“Don’t judge a book by its cover.†You’ve all heard that phrase but nowhere does it apply better than to the Chesapeake Children’s Museum. Housed in a small building in a residential neighborhood, the museum doesn’t reveal its treasures until you enter – hopefully with a child or two – and see the array of exhibits and activities inside.
You come in on the first floor of the two-story building, once a storage facility for the City of Annapolis until about 14 years ago when, after suitable renovations, it was turned into the museum.
Immediately in front of you is an exhibit called Bay Windows. The museum’s mission is to create an environment of discovery and particularly about the Chesapeake Bay. Bay Windows does that at an age-appropriate level.
Set in a semi-circle, several fish tanks feature regional fish. Turtles large and small occupy a “pond†(a plastic tub filled with water and rocks at different levels), where little hands can reach out to touch them. (A hand sanitizer dispenser is mounted on a wall nearby.)
Next to Bay Windows is a play area with stacks of building blocks and a child-sized boat to climb in and steer. Down the hall are other rooms where children can use their imagination – a kitchen and grocery store with plastic fruits and vegetables; baby dolls and their paraphernalia; a dress-up room with donated clothes, hats, scarves, shoes and a big, tall mirror; a medical room with play equipment for future doctors and dentists.
Downstairs, a large open room features a long table for projects, with art and crafts material and games stacked on shelves. A nook has been turned into a library, with a big squishy sofa and an assortment of books. A rabbit nibbles food in his (her?) hutch.
While the exhibits are permanent, a schedule of programs rotates through the year, both inside and outdoors where the museum maintains a nature trail and two playgrounds on its approximately five-acres of city-owned land.
The early days of the museum date to 1992, when parent activists got together to provide activities for children at community events. Officially incorporated in 1994, the museum now has a staff of three along with facilitators, many of whom are volunteers, to run the program. It gets funding from the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County and donations.
It’s hard to get a count of the number of visitors but Debbie Wood, the museum’s executive director, puts it at a few thousand per year. In the summer, hundreds of children may troop through the museum; in the depths of winter, not so many.
Besides individual visitors, the museum attracts school groups from a four-state radius—Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
The Chesapeake Children’s Museum, 25 Silopanna Road, Annapolis, Md., is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except Wednesdays. Wednesdays are reserved for groups of 10 or more, although groups can visit other days during the week. Reservations for groups are required.
Admission fee is $4 per child ages 1 and up.
For information, call the museum at 410-990-1993; email at info@theccm.org; or visit the Web site at http://www.theccm.org.
By Barbara Pash
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