How active, interactive, immersive, even messy spaces for kids capture the attention of a generation characterized as terminally online

A wall of textures on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new 81st Street Studio, a discovery and play center for children. The goal of the interactive experience is to introduce children to making art before inviting them to experience art. Photographer: Carrington Spires, courtesy of the Met

""Call it the return to socialization. Call it museums growing their future audiences. Call it getting the kids (and their adults) off their phones. Whatever the cause — and it’s likely a mix of the three — the past year has seen a handful of high-profile children’s spaces open their doors, designed to edify and entertain, offer lessons in creativity and give kids a chance to write themselves into the story. 

""What sets them apart from more passive commercial immersive environments (think the Vincent Van Gogh rooms) is their insistence on three-dimensionality, with activities that engage the body, from the scale of an individual art project to an entire room.

""In looking at how these active, interactive, immersive, even messy spaces for kids captured the attention of a generation characterized as terminally online, I didn’t find a lack of technology. Instead, I found lessons from natural history museums, from amusement parks, and from graffiti artists — lessons in what it takes to put technology in its place. (Hint: Make it bigger.)"" - Alexandra Lange

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