On January 12, 2013, Delta Pi Delta members assembled at the Golisano Children’s Museum in Naples for a guided tour of the museum. The museum is the only one of its kind in this area, and it has been open for less than a year. It is named after Thomas Golisano, a major benefactor, who made a $5 million gift to the museum. There is a stipulation that an adult can not be admitted without a child and a child can not be admitted without an adult, so we were glad to have this opportunity to visit the museum.
The colorful, ship-shaped “C’mon,” The Golisano Children’s Museum, is more than 30,000 square feet, with two floors and an outside playground and amphitheater for concerts and plays. It opened its doors on February 28, 2012, after ten years of development and construction and at a cost of 25 million dollars.
Paver stones at the entrance to the museum celebrate important milestones, honor someone special or remember a loved one.
Jean and Anne at the entrance to the children’s museum
Sallie and Betty in front of the Loos Art Gallery
Gift shop
Sasha testing a pinwheel in the gift shop
Rosemary, Carolyn, Shirley, Ann, Doris, Mary Lou, and Marjorie in the classroom area We had a meeting and then a box lunch before taking a tour of the museum.
Brenda, Shirley, Teddy, Ronda and Sasha
Mary, Rosemary and Carol
Ellen, Phyllis and Edna
Kathy and Shirley
Barbara and Mary Lou
Fran, Mary Ellen and Susan
Docent Urmila begins our tour
Mother Nature’s House, Fall in Vermont
In the fall room in the four seasons area of the museum, children can watch leaves fall from a tree and then rake them up. In the nearby winter room, children can step inside an igloo, which is kept at 59-degrees.
A 35’ tall banyan tree with a 45-foot canopy The trunk is 16 feet in diameter and has a walk-through trunk and tree house. The Everglades maze is to the right of the tree.
Within the trunk of the banyan tree, there is a crawl space where kids can climb up the tree.
A child crawling up the screened-in interior of the tree
There is a Pet Vet Clinic high up in the branches of the banyan tree. You can just see it through the branches.
The Everglades Crawling Maze has mirrored panels throughout to make passage a little bit trickier. In the background you can see the Fishing Pier, where kids can fish with poles and magnetic bait, and the larger-than-life walk-in seashell behind the pillar.
Betty, Shirley and Becky exit the 22-foot-tall, walk-through shark’s eye seashell.
Sallie and Sasha exit the shell
Play area for toddlers
In the fall room in the four seasons area of the museum, children can watch leaves fall from a tree and then rake them up. In the nearby winter room, children can step inside an igloo, which is kept at 59-degrees.
In the Summer room in the four seasons area, Mary Ellen and Fran activate some pinwheels.
In the Art Studio, children were finger-painting and doing cutouts.
At the Produce Market, children scanned food items and tallied up the total of their “purchases.”
Wise directive on the wall of the Produce Market
The orchard area near the Produce Market
The Adventure Room
The Adventure Room
Kid-friendly Climbing Wall in the Adventure Room
The Loos Art Gallery is the dream-come-true of Naples mother Allyson Loos. After Loos lost her 13-month daughter, little Bianca appeared to her in a dream in the setting of a children’s museum. That’s when the project began. The genuine artwork in this gallery is intended to appeal to children, and it’s probably a great start to foster a child’s appreciation of art.
Dancing Family (1969) bronze by Milton Hebald
Docent and Donna looking at oil on canvas White Horse (2007) by Bob Kane
Oil on canvas Ann in Yellow (1938) by Jon Corbino
Bird of Peace (1997) bronze by Tobi Kahn
Johnsonville Backyard, a kid’s dream backyard (sponsored by Johnsonville Sausage of Naples)
An interactive water play exhibit
Through the portal of the Artist’s Cottage is the amphitheater
A hedge maze
An engraved granite sculpture by David Balser in the center of the maze. The wording: COURAGE--HEART--INTELLECT--COME NOT FROM OZ THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD LEADS ONLY TO YOURSELF
The cone signifies "Dorothy’s Tornado," an inverted tornado. The black circle represents the unknown—darkness— while the gold "yellow brick road" promises illumination. (Just in case you are interested, the price of this sculpture on the website is $82,500)
The amphitheater seats up to 100 people.
Docent Urmila has worked at the museum about 18 months and is passionate about her work there. This is the last stop on our tour, but it was a very fun and interesting break from adulthood.
