Chicago Children's Museum

The weather is finally warming up enough for us to do a little exploring in our new city! I called around to the local colleges to see if they had child development labs similar to the one we went to at Harvard. University of Chicago just happened to have a study for both Liesel and Ireland. Aside from the little $ the girls earn by contributing to the social sciences, I enjoy doing it because the psych students get my humor. One of the researchers explained the study to which I wryly replied, "Really? How do you know it's not a double-blind?" to which she laughed heartily. Another gave me the rundown about how I could stop the study at any time and I said, " As long as you don't have someone in a white coat telling Ireland to shock someone in the next room" which had him laughing as well. Ahhhh, psych humor. I love it! While Harvard gave each girl a toy and $20, University of Chicago gives a choice of a toy OR $10. Since both girls participated, they gave them each $10 though so it still worked out well.

While we were in the neighborhood, I decided to take the girls to the Children's Museum at Navy Pier. I have a membership to the Iowa City Children's Museum which gives me free admission to others around the country. I braced myself for parking to be astronomical but it was a flat rate of $20 which isn't too horrible (I've certainly seen worse). Because it's the off-season, we got a great spot right next to the door. So here are the highlights from our adventure:

Before getting to the museum, we happened upon Crystal Gardens. What a thrill it was to find beautifully manicured palm trees, water fountains and birds of paradise in downtown Chicago in the dead of winter! It was like the flower room at the Bellagio! And it was FREE! We walked around for a bit and I determined to come back and eat lunch there when we finished at the museum. The space can be rented for events and they had this photo of what it looks like with fancy schmancy tables and chairs. Magical!

If I had to rate the Children's Museum, I'd give it a C+. Maybe I was spoiled by the one in Iowa City, but I think anything geared towards children should be 100% interactive. The current exhibit is toys from Mexico and there are indeed a lot of toys throughout the museum safely sitting behind plexiglass. Try and get a 2-year old interested in that! Also, many of the exhibits seemed half done. Like the person in charge of the room thought, "good enough" and just stopped. They could have done more to make it better. It's definitely a sizable space so there were still gems here and there.

There are a handful of places that are specifically geared towards the under 5 crowd. Some of them were really good and some were not worth the time. One area was designated for non-walkers and it was really well done. It had lightswitches to different colored lights in a little tunnel. Just when I thought Ireland was finished, she'd crawl through the tunnel, stop, reverse and go right back to the lightswitches. She was in love and hung out there for quite a while.

Liesel is rather entertained by her shadow lately. While I get Ireland in the car, I often find Liesel running up and down the sidewalk laughing at how her shadow is chasing her. This exhibit which focused on shadows was perfect for her. She enjoyed seeing the green flakes fall on her head. Another one had butterflies and if you stood still long enough they would come and perch on you. That one really freaked Liesel out so I wasn't able to get a photo.

The next time we go, we'll head directly for the Inventing Room. They had a sculpture/chair thingy made out of rolling pins that intrigued Ireland. A slide that made music as you went down which had Liesel laughing. A true "musical chair" that if it were available for a reasonable price, I would totally buy. The back has a drum and I think you can even play the planks that make up the seat. It has strings you can pluck and chimes on both sides. Very cool!

Even though the museum was a bit of a let down there were elements that made it worth the trip. For me, the best part was the soporific effect it had on the girls. I had a silent drive home where I could just relax and contemplate the cosmos.