Albuquerque, home of Explora. This quintessentially interactive enclave’s latest exhibit area is Math Moves! Explora says it’s designed for all ages, that it allows kids to use “their bodies and…brains to investigate and discover ideas about ration and proportion.” Children “draw geometric shapes, measure light and shadow [and] create patterns using gears of different ratios.” All this adds up to an educational experience that sticks.
From Albuquerque, follow the arc to the southeast, to San Antonio. The San Antonio Children’s Museum is a magnet for like-minded parents in search of a place kids can run about, learn, and let off a bit of steam. Here they can create bubbles of all shapes and sorts, even one big enough to fit in; power a pulley-operated elevator, fly a plane and oversee the action from a control tower, don a hard hat and drive a front-end loader and milk a cow.
Milk these three great museums for all they’ve got and nourish your child, body and soul.
(Featured image: Ishrona)
