Something Good

by Amy I am a huge fan of books and words and making learning fun, so when I heard about the Much More Munsch exhibit at the Children's Museum I was kind of excited.

And when I say kind of excited, I was very excited and I figured there was a chance I would have more fun than the kid.

It so happened that my husband and I were on vacation for the week of Thanksgiving and we had planned a Boughner Family Extravaganza. We had already taken a trip to Saunders Farm, visited the Museum of Science and Technology, and we were at a lost for what Friday would hold. A newsletter hit my inbox telling me about the Munsch exhibit and a plan was made.I love Robert Munsch, I love his stories, I love hearing him read them, and I have tried to introduce them into my daughter's life. (I believe The Paperbag Princess has taught a great lesson to girls of my generation).

The Munsch exhibit is inside the Children's Museum at the Museum of Civilization, so for one admission you can tour both. I was young enough to visit the Children's Museum when it opened so I have fond memories and was excited to take my kid for a visit. There is quite a bit to see, traveling around the world and playing all sorts of different games. When entering the Children's Museum they give you a passport that you can stamp at all the different places you can visit. We went through Japan, Egypt and India to name a few, then we travelled through Canada a bit before finding the Munsch exhibit.

The exhibit is supposed to be set up like Robert Munsch's house, so you walk into this room and there's a brick wall with words written on every brick so you can 'build a story' - once you put on your hard hat, of course. Inside there are stairs that stomp and clomp like Mortimer's (a story my mother used to tell me was about me), and different characters behind different doors in the hallway and kitchen.

My favourite part of the house was the velcro wall on one side with velcro letters that you use to create your own onomatopoeias like Robert Munsch does in all his stories. Since Onomatopoeia is one of my favourite words, I was excited that kids are learning about these words that are sounds.

I was a bit disappointed that the Much More Munsch exhibit wasn't bigger, but the kids that were there all seemed engaged, and many of them were sitting at a table near the house writing letters to Munsch. There was a mailbox set up next to the table to get letters straight to him. Combined with the rest of the Children's Museum there was plenty of activity to keep my kid interested for quite a while.

The Much More Munsch Exhibit is on at the Children's Museum inside the Museum of Civilization until April 9, 2012.

Amy is mom to 20 month old Maggie and a 5 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind. She also shares a blog with her husband at boughner.ca where they talk together about parenting a daughter.