Friday, June 11, 2010

The Climber and Underland are NOW OPEN!


Children swarm up 18 feet to the top of The Climber and flow back down again, like water spreading in all directions. Like water, only noisy! “Awesome!” “Extreme FUN!” “I can see the whole entire city from up here.” “We can spy on people.” “I want to stay up here forever!” They climb past and around and over each other like puppies, point out ways to get up or down, boost each other up to the next platform, call out “Coming through!”


In Underland kids scuttle through the tunnels, chasing and hiding from each other, then pop out from unexpected places. Screams of surprise and delight! Meanwhile, a child in a bunny costume stirs acorn “soup,” which he serves to his friend the cicada. A marimba-playing salamander provides the dinner music.

The exciting new play spaces in The Children’s Garden are open at last! It’s been years of planning, designing, fundraising, building and anticipating. But no matter how much planning and anticipating we do, there is nothing like the thrill of actually seeing children using – and loving – the environments we create. It’s the best, most satisfying feeling ever.

We are so grateful to the hundreds of donors to the Museum’s Play Works Campaign for Kids who made it possible to create these amazing new play spaces. Thanks to your generosity, the campaign surpassed its $1.5 million goal by more than $250,000. That’s pretty satisfying, too!


On behalf of all of those climbing, pretending, running, noisy, happy children - THANK YOU!

Janice O’Donnell
Executive Director

6 comments:

  1. What a fantastic opening event for two incredible new spaces! I can't wait to climb to the top myself :)

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  2. To all you awesome folks at the PCM:
    THANK YOU for the beautiful new outdoor exhibits you have created. You surpassed our expectations and delivered yet another high-quality, imagination-inspiring, exciting way to play and learn! Thank you for the gazillion hours of brainstorming, planning, and building you did to bring it to fruition. Our family can't wait to spend the summer exploring and playing outside at the PCM.
    Kudos all around!
    Your fans,
    The Biolchini Family

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  3. We visited the new exhibits yesterday. The climber is amazing and I love that it is outside. It looks like it is wearing a giant party hat! We also loved the new Underland. My daughter had so much fun checking out all of the hidden animals and creatures - and the new play space is beautiful (such lovely wooden containers and chairs!). The sandbox is fabulous, too! We will be spending a lot more time there this summer. Many congratulations!

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  4. How exciting! I'm glad kids are enjoying the new exhibits, they certainly look like a lot fun. I'd love to hear some stories about how children and families are using the exhibits since I can't be there to see it for myself!

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  5. Thanks, everyone! Lindsay, guess what - you're a step ahead of us. That's our next blog post, which we're working on right now. But please keep giving us ideas if there are things you want to know about!

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  6. Great! I can't wait to hear about what kids (and their families) are doing in the new exhibits! Thanks for keeping this blog updated:)

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