SchoolWorks: Projects: Children's Museum of Manhattan

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A loft mezzanine lets kids play with toys upstairs while others slide into the foam pond and send balls down the spiral tubes.

Kids slide into a soft pond surrounded by murals by artist, Erika Knerr.

Sand box drawer on wheels under small toy nook

Rolling storage units with flip down tables store in niches on one side of the room

Wide carpeted stairs provide a place to sit and watch the street life.

Wood framework above art area lowers the ceiling to allow hanging mobiles and displaying work

Birthday party room

Early Childhood Center

There is a lot of stuff going on in this 24 by 24 room within the Children's Museum. Daily parent/toddler art workshops that require large work tables, storage for materials, drying racks, display space, easels, and water which disappear giving way to kids playing house, sliding into an imaginary pond, sifting sand, feeding fish, and playing with small toys and musical instruments in the afternoon and on weekends. In other words, just a typical preschool room - but with a class of 300 kids a day instead of 20.

Soft materials, natural wood and warm colors keep a high traffic, dense place from being too chaotic and institutional which may be why this is the only original space from the inception of the museum to survive 17 years and a few renovations.

A few years later, a play room was added for birthday parties.