A ray of light for Brooklyn’s children

Brooklyn’s children got a big slice of sunshine on a bright fall day with the opening of the newly renovated Brooklyn Children’s Museum on Sept. 17.  Fifty Brooklyn schoolchildren were the first to visit the museum, which officially opened on the weekend of Sept. 20 and 21.

The new daffodil-yellow L-shaped building now houses the world’s oldest and newest children’s museum, quite literally changing the face of Crown Heights.

“This is a community hub,” said Juliet Gray-Moliere, the museum’s manager of early childhood education.  “We could have moved it to another location but the community said, ‘No.””  The idea now, she said, is to have children graduate out of each museum space, mastering a set of emotional, social and intellectual skills, and bring those skills to the classroom and the community. 

“I grew up in this museum,” said Wendy Martin who came to the museum with her 6-year-old daughter, Sa’Dira.  She was building a spaceship while her 8-year-old brother, Andre’, was repairing the International Space Station at a new temporary exhibition called “Living in Space”, created in collaboration with NASA.

The children’s 6-year-old cousin Sunyyah Foristall was exploring the museum’s greenhouse and outdoor garden, both part of the new “Neighborhood Nature” exhibition.  Sunyyah who had been diagnosed with autism was smelling, touching, playing with, embracing every plant, bug and sound in the museum space.

Sunyyah’s mother, Abi Fenelon, a second-year PhD. nursing student at Columbia University, said, “ I came here a few years ago and I didn’t like it,”  because it was just not stimulating enough for a child with a learning disability.  “Thirty minutes after we came in Sunyyah said, ‘Mom, I want to leave.’ Look at her now! She is running around enjoying herself.  I became a member right away!”

Places like this are much needed in the community, she said, since there are few institutions catering to the needs of children with learning disabilities.

Fenlon was among the parents impressed by the new exhibits “Totally Tots” and “World Brooklyn.”  “Totally Tots” has everything from a new, colorful padded Baby Hub for children 18 months and younger to a Little Theater with costumes, puppets and a curtained stage.  “World Brooklyn” is a potpourri of street scenes and local businesses scaled to a child’s size.  It includes an interactive map of the Caribbean islands at the Caribbean Travel Agency based on businesses in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Flatbush and Crown Heights, and kids can make pretend “dough” at the Mexican bakery and even ride a bus – a perfect way to introduce children to Brooklyn’s diverse communities.

Brooklyn Children’s Museum also takes pride in being the first “green” museum in the city, certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program of the U.S. Building Council.  The museum uses recyclable materials, solar energy, and other energy-saving technologies, and has carbon dioxide and occupancy censors.  It is also planning to launch environmental education programs for children.

The museum raised a total of $80 million over 10 years for the expansion project, which doubled the building in size to 102,000 square feet and raised its capacity to 400,000 visitors.

Rafael Viñoly, an acclaimed architect who designed the museum, said, “It’ll help reconstruct people’s belief in the future, the pursuit of happiness.”  The new museum is yellow to bring the idea of light, future, warmth and sun in people’s hearts, and, as costly a project as it was, Viñoly said, the owners of the museum are children.