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Friday, April 15, 2011

Kidcity Children's Museum in Middletown a labyrinth of imagination

Step into a world where children guide adults through labyrinths of the imagination and playfulness at Kidcity Children’s Museum in Middletown.

“Any age that enjoys pretend play is going to have a good time here,” museum founder Jennifer Alexander says.

Alexander opened Kidcity in 1998 with an eye on helping revitalize downtown Middletown and making the museum a destination location.

Today, with more than 100,000 people a year visiting Kidcity, and 90 percent of them coming from out of town, it appears that her grand plan is working.


Since children naturally play no matter where they are, Alexander said, this museum is designed to encourage parents to connect with their children.

“It’s a special intimate time,” Alexander said. “The kids lead the grownups.”

There are a myriad of theme rooms of various shapes and sizes in the two-building complex.

One of the newer exhibits that took 18 months to complete is the “Space Age Roadtrip,” with a bubble family car, “Rocko’s Used Spacecraft,” the dark and spooky “Kaleidoscope Motel,” along with interactive “O’Ryan’s Tool Belt and Rocket Repair,” and “Alien Annie’s Howdy-ville.”

Here, children get to experiment with scientific phenomena such as gravity and physics, just by doing, Alexander said.

What children really enjoy is mimicking activities they see adults do, she said, such as sitting behind a wheel of a car and pretending to drive, or serving pretend food to their parents at a make-believe diner modeled after Middletown’s O’Rourke’s Diner.

Alexander, with children of her own, said the museum’s secret ingredient is the artwork.

She hired local artisans, including Scott Kessel and Matt Niland, to bring the whimsical, detailed, and extremely durable and safe exhibits to life.

“We design our exhibits by remembering how we liked to play when we were kids and by watching our own children,” Alexander said. “It’s about suspension of disbelief and it’s about play.”

From the beaming smiles on the faces of all the children and adults at the facility on a recent visit, it seems the museum is a resounding success.

“Our mission is really about the adult-child relationship,” Alexander said.

Lindsay Hillemeir, 4, of Farmington, loved the “Musical Planet” room, a playscape of seesaws, slides, and monkey bars that also is a tribute to world music.

She also enjoyed the industrious activity at “The Fishery” — a fish-processing plant where colorful rubber fish with magnetic mouths are “processed” by children through intricate conveyor belt systems.

“This is a fun place,” Lindsay said to her mother, Tina Hillemeir, who agreed, adding that what she really appreciates about the museum is that it is “unplugged,” with no video games in sight.

There isn’t a video game or computer game in the whole museum, and that is by design, Alexander said. It’s all about interacting with others and moving, rather than being isolated and alone.

Tina Hillemeir also said she appreciated the family restrooms, which are equipped with changing stations, extra diapers, and even extra clothes for those occasional accidents that children sometimes have.

Vandana Basu of Groton said her family has passes for several children’s museums in New England, but Kidcity is by far their favorite.

Nicole Rucki drove an hour from Massachusetts with her children, Olivia, 4, and Lauren, 2, along with her mother, Nancy Santos, to visit the museum for the first time.

“My daughter Olivia said that she didn’t want to ever leave,” Rucki said.

“They should have one like this for all towns,” Santos said, remarking about the interactive and artistic nature of the museum.

Kidcity Children’s Museum is open Sunday through Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesday through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults and children, free for infants under 12 months.

On the third Thursday of each month Kidcity offers free admission from 5 to 7 p.m.

For more information, visit its website at:

www.kidcitymuseum.com

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