Posted in Museums
The Oklahoma WONDERtorium, located at 308 West Franklin, is a children’s museum dedicated to inspiring curiosity by providing children and families with the opportunity to interact and learn through play while promoting the physical, emotional and cognitive growth of children and families of all backgrounds and cultures. Be sure to check out upcoming events below!
The Oklahoma WONDERtorium provides children and families a quality leisure activity where they can experiment, play, use their imaginations, and share ideas. The museum also gives parents and caregivers an opportunity to have interactive experiences with their children. Activities nurture cooperation and understanding among generations and cultures and encourage children and adults to learn from one another. We promote the physical, emotional and cognitive growth of children and families by providing an atmosphere for children to learn by “doing,” where learning is fun and multi-sensory.
Upcoming Events: DECEMBER
Ruthie's Shop of Wonder: Tuesdays on December 4, 11, & 18 | 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. Extended shopping hours in the museum's gift shop - Museum closed. 10% discount given on your total purchase during these special hours. "Kid Experts" on-hand to assist with selecting the perfect gifts.
WONDER Crafts: Thursdays on Dec 6 & 13 | Sessions: 3:00 and 4:00 or Sundays on Dec 9 & 16 | Sessions: 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. Holiday WONDER Crafts offers your children the opportunity to "craft" personal gifts! We provide the materials and WONDERtorium staff to help your child create 5 gifts for family and friends. $15 for Members (plus tax), $20 for Non-Members (plus tax)
Cupcakes with Mrs. Claus: Saturdays on December 8 & 15 | Sessions: 10:30, 11:30, and 1:30 p.m. Treat your children to a fun time with Mrs. Claus that includes a story, craft and yummy cupcakes. This is a super-cute photo opportunity and a great way to create memories
with your child. $15 for Members (plus tax), $20 for Non-Members (plus tax)
Noon Year's Eve: Monday, December 31, 2012 | 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Join us on December 31st to celebrate "Noon" Year's Eve! Make party hats, noise makers, banners and more. Be sure not to miss the big countdown to Noon! Free for Members, Included with Admission for Non-Members.
Safe Sitter Training for kids 12-15 years old: Thursday and Friday, January 3 & 4 | 1:00-5:00 p.m. each day. $40.00 ($43.50 incl. tax) for the 8-hour session Pre-registration required.
For additional information, visit http://www.okwondertorium.org/images/stories/2012_NovActivities/WONDERtorium_Dec2012.pdf
Hours:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 5pm
Sunday: 1 - 5pm
Admission: $7 per person
There are 14 exhibits at the Oklahoma WONDERtorium:
A-Mazing Airways is a floor-to-ceiling maze of transparent tubes which carry colorful, windborne scarves and balls on a circuitous and entertaining route. It's somewhat akin to the vacuum tubes that drive-up banks use to carry documents from car to bank and back – but much larger and way more fun! Visitors can adjust cutoff valves to alter the route and send the scarves and balls sailing unpredictably up and airborne out one of different exit ports.
The Artist's Pad exhibit consists of a line of easels with paint, paper, and brushes for kids to encourage different types of artistic endeavors. A “clothesline” or two hang above to hang masterpieces up to dry. Other surfaces and mediums such as shaped chalkboards and dry erase surfaces are scattered throughout. At a large table with chairs, different types of craft projects and supplies such as noodle art, recycled item art, clay, face painting etc. are rotated weekly.
The semi-circular shape of the Discovery Diner table allows visitors to sit along the outer curve on retro diner stools while a museum volunteer sits inside the curve to assist. The volunteer has access to shelves of bins stored under the table with different types of hands-on exploration activities such as taking apart computers, calculators, flashlights, and cell phones, etc., creating things with small motors and batteries; building a stringed instrument; or experimenting with color mixing. The Discovery Diner also plays host to special guests with unique activities to share.
The Forest Playground is an “outdoors in” exhibit with trunks to climb over and through, trees scattered throughout to hike around, a tree house, slide, teeter totter, and rock climbing wall. Log benches are scattered throughout for parents to enjoy.
The Generation Station Barn and Store are near each other. The barn is home to a large cow model which visitors can “milk" and a henhouse with eggs to collect and then roll on tracks from the Generation Station Store. On the wall behind the Barn is a 3-D mural of a statehood home with interactive doors and windows to open and view the activities going on inside.
Based on an 1895 photo of the original Eyler's Grocery interior in Stillwater, the Generation Station Store is stocked with canned and boxed foods, vegetables in bins, windowed drawers full of assorted items, remnants of fabric, etc. An old-fashioned scale and a balance are on a table for experimentation. Hand-held woven baskets are stacked near the door for shopping. At check-out, aprons hang ready to wear along with two old-style cash registers on the counter. Electric lanterns hang above. Metal wash tubs and buckets hang along the ceiling. The walls are covered with product shelves and old metal advertising signs.
Golf Ball Racers is the name of an exhibit in the process of being designed! The exhibit is being designed by students in an architecture class at Oklahoma State University.
Imagination Playground blocks are a set of large, foam loose parts that allow children to play at an architectural scale. The set consists of 15 different shapes to encourage open-ended free play and a wide variety of play patterns. Imagination Playground Blocks are available in one color — a vibrant shade of blue — in order to facilitate more imaginative play, without distraction or competition that might arise from multi-colored parts.
The Kameoka Kids exhibit will offer Museum visitors the opportunity to experience Japanese family life, customs, ceremonies, art, architecture and seasonal events. Within this exhibit a mural of cherry blossoms and Japanese gardens will set the stage for an “outdoor” play space. Mt. Fuji, an exploring and climbing structure including stairs and tunnels, will project from the wall three-dimensionally. Visitors will remove their shoes (according to custom) to enter the “inside” space – a traditional Japanese home. Activities inside the home will include dress up, “eating” with chopsticks at a low table with a tatami-looking floor, playing with Japanese toys, and reading books about Japan.
The Little Wonders play area is for little visitors from birth to 3 years and is filled with soft play climbing structures and sensory activities. Visual and tactile walls stimulate and entertain.
Within the My Medical Center exhibit a series of four rooms provide a hospital experience from Check In, the Doctor's Office, Lab & X-Ray, and Surgery & Recovery. A hospital baby nursery is also a part of this experience. In the Doctor's office, patients can be weighed, measured, and tested with an eye chart. In the Lab & X-Ray room, the "X-Ray Technician" dons a protective vest, carries the hand-held switch, and positions the patient for an X-Ray with a realistic-looking X-Ray machine, and then examines images on the X-Ray viewing box. Signs throughout this exhibit illustrate and describe healthy habits and explain "Amazing Facts" about the human body.
The River Run exhibit gives kids an opportunity to splash and experiment with the wonders of water. A river of water finds its way down and back through a multi-level construction that features a bell fountain, small waterfall, moveable walls to change the path of water, and toys such as boats and sieves. Plastic smocks are available to help visitors stay dry. The exhibit sits on a raised, slightly textured floor with a sloped drain for easy and more sanitary maintenance.
Unit Blocks are standardized wooden toy blocks for children. By playing with manipulative materials such as blocks, children develop social, physical, and logico-mathematical knowledge. It looks like “just” play, but through block play children learn… how to make a building steady, how to balance weight equally, about three-dimensionality, about self in space, how to problem solve, and much, much more.
As a tribute to Dr. Ramona Paul’s lifelong commitment to early childhood education, the Unit Block exhibit will be named in her honor at the Oklahoma WONDERtorium.
Two Play Pods planned for separate locations in the Oklahoma WONDERtorium. Play pods can take many forms and currently we are considering a "money vortex" – a very popular exhibit in all types of museums and, in a separate location, a play pod for relaxation (as you see in the picture) or a play station, like the 'train themed" exhibit shown in the image. Sponsors of either or both of these play pods can offer input as to what shape and form they take. The money vortex can have a theme or be customized to teach the principle of centrifugal force, for instance.
Please visit http://www.okwondertorium.org/ or call 405.533.3333 for additional information.
