The recently posted survey results from CSRM reminded me of what I had known and forgot. An extremely high percentage of visitors to the museum are for the children. The survey went on with visitors asking for more "child friendly" exhibits and events.

This made me start thinking about what we could do better for the children visitors at our museum and what other railway museums are doing.

At PSRM, we allow visitors into several coaches and cars - turn of the century wooden coach, a restored RPO, an unrestored private coach and a restored caboose. We also allow visitors into the cab of a steam locomotive with a pull cord for the bell. We have a model train exhibit - which, from a educational standpoint, is simply entertainment. We have a video or two set up - but those are aimed for adults education. We used to have Train Sim computers set up but they simply didn't work out too well. We sometimes have a wooden train set for the kids to play with.

On my travels around, I've seen:

At CSRM - a electric board which required visitors to match cars with names, etc.
At Ogdon - a diesel electric cab - with engine sounds and a horn

Please share your experiences at your museum. What works. What didn't. What changes would you make?

We need to develop more kid-friendly exhibits. Please assist.

Thanks.

IRM recently installed a playground, funded by donations from one of the museum's longtime volunteers. It seems to be quite popular. Photo at http://www.flickr.com/photos/45436499@N02/7896433476/.

The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis has an attraction "Creation Station" designed for younger visitors.

http://www.transportmuseumassociation.org/creation_station.htm

I took my niece there a few times when she was younger and in town visiting. She loved it.

David M. Wilkins
Conjunction Junction, MO

Define "children". It's seems everybody has something for kids, even if it's an Easter Bunny/Christmas/whatever EVENT rather than a permanent display, but the ability to appeal to youngsters ends when they graduate from Chuckie Cheese or so.

Developing something for the group "tweeners" -i.e., the smearing cheetos on the window, belching for friends, "I think he likes you", absorbed in the IPod, jumping off steps, "why are we on this old stuff", yelling random numbers while trying to do a passenger count, and generally showing off to peers by being rebellious, sarcastic, defiant, disinterested age is slightly more challenging say the sweet-dispositioned, can be directed to say "thank you" in unison up to third grade or so group.

A playground isn't a bad idea, but they can do that close to home.
What specific activities and exhibits that are related to your museum are there for kids?
I can't recall where I saw it, but a long time ago I was in a museum somewhere in Europe and clearly recall a kid-sized diesel locomotive cab complete with about 3/4 scale everything and controls, wired to a screen of a video from a cab view of a intercity train, that sped up, slowed down or stopped depending on the controls. I saw kids trying to stop for stations that were on the screen to simulate passenger stops (mind you, most of these kids probably rode trains often so they understood the importance of it), all on their own!
I've seen several airplane museums that have simulators that kids can fly and they love doing them (and usually are better at it than adults) and I think the concept I saw in Europe years ago would be a great thing when properly presented.
Kids are pretty understanding of train operation now, thanks to our friend Thomas. Museums and tourist operations should really exploit that as best they can!

For our education program we have a whole range of activities from stories and crafts up to a role-play of the founding of the community of Chevy Chase and the construction of the companion Rock Creek Railway. The Chevy Chase activity is targeted for second and third graders.

Weekend visitors enjoy the O-scale Rock Creek Railway and a computer-based video exhibit.

Wesley

That's the kind of activitity I was thinking about. I'm not certain how to pull it off and at what costs. Any details you might remember would be helpful, or, the museum you saw this at.

Thanks.

I wish I could help you, but I'm pretty sure that was on my first European trip, in 1988. I must have hit almost every RR and military museum in Western Europe. I can't rememeber much other than the cab was scaled to fit kids and it was linked to a cab view film, also that the kids loved truly interacting with it. It stuck out because I'd never seen anything like that, before or since.
I don't think it was the museum at Utrecht, The Nehterlands because I recently found some shots from that trip and that cab was full size, although it was outfitted in a smiliar fashion (don't know if the controls were linked to anything, though).

At one museum I volunteer at we had several interactive exhibits that kids could manipulate. One was a dwarf color light signal that could be changed using a rotary switch to learn about different signal aspects. Another was a restored New Haven NE-5 caboose. It was open to the public and younger folks liked to go in and go up into the cupola and generally be in something that felt authentic.
Once while at the RR museum of PA for the railroading merit badge with my Boy Scout troop, we looked briefly at railroad operations using a g scale model railroad they had. I think there is definitely room for growth in this sort of guided exhibit realm, if you have the staff to do so.
Speaking of authenticity again, perhaps it plays the most important role. I was at another museum earlier this winter when a local fellow came over with his son. I was working on drilling holes in the smokebox for an ash cleanout casting with a mag drill when the young boy came over to watch. I could see he was totally absorbed in the task, so I gave him a pair of safety glasses and some earmuffs and he looked on. After completing another round of drilling I asked if he had any questions. He had many, and they were insightful and thoughtful about the work going on. I think he was six or seven and it was his first time at a railroad museum. This felt like the best "exhibit" of all, but I am partial to living history type arrangements because my mother took me through the likes of Sturbridge, and Williamsburg when I was younger.
Steve Piwowarski

This is going to sound snide or sarcastic, but bear with me:

In my own experience at several museums, the popularity of an "interactive" exhibit for children is directly proportional to the amount of noise or sheer racket it makes.

You can set up a model railroad they can actually operate, and they'll spend more time stabbing the horn/whistle button instead.

One museum I saw had a trolley cab exhibit set up with a simulated controller, brake handle, and--yes--the bell on the pull cord. Plus a step box for short tykes. Extremely popular, to the dismay of the staff. The bell itself was bad enough, but the way it was mounted made the entire display a "resonator" for the pounding of the mechanism, louder than the bell itself. I believe that particular display is now at its third home, having been "exiled" from previous caretakers for that reason.......

It seems to be that some tape or whatever to make the bell ring quieter could be accomplished. Or, an electric bell (like something on a model train layout) is also a possibility.

Steve - great story. Some kids really "get it". Inviting them to watch and ask questions - could have changed that kid for life - opening up an area to him to explore. Congrats for that extra effort.

I think one important thing to do when designing kid-oriented exhibits is to look at the exhibits used at Children's Museums. I took care of the model railroad exhibit at a Children's Museum for about a year, and got to see a lot of the other exhibits that the kids simply loved.

Some were novel ideas, like the egg elevator/chute, the pvc tubes that blew ping-pong balls across the room, and the dark room where your stylized shiloutte appeared on the wall as a projection when you moved.

Others exhibits sought to replicate real life. The model railroad exhibit was located in a case made to look like a diesel locomotive. The cab was open and had one of those bellows whistles mounted on the roof. There was also an airplane replica that had real retired airline seats and control panels. The cab (couldn't quite tell if it was real or replica) of a city bus was also on display, with lights and such that the kids could operate.

Of course, the Children's Museum of Indianapolis takes it a step further by having the "Reuben Wells" on display: http://www.childrensmuseum.org/all-aboard

I've imagined creating an exhibit where a small steam locomotive would have lights, sound, and smoke controlled by the cab controls, which, of course, would be made kid-friendly. It's something I would love to do one day, to bring a static steam locomotive virtually to life, but that may be a ways in the future.

Another great idea. We have Children's Museum locally.

Sure, it's a possibility. But part of the charm of that display was that the parts were REAL parts, and the bell an authentic (albeit quite small) trolley bell, probably St. Louis Car or Brill make. The real problem was the "echo" of the impact of the striker upon the bell passing through to the display frame, which sounded like banging a desktop. I think they experimented with stiff rubber blocks between the bell frame and the cab roof frame, with little success.

I would suggest that, based on what I observed, a quiet or electronic bell wouldn't have the same effect on children at all. They may be young, but they can see through "fakery" better than you might think.