Where are the objects? Why is this a museum? What allows us to claim special educational status for these charming play spaces?

Posted byRebecca ShulmanPosted inChildren's Museums

As a museum educator who has spent two decades thinking about object-based education, I found the shift to children’s museums challenging. Where are the objects? Why is this a museum? What allows us to claim special educational status for these charming play spaces? To find answers, I turned to the literature.

Sometimes I write things that appear somewhere other than Museum Questions! To learn more about why children’s museums are the way they are, I looked through the Curator archives, which turned into this virtual issue. Take a look, not only at my article, but at the articles from the archives, many of which are really wonderful. Happy reading!

Published by Rebecca Shulman

I have over 20 years of experience as a museum professional, working both within museums and as a consultant. Most recently I served as Founding Director of the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum, in Peoria, Illinois. Prior to that I worked as Head of Education at the Noguchi Museum, and Senior Manager of Learning Through Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. While at the Guggenheim Museum I wrote a book, Looking at Art in the Classroom. Learn more about Museum Questions, my consulting practice, at www.museumquestions.com.

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