It's Snack Time!

After two months of construction. the new section of the coatroom opened during one of our busiest weeks of the year! Here are some photos of families snacking during the holiday vacation.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The new section of Kidcity's coatroom should be open by Christmas!

Though it is a non-denominational seating area, it looks like the completion of the construction will coincide with the upcoming holiday. It's a good thing, too, because we continue to get a suggestion every few days that "Kidcity needs an area for having snacks!"

Today, Matt and Scott propped up the new counters and stools so that we could set the exact locations. It was my job to make a fool of myself by squealing "It's so cute!" over and over, and then saying "ok, a little to the left".

Here are some photo's from the day:

Putting the Puzzle Together

Construction at Kidcity is always a little complicated since our top priority is keeping our visitors safe - that's why we've installed a temporary wall in the coatroom while we create our new snack area.

But Kidcity doesn't open until 11 am on Mondays, so we took advantage of the extra time to pop the fiberboard off the framing and take a look at our progress. The new spines have been professionally lacquered and installed in the room, and the walls got a fresh coat of white paint - but the rest of the project is still in the cardboard&chalk design phase. With the temporary wall down, we were able to make some key decisions about the placement of tables, benches and stools - and as usual, we wound up adding some cool new ideas that will undoubtedly make things take a little longer than planned.

Here are some photos of this morning's session -- that's Scott Kessel drawing on cardboard, and Matt Niland's testing a layout for the countertop.











So when will it be finished? Oh please don't ask me that!

Colors!

The new spines, all in a pile. Shiny topcoat next!

What's behind the wall?

We are 18 days into the transformation of our old Red Party Room into a snacking nook off our coatroom. Here are some photos of the work in progress.


First, we worked out the floor plan - we always start with outlining our ideas in chalk or masking tape right on the floor - then we walk around in it and try to imagine how it will flow with our visitors. Next we move to cardboard. In this case, we knew we wanted to keep the crazy colorful forest theme of the coatroom, so it was just a matter of figuring out how to incorporate some seating and coat storage amid the spines.


We know there won't be enough seating for all our visitors at one time, but we are trying to create a variety of options. In the end, there should be some kind of space for every kind of family.

Next we cut the shapes out of birch ply and sand and prep them.

Next step....colors! Coming soon.

Just what you've been asking for!

The number one suggestion that we get at Kidcity goes something like this:

Please! Make a place where I can sit and give my kids a snack!

I'm happy to announce that we have finally begun construction on a snack area. The coatroom will grow a new wing (the red party room is rapidly being demolished as I write) and we'll have some extra coat storage, along with some seating areas that are perfect for serving snack. Plus a drinking fountain and place to wash up.

Things will be a little crowded (and occasionally noisy) over the next several weeks as we do our construction. Hopefully, by the time the Holidays are here, it should be a little easier to give your kids some crackers and cheese and a juice box before heading back into the museum to play.

Here are some photos of the work in progress...but they look a little like Before and After shots in reverse. We had to take down a really sweet bench to make room for the new space:

Here's what it looked like Wednesday morning:



Here's what it looked like Thursday morning:



By the way, we always welcome any suggestions at Kidcity! In fact, we just built a new suggestion box in the lobby area. Can you guess what the very first suggestion in the new box was?

Gone Fishin'

Since early May, we've had the Clipper Ship section of the Fishery room closed as we repaired some old murals and added some new fish play. Last week I took a few pictures to show you what's been done, and what we're still working on.

For many years we've been planning to do a tiny mural that could be seen through the telescope on the ship's deck (actually, it's the nozzle from an old firehose, not a telescope at all, but we thought it served our purpose!) Scott Kessel created this mermaid and swordfish dance that is just the right size. At the same time, we repaired the old walls and refinished the floors where our visitors "walk the plank".

One of our goals was to create new ways to move fish around, and the "Crank n Chum" does just that - you can toss back some fish and feed them to the sharks!



This area under the captain's deck used to hold a treasure chest - which looked cool but didn't do much. In the photo below, you can see our exhibit builder Matt Niland thinking through some ideas about how to get the fish down to the "brig" and then back out again. It involves a new treasure chest with a secret compartment.






Speaking of secrets, I'm not giving them all away in this blog post! But here's a hint: when the room opens, you'll have a new way to be seen and not heard, and visa versa.