Museum Reaches Out To Children

By JULIA FERRANTE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 21, 2007

HUDSON - Two years ago, Lisa Campos began to pursue a dream of opening a children's museum in Pasco County.

She and former teacher Patricia LaFramboise developed exhibits where lifting and banging and touching were encouraged, and Investigation Station: A Please Touch Museum was born.

Campos and LaFramboise were granted not-for-profit status for the traveling museum, allowing them to solicit tax-deductible donations and apply for grants. The partners have been bringing their hands-on museum to elementary schools and day care programs for the past couple of years for the price of a donation. Eventually, they hope to open a permanent museum.

Investigation Station's exhibits encourage children to touch, smell, see and hear on their own terms. The sight exhibit, for instance, includes nature photographs, a kaleidoscope and a microscope, and the smell exhibit includes jewelry boxes filled with coffee and spices concealed under paper filters so children can guess what is beneath.

"The sound exhibit had various things from the house, like a cast-iron skillet, a cardboard box, a stockpot cover, a rubber scraper and a wooden spoon," Campos said. "We let the kids hit everything. They would look at their parents, who would say, 'It's OK to do it here.'"

Campos, who has a master's degree in anthropology and did an internship at a natural history museum, applied two years ago to move the museum to the former Hudson library, but another group won the spot. She still hopes to secure a permanent site, but, for now, the museum remains roving.

"I would love to have a permanent building, but I think from what I have learned, first you have to get a large community support base and funding to sustain and pay for the monthly bills," Campos said.

According to the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Children's Museums, an organization with 341 members, a children's museum also should be a reflection of the community, much like a town squarewith locally focused exhibits. A water station, for instance, could be centered on a local river or beach. If a community includes a significant number of immigrants from one place, the museum also should reflect that.

About a quarter of the organization's member museums are in the start-up phase, according to the association Web site. Sixty-nine member museums are in the midst of capital campaigns to build a new facility or expand an existing one.

Florida has more children's museums than most states, with 12 up and running and a few others starting up. By comparison, Georgia has two. The closest children's museums to Pasco are in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Lakeland.

Most of the Pasco museum's exhibit materials comprise donated materials, Campos said. A Dunkin' Donuts franchise gave coffee beans and paper filters for the scent exhibit. A Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts store offered a sampling of materials for the touch exhibit. Land O' Lakes nature photographer Jason Hahn offered photos of butterflies and a crocodile.

Campos, who grew up in New Hampshire, gets her inspiration from other museums, including the Boston Children's Museum, which she visited as a child. She took her children, Xavier, 5, and Sebastian, 2, there this summer. The children were drawn to a water exhibit with boats and sticks that would wind their way through a course.

"A please-touch museum makes the experience so much better, and the adults are interacting with the kids," she said.

To make a tax-deductible donation, volunteer time or supplies, or set up a visit with the traveling museum, contact Director@InvestigationStation.net.

FLORIDA CHILDREN'S MUSEUMS

Florida has more children's museums than most states, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Children's Museums. The following is a list of operating museums that are members of the organization:

•Children's Science Explorium, Boca Raton

•The Children's Museum of the Highlands, Sebring

•Explorations V Children's Museum, Lakeland

•Great Explorations, St. Petersburg

•Junior Museum of Bay County, Panama City

•Miami Children's Museum

•Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa

•My Jewish Discovery Place Children's Museum, Fort Lauderdale

•Schoolhouse Children's Museum, Boynton Beach

•Seminole County School Student Museum, Sanford

•The Children's Museum of Tampa

•Young At Art, Davie

•Emerging museums in Florida include the Children's Museum of Naples and the Children's Museum of the Treasure Coast (Stuart)

For more information about children's museums, go to www.childrensmuseums.org.

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.