Recommendations for Producing Small Traveling Exhibits for Children’s Museums

Introduction

In 2009, Kohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago (KCMGC) received a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to create Recommendations for Producing Small Traveling Exhibits for Children’s Museums. These recommendations provide the children’s museum industry with a set of guidelines, specifications and design strategies that will inform the development of new, high-quality, flexible traveling exhibits for museums of all sizes – especially small and emerging children’s museums.

The majority of children’s museum exhibits currently available for rent are designed for gallery spaces over 1,000 square feet in size, which presents a significant barrier for small and emerging museums that have limited space in their facilities. In addition to size being a challenge, small and emerging museums may have limited resources for developing their own changing exhibits, making access to traveling exhibits that meet their administrative, space and financial constraints all the more important.

At the beginning of 2010, KCMGC, in collaboration with the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) and an advisory committee made up of children’s museum professionals, museum consultants and exhibit designers, worked together to develop and disseminate a survey to gather quantitative and qualitative information on traveling exhibit needs in the field. 163 ACM members responded, providing key insights about the traveling exhibit needs at each of their facilities.

In addition, KCMGC conducted a series of focus groups at ACM’s InterActivity 2010 conference to discuss traveling exhibit topics that would be of interest to small and emerging museums. Twenty museum education, exhibits and senior level staff participated in the focus groups. As a result of these sessions, two exhibit topics were identified to be of high interest: “Insects” and “Impressions,” which are described in Attachments A and B.

The results of this survey and feedback from the focus groups were used to develop the Recommendations for Producing Small Traveling Exhibits for Children’s Museums. The recommendations, presented by KCMGC and ACM, are intended to inform the design and production of innovative traveling exhibits with universal appeal. A summary of survey results can be found in Attachment C.

How to use this document

Use this document to brainstorm ideas for exhibits under 1,250 square feet. Pay attention to the parameters described in general recommendations. For assistance with this document or to express interest in developing one of the exhibits described in Attachments A or B, contac tStephanie Bynum, Vice President of Programs for Kohl Children’s Museum at sbynum@kohlchildrensmuseum.org.

General Recommendations for Producing Small Traveling Exhibits for Children’s Museums

• Target age range: 3-8 years old
• For the small museum market, produce exhibits between 500 and 1,250 square feet
• Rental rates should range from $10,000 to $30,000 depending on square footage
• Always provide a marketing kit including logos, photographs, sample press releases and ads
• Always provide education materials including field trip activities, program plans, teacher resources, book lists, etc.

Content Recommendations for Producing Small Traveling Exhibits for Children’s Museums

Several content areas were identified in the survey and through the focus groups as being of high interest to children’s museums. These include:

1. Science – overall, survey respondents are most interested in traveling exhibits based on Science, with the most desirable topics being the following:
   a. How living things interact, function, adapt and change
b.
   b. Properties of the earth (land, water, atmosphere)
   c. Principles of force and motion
2. Physical Development/Health – secondly, survey respondents are most interested in traveling exhibits based on Physical Development/Health, with the most desirable topics being the following:
   a. Healthy living
   b. Physical Fitness/Movement
   c. Nutrition
3. Fine Arts – thirdly, survey respondents are most interested in traveling exhibits based on Fine Arts, with the most desirable topics being the following:
   a. Music
   b. Drama/Theater
   c. Literature