NATURE, HISTORY AND HORTICULTURE IN FAIRFAX COUNTY
VOLUME 11, NO. 4 WINTER 2012
New Children’s Exhibit at Ellanor C. Lawrence A chance for kids and parents to discover together ―There are so many different stories to tell at this site, both natural and cultural history, that you can’t possibly put everything into one exhibit.‖ So says John Shafer, the Walney Visitor Center manager at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park (ECLP) in Chantilly. And so, ECLP’s Walney Visitor Center has new changeable children’s exhibits to tell some of those stories on a changing basis. Exhibits are changeable in the new ECLP children’s area. ―Because we’re in a historic building, you can’t drill into the walls. You have to use things to sit in the room, like furniture,‖ Shafer said. The result is color-coded, adaptable areas in Walney. One is a blue area where preschoolers play at a small touch table with layout puzzles, a carpeted reading nook, discovery boxes, a basic microscope and natural history exploration tools. There’s a lower table for smaller kids and for those with disabilities, and there are discovery boxes with items inside that can be changed according to seasons or to match programs being conducted at the park. A popular addition is a dress-up area with Colonial attire of the late 1700s. Higher-quality magnifying glasses, a microscope and slides are in a red color-coded area for slightly older school-age children with their parents. ―We want the parents to be with the children as they explore because some objects are sensitive and breakable, and because we want an interaction between parent and child,‖ said Shafer. It’s the principle of give a man a fish or teach him to fish. ―We want to make them comfortable with the topic or the outdoors or teach them how to find further information,‖ he said. Shafer cites a display of the butterfly lifecycle stages in acrylic blocks. ―If you just want to look at the stages of a butterfly, great, you’re done,‖ he said. ―If you’d like to read a short children’s book to a child that gives basic explanation, there’s a children’s book there.‖ To explore further, there’s always a staff person at the desk to answer questions. (Continued on page 2)
Fairfax County Park Authority | Fairfax, VA 22035 | 703-324-8695 | Fax 703-324-3996 | TTY 703-803-3354 | www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/resources Winter 2012 1