In the Insect room the child's attention is naturally drawn to the brilliantly-colored butterflies and moths,the curious beetles from tropical countries,and the "Strange insects,centipedes and scorpions."There is an extremely interesting silk-worm exhibit,and the children who visited the museum two or three summers ago had the pleasure of watching some of the identical silkworms while spinning their cocoons.Young collectors are shown exactly "How to collect and preserve insects"by examining the object lesson which was especially designed for their help.
Among the realistic "Animal homes"which appeal especially to the child's mind are the hen and chickens,the downy eider ducks,the family of red foxes,and the home of the muskrat."Color in nature"is effectively illustrated by grouping together certain tropical fishes,minerals,shells,insects,and birds in such a manner as to bring out vivid red,yellow,blue,and green colors.
Here and elsewhere in the museum are placed appropriate quotations from poets and prose writers.
In almost every room there are attractive little aquaria or vivaria containing living animals and plants.There is always a pleasure in watching the gold fish,or the salamanders,chameleons,mud-puppies,alligators,horned toads,tree toads,and snails.For three or four years an observation hive of bees has been fixed in a window overlooking the park,and children have watched the work of the "busy bees"with great delight.
The uses of minerals and rocks are shown by means of pictures of quarries,and of buildings and monuments,and lead pencils are seen in the various stages of manufacture.A small collection of "Gems"was recently donated,and the legends connected with the various birthstones are given in rhyme.
A black background has been used with pleasing effect to exhibit the various forms of shells.The process of making pearl buttons and numerous articles made of mother-of-pearl add largely to the charms of the Shell room.
Perhaps the most attractive room to the younger children is the History room,in which the beginnings of American history are typified not only by charts and historic implements,but by very real "doll houses."A member of the staff devised and cleverly executed the idea of representing the early settlers by six colonial types,viz.,the Spanish,French,Cavalier,Dutch,New England and Quaker types.Some of the special scenes illustrated are labelled "Priest and soldier plan a new mission,""Indians selling furs to Dutch trader at Fort Orange"and "The minister calls on the family."The study of geography is aided by means of small models of miniature homes of primitive peoples;as for instance,an Eskimo village with its snow igloos,the tents of the Labrador Eskimos,the permanent home of the Northwestern Eskimos,and the houses and "totem poles"of the Haida Indians.Some of the more civilized nations are typified by a "Lumber camp in a temperate zone,"and by a series of "Dolls dressed in national costumes."The library of the Children's Museum now numbers about six thousand volumes,and,contrary to the general impression,is not composed entirely of children's books,but of a careful selection of the best recent books upon natural history in the broadest use of the terms.The range is from the simplest readers to technical manuals.
The library is thus unique in its way,supplementing the work of the museum in various ways,such as the following:
1.Providing books of information for the museum staff in describing the collections,and preparing lectures for children.
2.Furnishing information to visitors about specimens models or pictures in the museum,and giving opportunity to study the collections with the direct aid of books.
3.Offering carefully chosen books on almost all the subjects of school work,thus forming a valuable "School reference library,"at the same time showing parents and teachers the most helpful and attractive nature books to aid them in selecting such as best suit the needs and tastes of children or students.
Although it is not a circulating library (for many of the books need to be on call for immediate use),there are,of course,many interesting stories of heroes,scientists,explorers,statesmen,and other great leaders among men,of great events in history,of child life in different countries,of birds and animals,and the great "world of outdoors."A constant effort is made to foster a reading habit in the children,even though the time for reading is very limited.Last summer some simple bookmarks were printed,by the use of which many children have been encouraged to read books continuously.The reverse side of some of the bookmarks show that individual children have read eight or ten books through recently.
In place of the "Story hour"which is so popular in children's libraries,the Children's Museum provides daily half-hour talks,illustrated by lantern slides,which are given in the lecture room.The subjects are selected with relation to the school program,and include a variety of nature topics,the geography of different countries,history and astronomy.Twice a week a lecture is given on elementary science,and is illustrated by experiments.
On some of the holidays such as Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays the lecture is naturally devoted to the national hero,whose birthday is thus commemorated.This year there were so many children who wanted to learn about Washington that the lecture was given nine times during the day.On Lincoln's birthday there were several repetitions of the lecture,and the library was thronged with readers all day,at least one hundred children reading stories about him.The children looked with interest at the picture bulletins,comparing the pictures with those they had seen in the lecture.Hundreds of patriotic poems were copied during the month,the number being limited only by lack of space and writing materials.
