> Having worked at the La Brea Tarpits in Los Angeles (I was in the
> museum  "fishbowl" or lab and then actually in the pits), I have
> noticed that one of the best exhibits of natural history for kids
> is allowing them to touch and look at animal skulls, and fossils.
> These type of touchy-feely tables draw kids in, and let them
> understand better how animals are put together. After all, after
> a lifetime of being told, "Don't touch!", this sort of exhibit is a
> welcome change.
>
> Anita Cohen-Williams; Reference Services; Hayden Library
> Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ  85287-1006
> PHONE: (602) 965-4579              FAX: (602) 965-9169
> BITNET: IACAGC@ASUACAD    INTERNET: [log in to unmask]
>
 
Not just kids--I love this sort of thing and suspect that many adults
do.  Just one reason I'd rather see hands-on stuff in the museum
exhibits area itself, not tucked away in a "children's room."
 
And re Nancy McCartney's request specifically for ecology activities
for a discovery room (I'll post to the list rather than privately in
hopes of jogging other people's memories and ideas on this)--an
interesting thing I saw several years ago in a children's room in the
Museum of Natural History in Albuquerque was a jigsaw puzzle.  This
was of a pond scene, with each piece featuring some aspect of it
(insects, fish, water, etc.).  You started out with it all put
together and then removed a piece.  Printed beneath were
instructions to remove the next piece--say you removed fish, it would
be something to the effect of:  "Without the fish to eat, there would
be no herons.  Remove the heron."  And you continued until all the
pieces were gone, the idea being, of course, that everything is
interrelated.
 
Nan Lawler, Special Collections
University of Arkansas Libraries
Fayetteville, AR  72701-1201
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