Written By: Kate Bransfield, Museum Program Fellow
This summer, Boston Children’s Museum opened a new temporary exhibit called the Curiosity Kitchen. The Curiosity Kitchen was a free to the public play kitchen built in front of the Museum where children engaged in messy, exploratory play using common materials that are found in nature. Some materials included mud, pinecones, pebbles, sand, and even seaweed! While discovering these new materials, the children “cooked” their own creations with real pans, kitchen utensils, and a wooden oven.
Over the course of the summer, the Museum’s Programs Fellows (myself, Sean Hanke, Claire Johnston, and Ana Davis) facilitated and designed the menu of daily activities in the kitchen. In addition to natural materials, we also introduced shaving cream, dried flowers, chalk, and paint to visitors. Some activities included making flower soup, potions, and painting the Curiosity Kitchen walls to their liking. For many children, it was the first time that they used a paint roller!
The Curiosity Kitchen opened the door to a variety of memorable moments for myself and my colleagues. For me, I experienced a particularly memorable moment when a child was a little nervous to enter the kitchen, then grabbed my hand as we walked in together. He ended up having so much fun and he didn’t want to leave! Another memorable visitor interaction occurred when a child around 6 or 7 was making chili with some mud and other ingredients. When I stopped to talk with her, she told me she wanted to add cumin. I was impressed that she knew what cumin was. She then went on to say that she cooks with her father at home and had cooked with it before. I love it when children make real-life connections!
Sean in particular recalls when a child asked them if they thought that mud was “beautiful” while they were stirring a pot together. Sean expands on their experience with the Curiosity Kitchen and shares, “Many families, when told this experience was free (and would be here all summer) responded with “fantastic” or “this is great!” I think something that is so special about the mud kitchen is its financial accessibility. Most people seem to use it as an add-on experience when they visit the Museum, but there were some regulars that would just drop by.”
Ana remembers creating a mud production line with two brothers who were curious about how to make mud balls. As a team, the brothers ended up dropping the balls on the ground and noticed how it made a splat pattern. Ana shares, “After many weeks in the Curiosity Kitchen I perfected the art of catching bubbles on spoons, and loved showing visitors how to do it! One time, a child and their grownup set up a station in front of the bubble machine to test different utensils to see which would be the best tool for catching. It was so fun to watch them work together, trying out different materials and shapes”
Finally, Claire shares that, “I loved encouraging the kids to use their imagination! We gave the kids the framework of making something in the ‘kitchen,’ but we mostly left it open-ended for them. I saw kids make dinosaur porridge, fruit smoothies, milkshakes, and cheeseburgers out of mud!” Another memorable moment for Claire happened when visitors from different groups worked together to form their own restaurant and served her a four course meal!
Based on visitor feedback and personal anecdotes, the Curiosity Kitchen was a success that enhanced the overall Museum experience for children and families. I hope to bring the Curiosity Kitchen or new creative endeavor back in the future to create even more memories that visitors will treasure for years to come!
The Power of Play 