Utica Children's Museum Opens New Exhibit and More

The OD reported on the Children’s Museum recently installed lighted PlayDance Floor, which is part of an interactive exhibit that allows children to play games, make music and create light shows.

The LED-lit, pressure-sensitive light floor detects players’ location and movement during games and activities. Children can stomp on brightly colored “ants” and jump over the “dodge ball” or create music by dancing on LED piano keys. The floor was funded by a grant from The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties.

With the light floor recently completed, Executive Director Marlene Brown is already looking ahead toward generating funding for the museum’s next big projects. The museum has applied for federal stimulus money to complete a project that would place solar panels and wind turbines on one-third of the museum’s roof. A green garden would cover another third and the final third would be left open as an observatory with tables, benches and telescopes. There are also plans to add bathrooms to the third floor, replace carpeting on the second floor and to create an observatory in the fifth floor. Read the full article here.