The Bub in the Belly

This is part 2 of our visit to the Please Touch Museum. Sorry about the lack of photos - I was having too much fun playing with the exhibits!

After lunch, we went to explore Roadside Attractions which was in the opposite wing. The theme for this exhibit was road transportation. There were lots of opportunities for pretend play and role playing here. Children could pretend that they were going on a trip on a SEPTA bus (or they could be the driver), he/she could pretend to buy/sell a sandwich from a roadside snacks/drinks cart, or work the excavators at a construction site (scoop up balls). They could also fill up their cars at the gas station or fill up tires with air, collect tolls, learn about road signs, construct a large car (put on the wheels, the bumper, etc), send a car to a carwash, ride a scooter, etc. Ryan had a lot of fun here.

Next to this was "City Park", which was a replica of a small park, with park benches and trees. There is a mural made up of magnetic tiles there, which the children can rearrange to create an image and learn how things fit together.

The Please Touch Playhouse Theater was having a puppet show so we went over to the theater. On the way, we passed the Liberty Arm & Torch which is a 40-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty's Arm and Torch. The sculpture is made of toys, games and other objects. There is a small circular flight of steps leading up to it and you can touch it freely and try to spot some of your old favourite toys and games. It sits in Hamilton Hall, which is in the centre of Memorial Hall, and you can see the Memorial Hall's famous copper dome above it.

There was another sculpture made from discarded toys just outside the cafe called Artie the Elephant, which is a life-sized elephant made from hundreds of discarded playthings, including a 1960s Batmobile, some Smurfs, a Spider-Man and a football helmet.

The playhouse was putting on a puppet show called "There's Something Under My Bed". Here's a trailer on Youtube of the show, although the puppeteer we had was a different person from the person in the trailer. The show was fantastic, we enjoyed it thoroughly.

After the show, we ventured into Wonderland. This is based on the world of Alice in Wonderland. You can walk through a circular maze of green hedges, have tea with the Mad Hatter, make tea in a hollowed out tree trunk (the Duchess' Kitchen), play in the Hall of Doors and Mirrors where proportions and perspectives are not what they seem, play dress up - whether as the Mad Hatter, Alice or a playing card, and play croquet with flamingoes as the characters did in the story.

As usual, there was a toddler area for the youngest among us. It was called "Fairytale Garden" where children could pick apples off a tree, pin the laundry on a line (or take it off and put it in a basket), go on a ship adventure (like in the story of The Owl and the Pussycat), milk a cow, etc.

Oh Captain, my Captain! (The boat rocks and rolls while there are people in it)

Next to this was a hall which housed the Centennial Exploration exhibit, which showcased the sight and sounds of Philadelphia in 1876. We were running out of time so we gave this a miss, but from the writeup on the website it did sound very interesting and fun for the children. Although it is more of an "adult" exhibit, there are still hands-on experiences for the children to explore, like an old telephone, typewriter, building a miniature railroad, playing with a wooden dollhouse, etc.

We spent a lot of time at City Capers, a child-sized "city" in the museum, which lets children explore a realistic urban environment, while getting to know the people, places and businesses that make up city life. There is a medical centre with lab coats, cribs, baby dolls and doctor's equipment, where the children can pretend to be a doctor/nurse/patient, there is a shoe store, with lots of shoes, where they can pretend to be a salesperson, customer or shopowner. There is a construction site ("Busy Build") where children can pretend to be construction workers, architects or city planners while using the tools and equipment on the construction site, like pulleys to lift bricks, etc.

Part of City Capers is "Front Step", which is the toddlers area. There is a small house surrounded by a garden complete with deck chairs. The children can go into the house and sit at the dining table or they can hang out on the porch. They can also do some vegetable gardening - Ryan planted and harvested some potatoes and carrots - or mow the lawn.




And yes, there is a replica of McDonald's - the quintessential symbol of modern civilisation. We didn't go there.

The last exhibit zone we explored was Flight Fantasy, which has an outer space theme. Children are encouraged to experiment with balance, speed and coordination and create movement using their bodies. For example, there is a giant hamster wheel, a balance beam, a flying propeller bike, and a pedal track that operates a revolving circuit of toys. There is also a space where you can put together UFOs and rockets (made of styrofoam) and launch them across the room. Lots of opportunities to learn about math (there are timers at each launching station), science (gravity, wind resistance, lift), cause and effect, plus lots of gross motor development.

We next visited The Program Room, which provides arts-related programmes for the children, whether painting or building a tower with blocks. You can sit as long as you like with your child and play or paint as many pieces as you like, for free. In fact, everything in the museum was free, except for the Carousel (and the food at the cafe of course).

One of Ryan's masterpieces done at the Program Room

Our last stop was the bookstore/toy store/gift shop, where we picked up some toys and souvenirs for Ryan.

In addition to the interactive exhibits, the museum also has a collection of over 12,500 toys from yesteryear. There are little nooks and crannies around the museum displaying these old toys like Marvin the Martian, an entire Smurf collection and some old Star Wars figurines.

The museum was a wonderful experience. The exhibits were attractive and interesting enough to capture the interest and imagination of the children, and they provided lots of learning opportunities through play. The children were free to touch everything and play with all the exhibits in any manner they could imagine - there was no "right" or "wrong" way to handle the exhibits or to play and there were no museum staff to tell you not to do this or not to do that. There was one staff member stationed at each toddler area, one staff member at River Adventures to help with the waterproof overalls and one staff member at Roadside Attractions to help the children with the excavators. There was also one staff member at the Carousel and one inside the Program Room to replenish the art materials - but most of the time she was painting her own artpiece! So we were largely left on our own to discover and explore and play. Fantastic place.

Once again, sorry about the lack of photos - here's a Youtube video (slightly less than 3 minutes) with a general overview of the museum, and you can also see the children playing with the exhibits. Good stuff. We were glad that we made the trip.

Next instalment - New York City!

From Bucks County, we drove to the Please Touch Museum using the interstate (I-95). It was straightforward enough and we got there without any fuss. Of course we couldn't leave these two fellows behind.

The award-winning Please Touch Museum is specifically designed for families with children and provides learning opportunities through play. The exhibits promote the philosophy that hands-on, self-directed, open-ended experiences facilitate learning and, importantly, are fun!

The museum is set up in Memorial Hall, which is a restored 19th century building. It is the only major structure remaining from Philadelphia's 1876 Centennial Exhibition (in honour of USA's 100th birthday). It is considered one of America's best examples of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture. I also found it interesting that, as graceful as it is, it is also completely fireproof, being fashioned from glass, iron, brick and granite, which I thought was remarkable for that era.

Here's a shot of the building. We didn't get a shot of the huge statues in front so do check out the shots on the internet to see those.



The exhibits are spread out over two wings and two floors - here's a map. All the exhibits in the museum are meant to be touched and played with in an open-ended manner - there is no right or wrong way to play!

The first section we went to was River Adventures. There are a few exhibits in this section, Ryan was most absorbed in this one.


Like a river, there is water flowing through the whole structure which snakes and curves around the hall. At various sections, there are  rubber ducks, boats, pumps, wheels, paddles and blowers. The children are encouraged to touch and play with the toys, the mechanisms, the structures and of course the water.


Ryan was able to see how the boats/ducks behave in the water, why some float and some sink, how the waves are generated, the patterns the waves make and how the waves affect the objects in the water. There was a miniature canal lock (like the canal lock in the Panama canal) which I found pretty cool. There is also a Water Wheel and an Archimedes Screw. Great introduction to basic concepts about engineering and mechanics, properties of water, a bit of math, nature, problem solving, critical thinking, and just plain fun. Gives a whole new dimension to the term "water play" and "sensory play"! We were there for a long time!

Off to one side of this water attraction was a section for younger children and infants to play, which was called Nature's Pond. There were animals hidden in the high grass, some logs and stepping stones. In addition to climbing up and down the structures, the children could also create nature's sounds by stepping on the lily pads in the pond and they could crawl inside the hollowed out log. There was also some educational information on eco-living for those who were interested. Of course, it was not a real pond with real animals, etc. Everything was cushioned or covered with PVC - all very safe for toddlers. We didn't venture into this section because Ryan wouldn't leave River Adventures.

Next to that was a giant musical keyboard which was placed on the floor for people to play by stepping or dancing on the keys. Anyone could step up and play if they felt like it. There were people playing with it when we were there so we gave it a miss. If you've seen the 1988 movie "Big" starring Tom Hanks, you'll remember the scene where he and Robert Loggia played "Heart and Soul" on a walking piano in the middle of a New York City toy store. This is the exact same keyboard from that movie. It was donated to the museum in 2009. Here's a link to a Youtube video of that scene.

After we tore Ryan away from River Adventures, Richard took him for a ride on this beautiful vintage carousel - the Woodside Park Dentzel Carousel.


This gorgeous carousel made its debut in 1924 at Woodside Park (although many of the animals on the carousel date back to 1908).  It is in the shape of an octadecagon (18-sided polygon). The animals are lifelike and were handcarved. They stand three abreast, the outer ring fixed while the inner rings rise and fall in a slow gallop. There are 2 chariots and 52 animals, including 40 horses, four cats, two goats and four rabbits. William Dentzel was so proud of the carousel that he had his initials carved on the lead horse. Some of the animals are quite rare - the "flirting rabbit" (where one paw is lifted as if waving hello) on the original carousel is one of only three known to exist in the world.


Eighteen beveled mirrors are attached to the outside rounding board, each surrounded by a clown head, decorated with acanthus leaves. There are 1278 light sockets lining the cross beams and decorating the entire lower edge of the outer rim, the clown shields and the mirror frames, leading The Smithsonian to note that they were "one of the most fantastic illuminated designs ever seen". I thought it was just beautiful!



After the ride, we had a quick lunch at the Please Taste Cafe. There is a dining hall adjacent to the cafe, which is a lovely sunlit space with a double-storey high ceiling and huge colourful artwork on the walls. I don't know if it was the intention but the proportions in the space - the windows, the high ceiling, the art - were so huge that I felt really small, like a child.



Ok, that's it for this post, I'll finish off the rest of our museum outing in the next instalment!

Saturday got off to an early start with breakfast at nearby Marine Parade Central.

We came across these baskets of durians. I do not like durians and usually walk past as quickly as possible to get away from the smell. Inexplicably, Richard takes every opportunity to introduce Ryan to them. I have no idea why - could he be trying to annoy me? Nah, the man I love and who loves me wouldn't do that. Then again, looking at his expression in this photo, I think something is not right (by the way, this shot was taken with a zoom lens while I was standing upwind.)

After breakfast, it started to rain heavily so we loitered around and visited some of the shops while waiting out the rain. The aquarium and pet shop was particularly interesting. Ryan got to see lots of fish, some terrapins, some lobsters plus some guinea pigs, rabbits, etc. He was very excited.


In the late afternoon, we met up with some friends for a visit to the Singapore Art Museum, where there was an exhibition of "interactive contemporary art" for children. I'll do a separate post on that, for now I will just say that it wasn't as interactive as I'd thought. Here's a shot of Richard and Ryan with Walter the curious colossal bunny on the lawn outside the entrance (there is nothing interactive about the bunny at all, by the way).


Oh well, even if the exhibition wasn't that great, we did have a wonderful time catching up with friends. After dinner with them, our little family went for Ben & Jerry's ice cream! Great way to end our evening out!


Back home, we did some activities with flashlights and coloured cellophane - will share that in a separate post. Then, Richard went to have drinks with the guys near our home while Ryan and I took Max for a walk around the neighbourhood. After coming home, Ryan had some water play in the shower before going off to bed.

On Sunday, Ryan had swimming class in the morning. We skipped last week's lesson on account of waking up late and it being Father's Day, so Ryan was pretty happy to be in the water this week.


Shichida class was next. This is the last class of the term and there will be a one week break before the start of the next term.

Ryan got a fantastic term report - full praise on every aspect and his teacher told me, "I'm really amazed at his abilities!" One of the parents in our class also commented that Ryan is "very fast". Super job, my darling!


Tea was a muffin tin meal - cornflakes, snacks and fruit (the apple is from the Singapore Art Museum!).


The evening was spent at the playground in Telok Kurau Park, taking advantage of the pleasant weather. As usual, Ryan rode there in his little car. On the way back he wanted to be carried, which was much better because it was easier to point out little things to him along the way, like the different flowers, the different coloured leaves, the pieces of tree bark, some fallen fruit, the canal, etc.



It was a fabulous weekend, can't wait for the next!