In the eyes of Americans, museums are an essential "outdoor classroom" for children. The colorful museums also leave a deep impression on people from all over the world.
Boston Children's Museum
Boston Children's Museum is transformed from an old dock warehouse. In front of the museum, there is a small open space with a milk bottle as tall as three stories, inscribed with the words "Boston Children's Museum." This sign is thought-provoking and very relevant, indicating that the museum provides spiritual nourishment for children, just as milk is essential for their nutrition. The exhibits cover topics such as nature, science, technology, and ethnology. Notably, the content related to ethnology and folklore occupies a significant proportion of the displays. In the Italian section, real objects and models introduce Italian houses, traditional costumes, food, crafts, and language to child visitors, where they can learn simple Italian and use an automatic phone with recorded messages to converse in the Italian they just learned. In the Japanese section, there is a house designed in the style of traditional Japanese architecture, accessible through a small alley and porch, leading directly into the living room, bedroom, and kitchen, all fully furnished. Some trained lower-grade university students volunteer their time here as tutors, leading children in various games that mimic Japanese life, such as greeting guests, drinking tea, eating, and sleeping. This house was a gift from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to the museum. Originally, during urban redevelopment in Tokyo, this quaint wooden house was deemed too valuable to discard, so it was donated to the American Children's Museum, making good use of resources and benefiting all involved.
In this museum, there are many simulated environments, such as a grocery store, food shop, and hospital. In the clinic, children can role-play as patients, doctors, and nurses, using various medical instruments for treatment exercises. There is also a biology research room equipped with specimens of insects, birds, fish, and mammals, along with books, materials, and microscopes for children to conduct experiments. The most attractive feature for children in the museum is a mini-computer that stores a wealth of information closely related to children's lives and learning, with 24 terminal devices capable of answering various questions posed by children. We see many young visitors intently "playing" on the computer, seeking satisfactory answers, and displaying joyful smiles. The museum also provides thoughtful services for children with disabilities. They have created a language reading machine for visually impaired children, controlled by a computer, allowing them to listen to messages through headphones after placing prepared materials into the reading machine. For children with leg and foot disabilities, wheelchairs and ramps are provided, and a small section of uneven road is specially laid out in the exhibition room, along with several pairs of crutches. Healthy children can also use the wheelchairs and crutches to experience the difficulties faced by disabled children, inspiring their compassion and desire to help others.
Children's Museum within the Museum
The children's museum attached to a large museum is smaller in scale and exhibition content compared to dedicated children's museums. The exhibits are consistent with the nature of the parent museum. The children's gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York introduces young visitors to the architectural art of ancient Greek temples and fine art images. The American Museum of Natural History (New York) has a "White Natural Science Center," which is also a children's natural museum attached to a larger institution. In the natural exhibits, museum staff believe that live animals attract children more than static specimens, so they display small white mice, fish, lizards, etc., in glass tanks, with aquariums embedded in the walls, creating a cross-section pattern of a riverbed, placing the tanks in corresponding locations based on the animals' natural habitats. This display method is very vivid and easy for children to understand. Many exhibits also use questioning or heuristic display methods. One set of 11 picture panels has each picture covering another; the top picture shows juvenile animals, such as tadpoles and chicks, while the covered picture shows adult animals, like frogs and roosters. The guides lead children through the exhibits, asking questions to guess the animals, and if they answer correctly, they can uncover the top picture to find the answer. Through this visit, children learn that a large frog grows from a tadpole.
During visits to these children's museums, it is understood that the funding for children's museums in the United States comes primarily from donations, with government support accounting for only a small proportion. Many costly exhibits are donated by individuals or corporate sponsors. For example, the mini-computer at the Boston Children's Museum was donated and installed by a computer company in the United States. It is also noted that the staff at these children's museums place great importance on research in child psychology and educational psychology, and the design of the museum exhibits closely follows children's psychological characteristics and interests, selecting content that is closely related to children's lives and learning, using heuristic methods to stimulate children's initiative and enthusiasm for knowledge, and encouraging their desire to explore problems. Some museums also distribute different worksheets to children of different grades, with answers found within the exhibits, which they must seek out and submit for grading by the guides at the end of their visit. In addition to maintaining basic exhibits, museums regularly hold lectures, report meetings, storytelling sessions, films, and concerts to support children's extracurricular learning. Some museums prepare specialized teaching materials for teachers from grades one to nine, combining exhibits and collections. Most children's museums have attached libraries open to children, and some even offer experimental workshops for children to learn various crafts and technologies. Some museums also organize children's tours and summer camps to explore and learn in nature.