from The Jerusalem Post Archives:
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Shoes and ships and sealing wax
Byline: HELEN KAYE
Date: Thursday, February 22, 2001
Publication: Daily Page: 09
Section: Arts
Keywords: Children, Exhibition, Children's Museum, Holon
Illustration: 2 photos
Caption: The lifecycle's pavilion is one of six exhibitions at the Israel
Children's Museum in Holon. The Owlcat can be found in the Enchanted Forest.
Think Disneyland with an attitude, and you have the Israel Children's
Museum, Holon, which opens to primary school kids and the general public on
March 27.
When the museum's creators traveled to look at other children's museums 'we
mostly saw what not to do,' explains municipality general director Hannah
Hertzman.
The result can currently be seen in two of the six pavilions planned which
will eventually range over 4,000 square meters in Holon's Peres Park, itself
designed to function as a multi-use urban space for the city's citizens.
One of the extant pavilions deals sensory and emotional perceptions and the
other deals with lifecycles in the natural world. The next pavilion, for
which Holon Mayor Moti Sasson has already appropriated NIS 10 million, will
be ready in two years and will cover movement in all its aspects.
The remaining three pavilions will deal with the atmosphere and space, the
world of matter, color and form, and not least, the world we live in.
The museum offers a child's eye view of the world and is designed to connect
with two age groups, from 3-7 and from 8-11. The museum's creators want the
children to experience, to touch, to feel and to become involved with what
they are seeing at every step and level of their guided tour through each of
the trails suited to their age group.
What happens next is sheer enchantment. The children and their guide first
go to the Activities Tent, walking through a maze to get there. The tent,
like the museum, is divided into areas of activity according to age group.
With their guide the children get to see playlets, draw, play board games,
fish with magnets.All of this is in preparation for the museum proper.
In the first pavilion, the little ones go on an imp hunt in the Enchanted
Forest; the older children experience mysterious aliens in a deserted city
after being kidnapped from a train.
Reporters on a tour went to the enchanted forest. This is not an echoing
hall divided by cases or corners with buttons to push or handles to pull. It
is a real enchanted forest that turns and twists with talking trees, clouds,
wizards, snow, puppets, costumes to put on, and lights to play with. It is a
sensory feast, and a bit scary too, just as kids adore.
In the Life Cycles pavilion, the younger children go on a similar journey
through the life cycles of plants, animals insects and even the moon. One
high spot is sure to be a video showing the actual birth of a lamb, while
the children can stroke and ride on woolly toy sheep and build a sheep run
with small bales of 'hay.' Another highlight is a pond in which gaily
colored plastic tadpoles can be maneuvered like bumper cars by remote
control.
Even when they leave the pavilions, kids wind down in yet another space
where they can play with toys that reinforce their visit.
'As in all else, there has to be a beginning, a middle and and end,' says
museum conceptual designer Ori Abramson, explaining the principles that
guided the creators' thinking. 'Children's development doesn't necessarily
fall within the current formal divisions because childhood experiences tend
to get carried over, and we wanted to express the diversity of these
experiences through esthetic and intellectual stimulation, and in an
environment that encourages concentration.'
SO FAR the museum has cost some NIS 30 million, all of which has been funded
by the municipality. It is a source of pride to Sasson that he has not had
to go hat-in-hand to anyone. He does admit though that he's seeking private
and corporate donors to fund the remaining three pavilions.
The museum is another stage in Holon's decision taken six years ago to
become the City of Children. According to museum director Yossi Frost, the
city's pre-school enrichment program is already attracting a lot of
attention from educators.
The museum and its auxiliary spaces are full of enticing playthings,
surfaces of all kinds, decorative educational aids as well as intricate
electronic equipment. What will happen if children steal, act roughly or run
wild, as excited kids are apt to do? What about wear and tear?
'We've laid in extras in case of theft,' explains one of the counselors,
'but it's been our experience that most of the children will not take
anything, and as for the rest, they're not alone at any time, are they?'
One hopes not.
The museum will be open seven days a week. The hours from 8:30 a.m. to 2
p.m. are reserved for kindergarten and primary school children. Families can
visit from 2 - 8 p.m. All visitors without exception are taken through the
museum by a specially trained young guide in groups of 10, so a time and a
date have to be booked ahead of time. The cost to families is NIS 55. For
school groups the charge is NIS 25-35 per child for Holon children and NIS
35-45 for others.
To the observation that this effectively closes the museum to poor children,
Frost says that 'no child will be turned away for lack of means.'
on 22/7/01 13:18, Tanya at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Does anyone have information regarding the children's museum in Holon? Days?
> Hours? Price? Address? Telephone?
>
> TIA!
>
> Tanya
>
>
> Registering for day care?
> Check out Thee Farm at Moshav Yishi
> www.shemesh.co.il/theefarm.html
>
>
Registering for day care?
Check out Thee Farm at Moshav Yishi
www.shemesh.co.il/theefarm.html
