Don't worry if your 6-year-old is not yet an expert on American history; he'll still find something of interest in Boston.
By MICHAEL SCHUMAN
Published June 13, 2004
[Photos: AP]
Staffers at the Museum of Science in Boston walk by the then-new tyrannosaur in May 2001. The T-rex replica, which took about seven months to complete, had been brought into the museum for the final stages of preparations.
Mary Rogers, 3, of Boston stands by duck sculptures at the Boston Public Garden in April.
Aidan Flynn, 5, of Peabody, Mass., center, watches reptile handler Bill Schubert, hold a 4-foot alligator during the “Dragons and Serpents” program at the New England Aquarium in February.
Escaping the past in Boston is about as impossible as hitting a Pedro Martinez fastball. But visiting the city with kids is much more than in-person sessions of History 101 and 102.
Consider eyeballing a 40-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex, riding in a truck that sails on water and looking down your nose at Beacon Hill from 50 stories up.
The next time you're in Boston with kids in tow, consider leaving the past behind and checking out any of the following attractions and activities.
The Children's Museum
Younger kids stocked the shelves and rang the cash register in the supermercado, based on an actual Hispanic supermarket in the city. They then camped out in the back yard and explored the kitchen of Arthur, the 8-year-old television aardvark, whose world has been re-created life-sized here.
Perhaps the biggest kick for parents, if not kids, is a trip to Grandparents' House set in that way-back year of 1959. We watched vintage television commercials as the kids took turns speaking on the rotary phone in the period kitchen, decked out in its best shade of Mamie Eisenhower pink.
One gallery you won't see in children's museums in Kansas City or Denver is "Under the Dock," which simulates a regional under-the-ocean landscape, with a 14-foot-high fiberglass lobster, various other sea creatures and barnacle-bedecked dock pilings.
The Children's Museum: 300 Congress St.; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and weekends; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays; $9 adults, $7 ages 2 to 15 and seniors; $2 1-year olds; $1 all ages 5 to 9 p.m. Fridays. 617 426-8855; www.bostonkids.org.
The Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Mummy's the word. The museum boasts one of the nation's best-regarded collections of fine arts, but older kids - and this museum is best for older ones - head en masse to the gallery devoted to Egyptian funerary arts. They are enthralled by everything from a mummy head, probably severed by grave robbers centuries ago, to the canopic jars that once held the viscera of deceased pharaohs. Yes, they say it's gross, but they love it, sort of like adults and reality television.
Yet kids' interests in this gallery don't stop with nasty stuff. A 10-year-old was intrigued with hieroglyphics, and a 13-year-old spent time focusing on the stone and gold representations of the Egyptian gods she had studied for a school project.
As for the fine art, they shunned medieval and Colonial works, favoring the French impressionists, especially Monet's poppies.
Museum of Fine Arts Boston: 465 Huntington Ave.; 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and weekends; 10 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. Wednesday-Friday only certain galleries open Thursday and Friday evenings; $15 adults; $13 seniors and college students; $6.50 ages 7 to 17 on school days and free all other days and after 3 p.m. (617) 267-9300; www.mfa.org.
Boston Duck Tours
Many guided tours of Boston are available, but the most fun for young ones might be aboard the renovated amphibious World War II vehicles once code-named DUKWs, today pronounced "ducks." Riders spend about an hour on the streets and a half-hour on the Charles River while a guide points out the sights of modern and long-ago Boston.
Our guide identified himself as retired police officer D. Duncan ("That's D for Ducky") and spewed out more one-liners than Billy Crystal at the Oscars. "I won't let this thing capsize. I don't want my doughnuts getting wet," he said. He also referred to Fenway Park as the home of the world champion Red Sox. "That's the 1918 World Champion Red Sox," he clarified.
Kids are allowed to try their hand at driving the DUKW while on water, but ours were too shy. Still, they said that sailing in a truck on water was the most fun part of the tour. A warning: There are no bathrooms onboard. As a vanity license plate once read, PB4UGO.
Boston Duck Tours: March 29 through Nov. 28, daily and weekend departures from the Museum of Science or the Huntington Avenue side of the Prudential Center. Tours depart every 30 to 60 minutes from 9 a.m. until an hour before sunset. Tickets: $24 adults, $21 students and older than 62, $15 ages 3 to 11, $3 age 2 and younger. 617 723-3825 or (617) 267-3825; www.bostonducktours.com.
Visit Jack, Kack et al. at the Boston Public Garden
Speaking of ducks, Robert McCloskey's timeless children's book Make Way for Ducklings was set in Boston. It is immortalized in the Boston Public Garden with nine statues of the Mallard family: Mrs. Mallard leads in single file her eight offspring - Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack - all in different stages of waddling. Our own offspring showed us that Mrs. Mallard is the perfect sitting size for young humans. The ducklings' real-life counterparts swim happily nearby in the Public Garden pond, also home to the famous pedal-powered swan boats, which can be rented in summer.
Boston Public Garden: Open from dawn to dusk daily. The entrance to the garden is in the middle of Charles Street, across from the Boston Common. (617) 635-7383, Boston Park Rangers main office.
Museum of Science
A 16-foot-high, 40-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex and an indoor lightning show are perennial favorites. A first-grader best liked riding a stationary bicycle and watching a skeleton opposite her mimic her exact moves in a gallery called "The Human Body Connection." One permanent exhibit, "Science in the Park," enables youngsters to enjoy a playground swing before analyzing the scientific principles of harmonic motion.
Older children and adults should examine a display showing how pollsters can take advantage of the human mind and manipulate results by careful selection of words. For example, in separate surveys, the question "Should smoking not be allowed in public places?" received far more "yes" votes than the bolder "Should smoking be forbidden in public places?" Then consider all the advocacy groups and editorial writers who cite surveys to support their viewpoints.
By the way, no matter how exciting the lightning show can be, save it for older kids. It can scare the daylights out of the littlest ones.
Museum of Science, Science Park: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday through Thursday in summer 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. rest of year; 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays; $14 adults, $12 65 and older, $11 ages 3 to 11; additional charge for the Mugar Omni Theater and Hayden Planetarium. (617) 723-2500, www.mos.org.
Birthplace of the telephone
A hidden gem in this historic city is the reconstructed attic lab where in 1875 wavy-haired, bewhiskered Alexander Graham Bell spoke his famous request to see his assistant, Thomas A. Watson. Though the machine shop in which Bell invented the telephone was razed in the 1920s, the attic, with many original components, including timbers, rafters, floorboards and equipment, was transported to its current home in a room off the lobby of the Verizon building in Boston's financial district.
A cross section of the human ear on Bell's desk drew our kids' attention, but so did the view from the attic window, a painted scene of mansard roofs and carriages on busy Court Street in downtown Boston circa 1875. Tuning forks, wires and reference books clutter the desk, and in a display case is one of Bell's first commercial telephones, looking as much like a telephone as a pair of hedge clippers. An audiotape tells Bell's story.
Bell's lab: Telephone Museum in the Verizon building, 185 Franklin St.; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; free.
New England Aquarium
Our talks with children seemed to show that they liked the penguins best. But according to staff members, the most popular exhibit is the sea lion show. During special weekend hands-on programs, children ages 6 and up can pet, feed and get kissed by a resident sea lion as well as either work with a trainer or paint a picture with a sea lion's assistance. Second in popularity is the Giant Ocean tank, with sharks, corals, moray eels and huge sea turtles. Keep an eye out for 45-year-old Myrtle, a green sea turtle often seen taking a snooze at the bottom of the tank.
Third on the list for wondering eyes are the vibrant tropical fish, and don't be surprised to watch kids look for Nemo's relatives, since orange-and-white-banded clownfish, made popular in the movieFinding Nemo, are very much at home in the tropical fish tanks. The exhibit "Amazing Jellies" opened April 17. Learn that jellyfish have no backbone, no brain and no heart. Sounds like an editor I once worked for.
New England Aquarium, Central Wharf: Summer hours July 1 until Labor Day are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, weekends and holidays. Hours rest of year: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends and holidays; $15.95 adults, $13.95 seniors, $8.95 ages 3 to 11. (617) 973-5200; www.neaq.org.
Boston by Little Feet
This is a kid-sized version of the popular Boston by Foot walking tours, 60 minutes long instead of the full 90 minutes for adults. We took a stroll through history while our guide pointed out weather vanes shaped like cows and crickets and other things that charm kids. The children on our tour liked the lion and unicorn atop the old State House, and they enjoyed eyeballing a penny, then seeing how the new City Hall looks like the Lincoln Memorial turned upside down.
A caveat: Boston by Little Feet is promoted for ages 6 to 12. We recommend it for older kids. The pace and discussion of topics such as architecture and political history made it a bit tough for our 6-year-old.
Boston by Little Feet: Tours meet guides in front of Faneuil Hall at the Samuel Adams statue on Congress Street; 10 a.m. Saturday and Monday, 2 p.m. Sunday; $8 all ages; 617 367-2345; www.bostonbyfoot.com.
Room with a view
There is only one skyscraper in Boston offering views from the top: the Prudential Center. (The John Hancock Tower observatory closed in 2001.) We saw the city spread out below us from the 50th floor Skywalk Observatory of the building informally known as the Pru. As of July 1, a narrated audio tour will be available for Skywalk visitors, and a theater showcasing a video about Boston is slated to open in the fall.
In addition to the vista are displays in which young hands can touch a football, baseball, basketball or hockey puck before hearing the sounds of the New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins in action. Then they can read that Fenway Park's Green Monster (left field wall) stands 37 feet high, and it would take 19.5 Green Monsters to reach as high as you are standing at that moment. Your little monsters will gasp.
Prudential Center Skywalk: 800 Boylston St., 50th floor; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and weekends; $7 adults, $4 ages 2 to 10 and seniors. 617 859-0648; www.prudentialcenter.com/play/skywalk.html.
Michael Schuman is a freelance writer who lives in Keene, N.H.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, 2 Copley Place, Suite 105, Boston, MA 02116; toll-free 1-888-733-2678; www.bostonusa.com
