Have a grand old time

Coastal museums making spaces for young visitors

Kian Kaiser at Lincoln City’s North Lincoln County Historical Museum

Story & photos by Gretchen Ammerman

Oregon Coast TODAY

Ironically, there were clear skies and mild temperatures the day I took my niece to explore some of the available options for keeping kids entertained on rainy days in the most central part of the Central Oregon Coast.

In the past year, our local museums have been lowering their standards, so to speak, to install kid-height displays, play-specific areas and even size-appropriate furniture.

At the North Lincoln County Historical Museum in Lincoln City, there is the new “Kid’s Point of View” exhibit, with 80 interactive child-height panels throughout the museum.

The panels contain stories from different people in North Lincoln County, highlighting experiences and memories unique to being a kid growing up in the period from the 1890s to the 1940s. These stories are paired with images of the speaker and the locations, people and objects that they are remembering. Each story is displayed in both English and Spanish, making it the museum’s first entirely bilingual exhibit.

The Mildred and Marie Children’s Corner, created by former director Anne Hall, has games, puppets and even climb-on-able objects like a vintage saddle.

At Newport’s Pacific Maritime Heritage Center, the creation of a more kid-friendly campus is going in stages: past, present and future.

Last year, the museum opened an underwater wonderland play area on the second-story of the building that includes a felt wall covered in myriad felt sea creatures that can be rearranged into endless story possibilities. Hanging above are strands of almost lifelike kelp, created by artist Carol Shenk while she was helping to prepare the museum for the “Curious World of Seaweed” exhibit. On another wall, a large whale is covered in origami barnacles, the result of an Oregon Museum of Science & Industry project headed by Anne Armstrong.

The project inspired Curator Sachiko Otsuki and Host Jocelin Stoody to create a more complete origami creation station, with crab, barnacle, whale, angelfish and other shapes to create, with all materials and instructions provided. You do have to ask at the front desk for the “googly” eyes, for obvious reasons.

More recently, Otsuki has also created a scavenger hunt-style worksheet that goes with the newest exhibit, “Paintings and Prints from the Lincoln County Historical Society Collection.”

“It’s basically a ‘Where’s Waldo’ for that one exhibit so that kids can be entertained, too,” Director Susan Tissot said. “Sachiko is beginning to create something for kids for every new exhibit.”

Anevay Hill at the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center in Newport

Coming soon, the museum will have an entire scaled down “fish market,” complete with fake fish, so that kids can have the experience of choosing fresh, locally caught fish just like the grown-ups do.

“Sachiko is working with Joe Novello from the Toledo Shipyard to build a great little structure that we’re hoping to have ready by the end of April,” Tissot said. “I think the kids are going to love it. We really have created a fun place for the little ones in the family. And if people have a membership it’s perfect because you can come as often as you want. It’s a safe space, there’s lots to do and you have restrooms right there. We have one local teacher who has brought her son in since he was an infant and now that he’s a few years older he has all this new stuff to play with.”

If the weather is more amenable for outdoor play, the area outside of the Yaquina Pacific Railroad Historical Society museum in Toledo is great for the child that loves to climb on things. One spot, the historical steam engine, has a stairway and landing area encouraging exploration and nearby there is a small train replica, sized just right for toddlers to pre-teens to play on.

The North Lincoln County Historical Museum is located at 4907 SW Hwy. 101 in Lincoln City. For more information, go to northlincolncountyhistoricalmuseum.org or call 541-996-6614.

The Pacific Maritime Heritage Center is located at 333 SE Bay Blvd. in Newport. For more information, go to oregoncoasthistory.org or call 541-265-7509.

The Yaquina Pacific Railroad Historical Society museum is located at 100 NW A Street in Toledo. For more information, go to yaquinapacificrr.org or call 541-336-5256.