Visiting Museum Workshop: National Museum of Play at The Strong

Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013
SPECIAL EVENT
Location: The National Museum of Play at The Strong, Rochester, NY
Ages: All Ages

At the National Museum of Play at The Strong in Rochester, New York, a continuing flow of parents and their children engaged in Stonework Play during the Young Builders exhibit. The Strong is unique in offering an entire museum devoted to the study and exploration of play, where adults, children, families, students, teachers, scholars, collectors, and interested observers from around the world visit to enjoy its interactive collections and historical data.

At The Strong, something unusual happened — two stories came together. A father and daughter, originally from Laos, were working silently and individually with the stones. At first, the daughter was making a stone picture of herself, but when she glanced at her father’s rock bridge, she decided to make a large boat next to the bridge. These are their stories: "Once upon a time, I passed by a rock bridge, and I saw animals — an elephant, a zebra, a cheetah, an ostrich, a turtle, and a bird. Another boat came. I got into my other boat for safety. The boat went on land to find more rocks to make a rock castle." The end, by Lily. "Lily's boat passes under my bridge made of golden stones. And this bridge will connect both sides of the bank, so next time she would not need the boat for her stones." By Lily’s Dad, Llak.

When the stone pictures were finished, the father and daughter made drawings of their creations. Then, we taped the drawings together. Three times, the father lifted the tape to make sure the papers lined up perfectly and flowed together. They were so proud.