Baby Nursery exhibit encourages the care of healthy and sick children

A trip to see a doctor can be scary, but the renovated Baby Nursery exhibit at Kohl Children’s Museum is helping to put kids’ minds at ease.

Originally called Doll Daycare, the permanent exhibit was redone with help from Advocate Lutheran General Children’s Hospital and Advocate Hope Children’s Hospital and reopened May 31.

“This exhibit has never been so popular,” said Kohl Children’s Museum president and CEO Sheridan Turner. “(Children) are so engaged in here.”

Young visitors don white doctor’s coats and grab tools from buckets filled with toy stethoscopes, syringes and reflex hammers. A five-part exam chart guides them through a process where they listen to a heartbeat, examine X-rays, look inside the patient’s ears, check reflexes and give a vaccination.

Dolls can fill the role of patients, though you can also see children performing exams on their parents. Kids can also weigh dolls on a small scale and parents often use it to check the weight of their own babies.

“It helps to put a very positive spin on the hospital,” Turner said. “It’s a place where doctors and nurses help kids stay healthy, rather than just a place kids go when they’re sick or in pain.”

One of the most popular areas is the X-ray board, where kids can display actual images of leg bones, ribs and a broken arm. Parents are encouraged to point out different bones to their kids.

“It’s just wonderful to see the discussion going on,” Turner said. “I saw one family put up a picture of a broken arm and it helped the child understand what was happening to their sibling who was wearing a cast.”

Parents and kids can take a break from play to share a story together on a plush bench in the corner of the exhibit. The area features books in English and Spanish on the same theme as the exhibit, including ones on broken bones, X-rays and visiting the hospital.

The exhibit retains some of the elements from Doll Daycare. There’s still an area for kids to “wash” dolls in a sink, but the museum added signage on the importance of keeping a baby clean and why a doctor washes his or her hands before a medical exam. The diaper changing area has been updated with new cloth diapers that are easier for the kids to use. After dressing the dolls up, kids can sit down at a table and share a tea party. There are cribs where kids can tuck their dolls in while playing a lullaby in one of a dozen locally spoken languages with the press of a button.

The area has toys for babies to play with while their older sibling explore, though even young toddlers can be seen carrying dolls and mixing bottles.

“That’s how children learn, they act it out,” Turner said. “Some of the learning is quite sophisticated.”

Baby Nursery at Kohl Children’s Museum

Where: 2100 Patriot Blvd., Glenview

Hours: 9:30 a.m. to noon Monday; 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday

Admission: $8.50; $7.50 for seniors

Call: (847) 832-6600

Online: kohlchildrenmuseum.org