GUEST SPEAKER- Roy Mueller

Posted by Richard L. Roberts 
 

            Mike Balster introduced Roy Mueller recounting his education and experience in children's museums. Mueller was a founder of the education portion in the children's museum in Pasadena. He found an opportunity and a challenge when he accepted the job as the director of the SLO Children's Museum. 

            Mueller characterized the museum as a facility that serves the entire county. The new museum, which is expected to open the first of next year, will have three floors and over 8400 square feet located on the corner of Monterey and Nipomo. It is part of the city's cultural corridor leading to the Mission and on one side is the SanLuisCreek walk adjacent to nearby businesses.

 

            The museum will house 21 indoor and outdoor learning environments that stimulate curiosity and discovery through play for children ages 2-12. It will be four times the size of the original museum. Exhibits will include an erupting volcano, an interactive shadow wall, and a cave of imagination that will hook up with a video of children exploring the marine environment at the Avila pier operated by Cal Poly. Kids will be given an energy meter when they enter which, at exit, is plugged into a device that measures the amount of energy they generated during the visit and will initiate flashing lights, buzzing sounds, etc.

             The SLO bubble gum alley will be on the second floor, but will use pink acrylic bubble gum instead of the real thing. The second floor will also feature a farmer's market, Dr.'s office, barber shop, trolley, diner/store where parents will be served meals, fire house, bank and a 17 foot tower wall to climb.

            The third floor is dedicated to four year olds and under. There will be a train station with an interactive train engine. The cowcatcher in the front of the engine will be a xylophone for the musically inclined. Kids and parents can relax a designated reading area. 

            On the outside, there will be a 10 foot vine slide plus an outdoor water play area. An innovation is a 12-foot solar sunflower that will demonstrate how solar energy shining on the flower will be transformed into energy which will power a pump that will water the sunflower plant. 6003912 It was the club's consensus that an adult day should be available for the release of the childlike energy that is inside all of us. A million dollar donation will put your name in lights! For more information, visit their website, www.slokids.org .