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As the parent of any SimCity enthusiast knows, kids can get hooked on urban planning at an early age. To tap into this fascination—without fanning a video game dependency—the Staten Island Children’s Museum presents “House About It.” In the interactive exhibit, children try out the roles required to create a home, from draftsperson to environmental consultant to crane operator.
The centerpiece is a two-story child-sized house with real beams, studs, shingles, plumbing and wiring (carrying 12 volts rather than 120). Inside the structure, young visitors take on home improvement tasks such as tiling a bathroom, laying a wood floor and making electrical connections. If they install the hot-water heater accurately and lay the pipes appropriately, a fake flame will ignite in the boiler. Similarly, connecting the circuitry correctly will illuminate an LED lightbulb. At another station, kids can decorate a dollhouse with wallpaper, flooring and furniture, or act on their destructive impulses by piling plastic bricks on top of one another and then knocking them down with a miniature wrecking ball—all while wearing construction worker duds.
But grooming future DIY junkies isn’t the show’s only goal. Because Staten Island is a fast-growing borough, says Dina Rosenthal, the museum’s executive director, “we want children to learn about ways to build their community.” After completing a project, participants may ponder questions like “If you put housing for 50 people in this area, where are they going to shop?” and “How will they get to school?” Arranging model buildings on a table shaped like the museum’s home borough helps kids grasp the rules of local land use.
Youngsters also can explore housing in other locales, including China, Japan, Africa and Iceland, through a customized version of Google Earth, and discover how working with “green” materials, such as bamboo, sunflower seed husks and recycled paper, can reduce their carbon footprint.
But our favorite part of this “construction site”? No catcalls.
“House About It” opens Sat 19 at the Staten Island Children’s Museum.
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