Children’s Museum of Southeastern Connecticut Receives Grants for Outdoor Space

NIANTIC, CT – The Children’s Museum of Southeastern Connecticut, 409 Main St., recently received grants from the Dime Savings Bank Foundation, Charter Oak Credit Union, and Liberty Bank to redesign its outdoor space, providing a creative environment that stimulates learning and opportunities for active play, as well as meeting ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards.

Designed by museum staff, the outdoor play space will appeal and be appropriate for all ages and abilities. Using simple machines as the main theme for the area, children will have the opportunity to experiment with screws, levers, ramps, wheels, axles, pulleys, and wedges to enhance imaginative play and to help develop gross motor skills. Grant funds will be used for child-sized shovels, wheelbarrows, buckets and rope, outdoor dress-up clothing for the stage area, paint brushes, and a large, German-made sulky—similar to a rickshaw. There are also areas in the plan for quiet and reflection.

New fencing, provided by the Michael Buscetto Family Fund, will be completed this summer; a redesigned outdoor stage will be built in September; and the museum put out a call to interested youth for ideas and plans for a tree fort, a special feature of the play space, to be built next spring. Summer 1010 plans for the outdoor space include a water play area and a huge sand pit, with sneak previews between October through December.

The Eastern Connecticut Conservation District worked with the University of Connecticut to create a plan for reseeding the play area this summer using an appropriate, environmentally friendly grass: fescue, which withstands heavy use, is drought tolerant, doesn’t need much fertilizer, and stays green longer.

Although the renovated play space won’t be completed until 2010, the area is open for special projects during the summer.