Back to the fun palace

ALL THE PLEADING on the social media for the reopening of the Bangkok Children’s Discovery Museum for the sake of Bangkok kids and their beleaguered parents can now come to a happy halt. The popular destination was back in business on Children’s Day following a two-year refurbishing.

It seems to have been worth the wait. There are even more interesting, interactive exhibits to spark young imaginations and foster a love of learning.

While the renovation is still only 70 per cent complete, with work continuing at two of the four buildings, there is still much to see. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is spending Bt71 million to make the centre more functional, with children playing and learning foremost in mind.

“It was just a learning centre that the BMA opened in 2001,” explains Pranee Satayaprakop, director of the BMA Culture Sports and Tourism Department. “It was time to modernise it and promote it more as a kids’ museum. It’s like an amusement park of endless imagination, with educational games and toys created by Thais and related to theories in science and math that can be adapted to daily life.

“On school holidays there’ll be workshops in art and in making toys the old-fashioned way.”

Youngsters now have more to do outdoors, as well. Webs of netting, a wooden bridge and a tree house demand to be climbed. A small water park has been added to the five-rai site in Chatuchak district, which already has a large playground.

“We emphasise safety, with equipment in every corner to monitor and take care of the kids,” Pranee assures parents and teachers.

Children age seven to 12 in particular will enjoy exploring the three-storey Thor Tawan building. It shows how the world works with innovative displays and boasts a creative space with a stage for kids ready to demonstrate their abilities in art or music. 

The “Creative Science” gallery on the first floor explains, among other things, how buildings are shaped by geometry and how messages are transmitted via vibrations – the old tin-can telephone comes in handy here. 

Kids can pull up a tiny chair and learn how to save energy by using levers and pulleys to lift and move heavy gear around. They can ride a bicycle that generates electricity – potentially lighting up the city. A video about sharks actually shows how to design a more flexible swimsuit.

The Junior Thai Kitchen hosts free cooking classes each weekend, with professional cooks and nutritionists teaching how to make anything from jelly to baked kanom krok pastry.

The virtual archaeologist of Dino Dectective supplies clues in a hunt for buried bones. Inside a cave wait dinosaurs including the Parasaurolophus, Lambeosaurus, Diplodocus, Siamtyrannus and Triceratops. They’ll happily explain what they eat and, not so happily, why they became extinct.  

The “Our Friends” room on the second floor has a touch screen that teaches you how to say “hello” in more than 20 languages, and a miniature village depicting rural life in all four regions of Thailand. A huge mirrored tunnel is adorned with a parade of 3D models wearing the national costumes of Japan, Turkey, Mexico, South Korea, Norway and other nations.

Laughter fills the “Incredible Me” segment, where kids get to put on prop limbs like a duck’s feet and tiger’s paws, a great way to build empathy for the wild kingdom.

Here too are interactive exhibits demonstrating how the human brain functions and why our eyesight differs from that of animals. Games also teach meditation and might even improve a youngster’s skills in math and science.

The “Amazing Vision” zone is decorated ceiling to floor with oddball artwork that explains angles and illusions, while a Wonder Mirror has all sorts of reflections.

Parents can have a seat and watch the show in the Kid’s Playhouse on the third floor while their offspring play the prince, princess or other characters in a fairytale. They get all decked out in colourful costumes backstage and carry the appropriate props.

The idea in the “Build Our City” segment is to construct an urban habitat out of wooden blocks – church, houses, hospital, factory, school and a police station for an industrial estate, a residential area and a business district.

The Rainbow Building has a “Big Backyard”, all shady and relaxing with miniature trees, a vegetable patch, rocks and even a swamp. The idea is to help develop children’s five senses as well as their physique. 

The Creative Library takes the form of a tree house, complete with long, winding sofas where kids under five can sprawl and browse amid hundreds of educational books and comics. 

“Rainbow Town” borrows a leaf from Kidzania’s book: It’s a place where children can decide what they want to be in the future. Role-playing is the approach taken, and all the favourite choices are available in lifelike settings – policeman, astronaut, airline cabin attendant, veterinarian, TV anchor – as well as more mundane but pragmatic notions like a farmer, hairdresser and mechanic. 

The Water Playground outside is well equipped with a fountain populated by animal models, a lofty tree house and the Jungle Adventure rope-bridge, ideal for improving balance. 

Mother-of-three Kanokthon Sirivattanachaikool first heard about the museum on Facebook and now regularly brings her kids for visits.

“I want them to do more outdoor activities rather than a just strolling around a shopping mall,” she says. “Here they can get exercise in different sort of atmosphere.” 

The last of the renovations is expected to be complete next year, adding a hi-tech cartoon gallery where youngsters can learn about animation, and the Cosmos Building, which will teach survival techniques should disaster strike in the form of an earthquake or flood.

 

A SPLENDID DAY FOR ALL

>>The Bangkok Children’s Discovery Museum is behind Chatuchak Weekend Market and open daily except Monday from 10am to 4pm. 

>>There is no admission charge. 

>>Find out more at (02) 615 7333 and the “KidsMuseum” page on Facebook.