4 days ago
Children's Museums Are Embracing Risky Play
When the City Museum in St. Louis opened in 1997 at the site of an old shoe warehouse, it was considered an outlier in the world of children's museums. Built using salvaged materials and featuring a massive playground that looks more like an active construction site, the institution was among the first to encourage more adventurous and less structured play — as opposed to more educational experiences.
Its emphasis on exploration and risk-taking has since beengradually embraced by other interactive kids museums around the US — even as City Museum itself has had to tame some of its most unhinged aspects. The shift comes as childhood habits are changing, with fewer kids spending time outdoors or unsupervised, contribute Amanda Abrams writes. Today on CityLab: Where the Wild Children's Museums Are
