The Brooklyn Children’s Museum is still in the midst of its $46-million Rafael Vinoly-designed expansion — but the Crown Heights exploratorium is about to take the wraps off of an exhibit that will make grown-ups wish they were kids again.
The museum gave the press a preview last week of the new Totally Tots gallery — which will soon open after a three-year renovation designed by the Brooklyn team of Tim Watkins and Carol May.
The hands-on activities are not just fun and games.
“Totally Tots allows children to learn new things about themselves, each other and their surroundings,” said Libby Pokel, a spokeswoman for the museum.
Many of the features of the original gallery — including a make-believe theater, musical instruments and an art studio — will remain.
And don’t worry, parents: the gallery’s most-popular feature — the water play zone — has been improved. Not only will it be twice as large and kids will still be able to measure, collect and pour water into different-sized containers for a hands-on lesson about weight and volume.
But now, they’ll also be able to enter a tunnel underneath the pond and watch the water flow from below, or stay up above and use tools to change the direction of the water’s current.
Smocks are still, thankfully, provided.
Brooklyn Children’s Museum (145 Brooklyn Ave., at St. Marks Avenue in Crown Heights). Visit www.brooklynkids.org for info.
