New kids’ gallery at deCordova explores art, science, and nature

The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum announces The Lab, a new interactive gallery on the museum’s fourth floor designed to explore the relationship between art, science, and nature. Changing several times each year in conjunction with new exhibitions, visitors will experience immersive installations, creative building activities, nature investigations, and a topical reading area.

The Lab’s first theme is Pond, inspired by deCordova’s current exhibition Bodies in Water and the neighboring Flint’s Pond. “We’re excited to introduce our newest interactive and interdisciplinary gallery where children and their families can experiment, play, and take ideas home with them,” said Emily Silet, head of educational exhibitions. “We hope our young visitors return again and again to The Lab this fall and winter to meet new friends and observe the dramatic seasonal changes at Flint’s Pond.”

The Lab: Pond, which takes a close look at pond ecosystems, features a variety of activities and experiences:

• Walk-in camera obscura: To experience this naturally occurring phenomenon, visitors enter a darkened room where a simple hole in the window covering allows the view of the park and pond from outside to project into The Lab purely through the magic of optics (see image here).
• Building table: Children can build “ice” sculptures using Lego bricks, wooden blocks, and Magna-Tiles ICE.
  
• Drawing station: Visitors are asked to consider the pond life that exists both over and under the water in Flint’s Pond throughout the year through drawing or writing.
  
• Reading lab: Carefully selected story and scientific books about Henry David Thoreau and pond life are available in a cozy reading nook overlooking Flint’s Pond through floor-to-ceiling windows equipped with binoculars.
  
• Pond water display: Brilliant images of microscopic pond water samples allow visitors to see what can be found in water when it’s magnified.
  
• Historical panel: An illustrated sign describes both Henry David Thoreau’s and Julian deCordova’s relationship to Flint’s Pond.