Tips to Design the Best Exhibits for Childrens Museums

May 3, 2018 by Taylor Studios in Design & Planning

We are thrilled to be attending this year’s in Raleigh next week! This is the annual gathering of the , and this year’s conference is being hosted at the . We’re looking forward to learning new things, meeting old friends, and rubbing shoulders with the leaders of our country’s top children’s museums. Each and every day they bring exciting, engaging, educational experiences to America’s youngest residents, growing their minds and hearts.

In our 27 years, we have been blessed with the opportunity to create exhibits for a number of children’s museums large and small. Among others, we’ve worked with the , , , and . Most recently, we designed and built the Better with Pets exhibition for in Gray Summit, Missouri. You can see dozens of photos of our hands-on, participatory, play-based exhibits that we built for this site – whose core audience is families with children ages 3 to 12 – .

Better with Pets exhibition.
Image courtesy of Purina Farms Visitor Center.

So what have we learned in creating children’s museums over the years? More than anything, that exhibits for children should be designed in their own unique manner. They should NOT simply be slightly tweaked or “dumbed-down” adult exhibits. The entire design approach needs to be different:

Encourage play…

Children’s exhibits should be play-based, providing exploration-fueled learning.

Encourage participation…

Kids love discovering ideas through active participation. Exhibits must be hands-on!

Encourage touch…

Many museums have a strict “do not touch” policy. Not children’s museums! Exhibits must encourage tactile exploration and kinesthetic learning.

Facilitate all of the senses…

Exhibits should not only encourage touching – but also hearing, smelling, seeing, and perhaps even tasting. Check out our past blog article on .

Build tougher exhibits…

All of this hands-on participation requires more durable exhibits. Build with stronger materials and smarter designs.

Encourage inter-generational experiences…

Children’s museums are unique in their ability to bring young children, parents, grandparents, and others together in shared discovery-based learning. Exhibits, both interactive and passive, should facilitate this.

Did we miss anything? How are children’s museums unique? What makes their exhibits special?

We hope to see you in Raleigh!

SaveSave