| Long Island Children’s Museum, Uniondale |
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Our Backyard
Long Island Children's Museum Admission: Included with museum admission (Museum admission fee: $10 for children and adults; $9 for seniors over 65 year of age). Carved from an asphalt alley adjoining the Children’s Museum, Our Backyard (OBY) is a 3,600 sq. ft. garden exhibit that invites children to investigate the environment using all of their senses. Children are readily drawn to explore the exhibit freely and are encouraged to touch, smell, look, listen and sometimes even taste, as they develop a sense of wonder and appreciation for the natural world. During their exploration, they can discover how to tell time by the sun, measure rainfall, learn about herbs in the "Spa Garden" and make bird feeders or sun catchers. A water play area offers the chance to make sun showers "on demand", race boats down two rills in the current and play in natural streambeds crossed by bridge or stepping stones. The area offers ample opportunities to engage in gross motor play as children climb through and on a giant tire, move gravel and sand with rakes or wheelbarrows, and direct the flow of water by rope pump and pulleys, gutters and buckets. Notes: The Our Backyard exhibition has received numerous awards for innovative design and programming and is a certified "Nature Explore" classroom. Here's an interesting article about Our Backyard (click here): This article first appeared in Healthy Kids, Healthy Museums, edited by Mary Maher, Arlington, VA: Association of Children’s Museums, 2010. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Visit www.ChildrensMuseums.org to learn more. To download a free PDF version of the book, go to www.childrensmuseums.org/programs/healthykidshealthymuseumsregistry.htm.” |
