Queen Rania and Children Explore Jordan's First Children's Museum

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Amman) Over 150 Jordanian children joined Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah in a visit to the Kingdom's first interactive Children's Museum, where they were invited to explore the various exhibits before the official launch.

Queen Rania and the children walked through the museum, where the young adventurers participated in various interactive activities and played in the different exhibit areas. Following the tour, the children were invited to share their feedback on their visit to the museum.

This visit comes a few weeks before the museum is set to open its doors to the public, and museum personnel are relying on the children's feedback for some final touches. The museum selected children from various youth organizations and councils across the Kingdom. They were representatives of public schools selected with the assistance of the Ministry of Education, The Greater Amman Municipality Children’s Council, Ministry of Social Development and JUHUD.

The children were assigned to groups, and then introduced to a number of thematic areas to test the exhibits. The museum facilitators were positioned throughout the exhibit hall to ensure children’s hands on participation.

As the children explored the Museum, the exhibit areas had activities to expand on the hands-on experience. Children explored The Human Body exhibit to better understand genetics and biology. At the Dynamic Planet exhibit area, children had the chance to identify various rocks and build earthquake resistant block buildings. At Ancient Times area they were encouraged to dig for artifacts and enjoyed a pottery activity, in which children chose Islamic or Nabatean art sample and drew on pottery plates. The Up and Away exhibit area exposed children to a real simulator and a virtual flyover, children also participated in an origami activity and made paper planes. The Energy Lab emphasized water saving habits and recycling materials though interactive exhibits and children joined in an experiment to discover starch in various food items at the demonstration area using iodine. At The Town Square, children bought food items from the supermarket, fixed their car in the garage, deposited money in the bank, visited the police station and finally visited the craft shop and joined in a weaving activity where they weaved their own bracelet.

In addition to the activities that took place within the Exhibit Hall, the Museum had two more activities held at the museum’s other facilities. The activities included an art activity titled “Name Your Color,” held in the Museum’s Studio where children mixed their own creative colors and named them according to their own taste. The produced colors were then displayed according to shade on a tableau in the museum. The activity aimed to blend creativity, literacy and imagination as children produced a color and personalize it. Queen Rania also joined the children in creating and naming her own color. A theater activity took place in Express Yourself exhibit area in which children discussed a certain topic and then transformed it into a play through improvisational theater using puppets and props.

The event concluded with a discussion forum, empowering the children to voice their opinion on their experience at The Children’s Museum and promoting children’s active participation in museum's future workshops and activities. All comments, suggestions and observations were documented and noted for reference.