December 2003 & January 2004
issue
Contents:
Letter From Lindy
Rainbow Farm Just Got a
Whole Lot Better (Not Just 1% or 2%)
T-Rex Takes Center Stage
Building Brightens Up
Ring in the New Year (early)
at the Museum
Letter From Lindy
For as long as I can remember, my family celebrated Christmas
Eve at my grandparents' home in Millard. We'd all gather
in their tiny little house: twelve grandchildren, aunts,
uncles, Grandma and Grandpa. We would eat chili and oyster
stew, poke black olives on our fingers and sample Grandpa's
peanut brittle and Grandma's sugar cookies. This had been
and continued to be our holiday tradition, even as the family
grew over the years.
Grandma worried each year that there wouldn't be enough
food, that her house was too small for all the guests and
that everyone might not like the gifts that she and Grandpa
made for us. Truth be known, there was always plenty of
food, her house managed to fit us all and we all loved and
cherished our homemade gifts.
Grandma passed away this August, leaving her family with
a wealth of happy memories of this and many other traditions.
This is our year to make new traditions for the holidays.
We probably won't make oyster stew—none of us really
like it. We won't have a gift or ornament made by Grandma
under the tree. We will most likely gather in a larger home
with plenty more room for all the guests. Our tradition
will adapt.
What makes up your family's tradition this holiday season?
Will you need to change or adapt to make room for new traditions?
My wish for you is that you find yourself awash in the traditions
that make your holiday complete.
I invite you to make visiting the Children's Museum a part
of your holiday tradition. If you have guests from out of
town or simply have extra time because school is on break,
plan to come and visit the museum. Most of all, I wish you
a holiday season full of memories-in-the-making and traditions
that make you feel a part of something bigger than yourself.
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Rainbow Farm Just Got
a Whole Lot Better (Not Just 1% or 2%)
Welcome back to Rainbow Farm! Come on in
and set a spell. You can help milk Calcie the cow, learn
how to tie from a scarecrow, dress up as your favorite animal,
or just sit and enjoy the view.
Rainbow Farm has been one of the museum's most popular exhibits
since its opening in the late 1990s, but it was never quite
complete until this October. The farm was originally for
toddlers, but it has a lot to offer for infants, toddlers
and older kids as well.
Infants can crawl around in the soft pigpen with a sow and
piglets while toddlers wear costumes of farm animals. Interactive
scarecrows will help older children learn to tie, button
and Velcro. Children can also learn how to milk Calcie.
This milking cow was named by Choteau Kammel of Omaha, among
over 600 submissions, suggesting Calcium, just one of the
good things found in milk. The whole farm, with its animals
and activities, is bordered by a white picket fence.
The biggest addition to Rainbow Farm is the lifelike mural
of a farm. Daniel Gutzmann and Michael Nelson, co-owners
of Mural Mural Graphics in Lincoln, met with Tom Simons,
director of education, and the museum staff in March to
gain a better understanding of what the exhibit should look
and feel like.
"We wanted to make the exhibit feel more like an actual
farm instead of pieces of an exhibit that children played
with," said Simons. "The mural and the picket
fence help to pull the whole thing together."
"Rainbow Farm is now better than ever," said Simons,
"so bring the whole family down for a day at the farm."
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T-Rex Takes Center Stage
Museum welcomes the dean of dinosaurs
If dinosaurs were celebrities, Tyrannosaurus
rex would be the
blockbuster, above-the-title superstar of them all.
The museum welcomes this A-list dino when the traveling
exhibition T-Rex: King of the Dinosaurs opens Jan. 17, 2004.
With arobotic adult and baby T-rex and hands-on activities,
your whole family will come away knowing this most famous
Cretaceous predator inside and out.
"Dinosaurs may be the most captivating creatures ever
to have walked the earth," said Lindy Hoyer, executive
director of the Omaha Children's Museum. "Tyrannosaurus
especially remains a favorite. They're like mythological
creatures that truly existed."
T-Rex: King of the Dinosaurs tells the story of Tyrannosaurus
rex, the most famous of all dinosaurs. Recent stunningly
complete fossil discoveries of T-rex have revolutionized
the way we now look at this remarkable creature. Still,
though first discovered almost a century ago, much about
this creature remains a mystery.
"What's amazing about T-rex is how much it has changed
over the years," said Tom Simons, director of education.
"As researchers learn more about T-rex and the other
dinosaurs, those findings directly impact the way the dinosaur
looks in pictures and acts in movies such as 'Jurassic Park'
and the Discovery Channel specials."
"Even though they died a long, long time ago, dinosaurs
never really grow old."
This exhibit attempts to unravel the mysteries. Visitors
will learn the latest theories on T-rex's appearance, behavior,
characteristics and ecology. Controversies such as "scavenger
vs. predator" and "how closely birds are related
to T-rex" are discussed. The exhibit includes fossil
casts, life reconstructions, hands-on activities, paintings
and participatory displays.
The exhibit will be on display on the museum's second floor
through April 18, 2004.
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Building Brightens Up
Repairs and paint give museum new life
"Spalling"—it was a word
that the museum staff learned about first hand this year.
As pieces of the museum's exterior began to chip and break
off, they knew something had to be done.
"The need to repair and repaint the museum presented
us with an opportunity to spruce up the look of the building,"
said Lindy Hoyer, executive director of the Omaha Children's
Museum.
A design team was formed. Tom Kramer, who is involved in
the museum's master planning design, worked closely with
Jeff Cannon and David Kadavy, from RDG Planning and Design,
to create the final look of the exterior.
Cannon, a museum board member, explained that the team first
met with Hoyer and the board members. Then, they presented
different fun ideas and directions that the museum could
go.
One of the first challenges for the design team was the
very horizontal and linear architecture of the building.
They decided to add breaks and graphic elements to help
give the building some height. But that would prove to be
only a minor obstacle.
According to Kramer, the way the building had previously
been painted led to damaged bricks and cinder blocks, some
of which chipped and fell off-spalling.
As the restoration of the building began, repairs to the
damaged pieces came first. Then, came painting with a special
kind of paint for brick that expands and contracts to accommodate
for changes in heat and moisture.
"We are grateful to the Douglas County Commissioners
for Visitor Improvement funds to complete this important
renovation to our facility," said Hoyer.
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Ring
in the New Year (early) at the Museum
Come and celebrate New Year's Eve with us!
The festivities begin at 6 p.m.; the whole family can dress
up and even make your own masquerade masks and New Year
Dragons. But the fun doesn't stop there! You can dance under
the disco ball to tunes from literock 101.9 or toss a coin
into our Auld Lang Syne Wishing Well to help make your New
Year's wish come true.
The skies will light up at 7 with ConAgra Food's fireworks
display, one of the highlights of the Holiday Lights Festival.
You can watch from the windows of our second floor or take
a shuttle to Heartland of America Park to get an up close
and personal view. The evening will conclude with our countdown
to the Omaha Children's Museum New Year at 8 o'clock. 2004
will be rung in just a little early as we stomp on bubble
wrap, toss confetti and shout "Happy New Year!"
The party will end around 8:30, just in time for the kids
to go home and for Mom and Dad to make it to the grown up
parties.
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