Kids who love the PBS television series featuring Daniel Tiger can now visit his neighborhood thanks to a new exhibit at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia.
In Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: A Grr-ific Exhibit, children can use their imagination to transform their surroundings and play along with Daniel’s sing-able strategies as they learn life’s little lessons.
The exhibit, created by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh in partnership with The Fred Rogers Company, brings to life the themes presented in the show, such as community, communication and emotions, which help children understand their feelings and those of their neighbors.
Visitors can walk the paths and encounter the meaning of empathy, gratitude, sharing and diversity in an environment of creative and interactive play.
“Bringing the themes in Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood off the screen and transforming them into hands-on experiences creates an interactive environment where parents, grandparents, etc., can play alongside the child and get involved in these moments that support social-emotional development,” says Patricia D. Wellenbach, Please Touch Museum president and CEO.
Along with the emotional lessons gleaned in the Neighborhood, visitors can:
• Transform into a favorite character with masks and costumes.
• Compose a song or play along with one-of-a-kind instruments.
• Visit the Post Office and sort, deliver and receive packages and letters.
• Create stories through the Movable Character Mural.
• Step inside the Clock Factory to play with a variety of clocks.
• Identify spots in one’s own neighborhood on the interactive world map.
• Write or draw thank you notes and put them on the Thank You Tree.
• Cozy up with a good book in O the Owl’s Reading Nest.
• Stroll with a Trolley along the path, and ring the bell upon arrival.
The museum has planned a number of meet-and-greets with Daniel while the exhibit is on view and a schedule of daily programs, such as story times and performances, designed to enhance the exhibit. The museum also has a number of permanent exhibits worth the trip to Philadelphia including Wonderland, where kids wander down a rabbit hole to find many adventures, and Roadside Attractions, where they can climb into a real car, bus or trolley and go for a pretend ride.
The Daniel Tiger exhibit opens Sept. 28 and runs through Jan. 15, 2018. For details, visit the Please Touch Museum website.
Photo courtesy Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh; photographer: Larry Rippel
By Betsy Stein
