Building skyscrapers, crafting beautiful bugs, investigating with invisible ink and other adventures are in store for visitors this month at the Children’s Museum of Atlanta. For Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Museum has organized a new program of interactive exhibits and activities for young visitors where they can discover and appreciate extraordinary achievements from Asian and Pacific Islander cultures, here in the USA and around the world.
Children’s Museum director of exhibits and education Karen Kelly and manager of public programs Keira Quinn recently joined Lois Rietzes on “City Lights” to talk about their newest exhibition.
“We look to create great opportunities for kids to really engage with some of the wonderful things these Americans have accomplished and also get a chance to try to do some of them themselves,” said Kelly.
The month’s programming highlights Asian American and Pacific Islander innovators across fields — like engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan, virologist Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal and Japanese sculptor Hiroshi Shinno. Activities include earthquake-resistant skyscraper builds, invisible ink chemistry experiments and imaginative insect design projects inspired by Shinno’s fusion of plant and animal forms.
Children can also “travel” across the Pacific Islands with a pool noodle-turned-“ImagineTool 2000,” serving as a hiking stick, paddle or even a zipline handle.
