Hands-On Museum

15.12.2006

In the "Atlantis Kindermuseum” children discover actively how man, nature and technique function. In a competition at REHACARE.de Familiy Fritsch from Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, won a visit in the museum.

When Bettina and Andreas Fritsch, who both are in a wheelchair, enter the museum with their children Tobias and Diontha they directly look through huge modern windows at a former harbour facility near the river Rhine. Its bricks with wooden crossbeams date from a period in which the house with three floors was a transhipping place for shiploads.

On the first level visitors are "Beneath the Town”. Through an entry which looks like a tunnel system in the underground they go into the arch. "Look at this, here comes a train”, seven-year-old Diontha calls amazed when she looks through a chink. A cinematic projection simulates a passing underground railway.

Several stations are spread over three levels. At one of them, a place for "Archaeological Excavations”, there are remains from former times to be discovered. In a big sandpit Diontha and Tobias turn into archaeologists for a little while. In multiple fields they excavate things like clay jugs from the middle ages or tins from modern times. The older the artefacts are the deeper the field lies in the sandpit. Suddenly Diontha finds a skeleton. When she reads what she found at a legend plate she laughs: "It's a sea cow!” Her three-year-old brother simply enjoys digging in the sand.

It gets exciting when the children detect the "Sunken Corsair” with a mast which reaches from the lowest to the highest floor. While the parents take the elevator their children climb the mast up to the second level. Now they are "Within the Town”. There is a building lot for example where Tobias proudly wears a helmet and protective gloves for roofing.

Near the previous station the "Badger's Den” is situated. On its walls a wood with numerous animals is painted. The sister asks her brother what he sees behind little flaps at the wall: "Tobias, what does the deer eat?” "Grass and nuts.” Than the two scramble through a replicated badger's den: "Iiihhh, a huge spider”, Diontha screams. And Tobias shouts exhilarated: "Here is a giant worm!” Bettina and Andreas Fritsch brim over with enthusiasm for the museum: "It is amazing how lively our children learn at this place. We all enjoy it.”

However, the museum not only deals with nature and playing. At the third floor there is the quaint "Attic” with bags full of costumes. Diontha masquerades as "genteel lady” and walks along some "Magic Mirrors” which make her look distorted. "In reality I am not that fat!” she calls out to her mother.

Even more illusions offers the "Blue Box" where brother and sister stand in front of a blue wall. A camera films them and transfers the pictures to a monitor. The two of them are able to choose which background is to be seen on the screen. The wall's blue part is replaced by background images of landscapes. So it seems as if the girl with the huge hat from the costume corner dances on the moon or walks with Tobias through the woods like Hansel and Gretel. Without being scared of the ugly old witch.

REHACARE.de

- Read more about the Atlantis Museum for Children at: http://www.atlantis-kindermuseum.de/