For
Immediate
Release
June 11, 2010
Contact: Megan Fischer
Marketing and Public Relations Manager
(401) 273-5437 ext. 126
Return to Press Room
New Outdoor Play Spaces Now Open
at Providence Children’s Museum
PROVIDENCE, RI - Providence Children’s Museum transformed its native Children’s Garden when two artistic new play and learning environments opened today, following the successful completion of the Museum’s Play Works Campaign for Kids. These new spaces celebrate the importance of active outdoor play and get kids outside to move, stretch, climb and play:
The Climber
This artful and challenging climbing sculpture was designed by nationally acclaimed artists and architects Tom and Spencer Luckey of New Haven, CT. While the father/son team has created climbers across the country, this is their first outdoor installation – a colorful 24-foot work of public art that inspires active, physical play. (See a time-lapse video of The Climber’s creation.)
Climbing is necessary for children’s physical and problem-solving skill development and The Climber takes kids to new heights as they wriggle and stretch through an enclosed maze of interconnected undulating platforms at various levels.
Underland
An imaginative subterranean adventure through root systems, worm tunnels and critters’ burrows featuring the work of several talented local artists – sculptors Chris Kane and Marly Rogers and metal smith Lu Heintz – Underland encourages exploration, discovery and a deep appreciation of the natural world.
Children explore the sounds of a musical sculpture made from local woods, crawl like underground critters to navigate a mazelike network of tunnels, pretend in an “underground” kitchen with hand-carved wooden chairs and an array of natural “loose parts,” and sift through a sand pit to unearth a mastodon skeleton.
Together, The Climber and Underland inspire active engagement and discovery and will make Providence Children’s Museum’s outdoor environment a signature destination.
“We are so grateful to the hundreds of donors to the Museum’s Play Works Campaign for Kids who made it possible to create these amazing new play spaces,” said Museum Executive Director Janice O’Donnell. “It’s been years of planning, designing, fundraising, building and anticipating. But no matter how much planning and anticipating we do, there is nothing like the thrill of actually seeing children using – and loving – the environments we create.”
Join the celebration of these exciting new
play and learning environments June 11-13 and look for special
programs
throughout the summer. For more information, visit www.childrenmuseum.org.