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Jeff,

Hey man. You've never done exhibit maintenance have you...?

I'm a bit late to this discussion but, I'm at a loss as to why bother to 
do something inside a building when it is such an admitted pain in the 
'booty,' and which is so much better done outside where it belongs. I'll 
admit that sand play is one of the great things in life. But nature, any 
bit of nature (sand, fresh air, sunlight filtered through trees) adds so 
much more to it than anything we could add. Save the indoor real-estate 
for stuff that is harder to do outside.

Then again, outdoors pretty much trumps anything that goes on inside 
most science centers. I would advocate that all science centers be 
scraped down to the sand pits they grew out of. In general, the world 
would be better off and in most cases it would be a definite improvement.

Joe R.
www.TheExhibitGuys.com




jeff courtman wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Despite the drawbacks - maintenance, etc, I am a strong advocate for their
> inclusion.
> 
> Once upon a time, Jack McKinney had the brilliant idea to do a LARGE scale
> indoor sand play area (50' x 40') as part of our summer offering in Dallas.
> It was such a hit, that we continued it on a smaller scale for the next 5
> years.
> 
> There are so many activities that can be done, so many props that can be
> offered; these more than offset the pain-in-the-booty aspect. Bury
> seashells; pouring and measuring; footprints; bones; etc.
> 
> FYI:  some staff had concern about cooties; we had an industrial hygenist
> come in and look at what we had going.  He had no problem with all the
> drool, etc, because most of the bad stuff has to be passed directly - a lot
> of bugs can't survive off the host (you and me).
> 
> A couple of common sense things:  make the entrance a sort of switchback
> with at least one turn - it gives you a chance for visitors to leave more
> sand as they leave the area.  Also, have some benches in the area so kids
> can be sat down and cleaned up.  We asked visitors to take shoes and socks
> off.  A few stiff brushes to help the adults is helpful.
> 
> Our biggest problem was pushbuttons getting grit in them (miles away from
> the sand pit), but a small price to pay.
>  
> 
> 
> Jeff Courtman
> Exhibits & Special Projects Coordinator
> 251.208.6851
> Exploreum Science Center
> www.exploreum.net
> 
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