The Eric Carle Museum

April 11, 2008
The upgrade had me searching around in my own articles and I found that one of them had only one comment, which made me take a look at it again.  I fixed one spelling error I found (with all the upgrades we can't get a spell checker?).  This was originally posted on January 16, 2008 02:06 PM EST

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, or "The Carle" as they are apparently trying to be called is not quite as child friendly as I initially thought they would be.  Though since I talked to my Dad the morning that we went to the museum and he had me under the impression that they were actively trying not to be a "children's museum" I ended up being pleasantly surprised at how much there was for my two year old to do.  To be perfectly honest she didn't last long in the gallery portion of the museum, as she wanted to use the large, open and quite spaces to run and try out her voice.  So she and I went out into the lobby while my friend finished looking at the art (which was very nicely organized and displayed from what I saw).

Next we moved on to the art studio portion of the museum.  Even for this part two was a little young but that didn't stop Audrey from wanting to try.  The idea of the art studio is to use found objects and other things that might otherwise be considered trash and make them into either art or some kind of toy or game; things like pen caps and single puzzle pieces, single beads and pieces of wire, little tiny wooden blocks and oddly shaped pieces of colored paper.  We all sat down at one of the tables and the studio assistant so came over and asked us if we wanted to do a project.  I told her that we would try.  She brought over, not paper like I had expected but the lid to a disposable soup cup, she told us that if we wanted a different "base" we could trade it for one of the ones in the box on the counter.  At that point though Audrey had already started pulling objects out of the bins on the table.  Unfortunately Audrey isn't very adept at the glue bottle so all she accomplishes on her own is putting the tip of the glue bottle against the piece and then placing the piece on the base.  Luckily she is open to help and doesn't mind when my friend and I just dive in and put a piece on now and then, all that matters is that she is having fun.  In the end she looks up at me proudly and says "I did it, Momma."

We gather up our art, grab something to eat in the cafeteria and go to the children's concert they have going on in the auditorium.  She had fun at that too, but it was dangerously close to nap time and a lot of older kids were getting excited so it was hard for her to participate fully like she does at the parent's center.  After the concert we headed out.  In the car Audrey started blowing at the project we had done and calling it a "party cake".  You know what – with the straw, pen cap and popsicle stick all pocking straight up off of this round white lid it did resemble a birthday cake.  I love the way a child's mind picks up on things that adults often don't see.

All in all I would say that the Eric Carle museum offers a lot for adults and for slightly older kids, but it is not the perfect toddler destination.


April 11, 2008
The "cake" is still kicking around and still very popular even though most of the things that made it look most like a birthday cake have fallen off and been thrown away.  I would not be surprised if as spring cleaning progresses around here the whole thing gets discarded finally.