Since I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries about children’s museums lately, I’d like to introduce a few. First up are the museums I featured in “The Switch for Children’s Creativity.” (Reprinted below from “The Switch for Children’s Creativity.”)

Have you heard of children’s museums?While they are relatively rare in Japan, there are over 300 of these hands-on, interactive museums for children in the United States.

　The first Children’s Museum I ever visited was the Boston Children’s Museum. I was 21 years old at the time.It’s located along a canal, right near the site of the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Children’s Museum is housed inside a brick warehouse.

　I was immediately blown away upon entering. Children were happily running around freely, diving into the colorful exhibits and climbing all over them.“Be quiet! Don’t run! Don’t touch!”—it was a world away from the stuffy image one typically associates with the word “museum.” These were exhibits that encouraged children to touch with their whole bodies and engage all five senses. There were hands-on workshops where they could try things out and create things themselves. Following their curiosity, they played and learned with complete absorption.

Museum Side View-©Karin Hansen

　“Play is what leads to the development of the skills necessary to thrive in tomorrow’s society—such as logical thinking, communication skills, problem-solving, and the ability to collaborate.It is widely believed that “the Boston Children’s Museum is a place where children can develop 21st-century skills through play.”

　Although this institution, founded in 1913, is not the oldest children’s museum, it was this museum that first introduced the concept known as “hands-on” and spread it throughout the world.Michael Spock, who became director in 1962, advocated for interactive exhibits that encourage children to spontaneously touch, experience, and deepen their understanding.

　The exhibits are designed around a variety of themes, including culture, health, language, art, science, technology, and mathematics.For example, in the soap bubble exhibit, bubbles come in all sizes—some big, some small—and take various shapes, such as ripples or swirls. Children can blow them, pull on them, and do whatever they like with the bubbles. There are child-sized rock drills, trucks, tunnels, slopes, and bridges.There are spaces where children can learn about the city through hands-on construction, as well as a traditional house from Kyoto’s Nishijin district—children can take off their shoes and step inside. In a studio filled with recycled materials where children can create whatever they like, they can peek inside objects they wouldn’t normally see and experiment with things they wouldn’t usually be able to touch or move.

Girl in Bubbles Exhibit—©Les Veileux

Beyond the spaces and programs, I was particularly impressed by the facility’s Teacher Leadership Center.The Boston Children’s Museum welcomes 500,000 visitors annually, and reportedly serves an additional 250,000 users—separate from its visitors—through off-site educational programs and the loan of educational kits, which I’ll discuss later (according to a 2003 survey).In other words, a total of 750,000 people benefit from the museum’s services each year. The Teacher Leadership Center is specifically responsible for developing and lending out these educational kits.

　To deepen understanding of the exhibits, the museum compiles relevant materials into kits that are loaned to schools and used for pre-visit and post-visit learning activities for children before and after their visits to the Boston Children’s Museum.

　The kits contain materials such as actual collection items, related videos, literature, and photographs, as well as instructions on how to use them. The themes cover a wide range of subjects, including social studies, math, language, art, biology, science, and cross-cultural understanding.When I was allowed to peek into the room where the kits are stored, I saw numerous kits packed tightly together, and no matter which box I opened, they were all the kind of materials you’d want to use in a workshop. The CANVAS package was actually inspired by this very approach and launched as a result. I’m told that currently, the kits are sold rather than loaned out.

©Paul Specht

By the way, on the upper floor, there is a traditional townhouse relocated from Kyoto—Boston’s sister city—which showcases the culture of Japan’s old townspeople. Alongside it is an old Tokyo Metro Ginza Line train car currently undergoing renovation, and together with anime and video games, it presents modern pop Japanese culture.While there are many areas within the facility where visitors can experience the cultures of other countries, the treatment of Japanese culture here is exceptional.

　Recently, Japanese culture has been gaining attention under the “Cool Japan” initiative, but long before that, this museum was already blending Kyoto’s traditional working-class culture with the city center’s vibrant contemporary pop culture to present “this is Japan.” True to Boston’s reputation, I’m once again impressed by its foresight.

　The Children’s Museum is less a “children’s museum” and more a “secret base for play and learning.” Whether in the U.S., Europe, or anywhere else in the world, it is brimming with features designed to stimulate children’s curiosity and motivate them to learn on their own.In a colorful, open space reminiscent of a toy box, you’ll find exhibits that tickle a child’s imagination and engage all five senses; diverse and creative hands-on workshops; a space where children—not the exhibits—take center stage; close interaction with facilitators; and deep collaboration with the local community, including schools, businesses, and citizen volunteers. Could it be that this is precisely where so many hints for new ways of learning are hidden?I’ve been captivated by children’s museums, and visiting them whenever I travel to a new place has become my life’s work.

©Robert Benson