Astronauts, bugs & ART
Children’s Museum of Yuma County reopens for the summer in the Yuma Art Center
Only in their imaginations could kids take a giant leap from Yuma into space.
Unless they visit the Children’s Museum of Yuma County, where they can step into a replica space capsule that creates the effect of leaving the planet.
The capsule makes up “Mission: Space Connections,” the premiere or featured exhibit this year in the museum, which will be open inside the Yuma Art Center though July 28.
This exhibit also includes threedimensional models that teach kids about tools astronauts use in space.
The exhibit “puts them in the mindset that even as kids they can go into space as easily as anyone else,” says Anna Chaulk, a board director of the Children’s Museum.
Assembled with the help and sponsorship of the Yuma Rotary Cub and the Career and Technical Education Program at Arizona Western College, “Space Connections” is one of more than a dozen exhibits designed to stimulate learning of youngsters ranging from toddlers to teens.
In what is its third summer of operation inside the art center, the nonprofit museum has new exhibits as well as kid favorites from previous years. They include:
• Winds of Color, a display where children can take in the effect of multi-colored scarves blown by air through a tube.
• The Wind Tunnel, in which kids can release straw, paper plates and other items in a tunnel that exposes them to the concepts of mass, volume, weight and friction. The tunnel is part of the space exhibit.
• Musical Magic, in which children experience the joys of making music as they pound drums, cymbals and other percussion instruments. That exhibit also affords other performing arts opportunities for kids.
• Bugs in a Bug, an insect collection displayed under glass within a Volkswagen Bug that was cut in half length-wise. The exhibit includes magnification aids for youngsters to see the insects up close.
• Step into Art, an exhibit that exposes children to famous paintings by allowing them to occupy settings reproduced from the scenes depicted in the paintings. • Makersplace, where kids can make art. • Tot Spot, a place of their own for toddlers, where they can enjoy exhibits and play.
The Children’s Museum of Yuma County is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays in the Yuma Art Center, 254 S. Main St. Admission is $2 per person and all children and youths must be accompanied by adults.
The museum opened in the art center for the first time in 2016 in what Chaulk calls a unique partnership with the city. The exhibits bring in visitors to the art center during what are periods of lower attendance, she said. Meanwhile, the museum aims to instill a love of learning in children and to complement what they learn in the school year.
“We have a great community of educators, and we just want to help support the education that we have in our community, and offer kids a place to enjoy themselves and learn at the same time.”
Chaulk, who grew up in Yuma, recalls having to go to Phoenix or San Diego as a child to see museum exhibits. “There’s no reason why we can’t have that here.”
Essential to the museum’s existence have been monetary donations, volunteer work and other forms of support provided by area businesses, clubs, other non-profit organizations and individuals, says Chaulk.
For example, Yuma Rotary Club provided the split VW Bug for the housing for the insects, which were collected and arranged with help of local entomologists. The Step into Art exhibit was put together with the help of Jason Irr, as part of his Eagle Scout project.
“As we continue to do these summer exhibits, interest continues to grow and community support has been just amazing,” she said.
The Children’s Museum of Yuma County started out as the idea of Lois Haley, a Head Start assistant teacher for the Quechan Tribe who had been inspired by the experience of visiting museums with her own children.
Haley today sits on the board of directors with Chaulk and a crosssection of people employed in both the public and private sectors in the Yuma area. Chaulk says the board’s goal continues to be to eventually relocate the museum in its own premises, where it can stay open more months of the year.
But for now, she says, the art center offers a cool venue in the summer where children can pursue a love of learning.