Kids can hop aboard new train exhibit

For years, children visiting the exhibits on the second floor of the DuPage Children's Museum would run to the window to watch every time the train pulled into the adjacent Metra station. So when the museum was looking for ideas for a new temporary exhibit, it wasn't a hard decision.

“Kids love trains,” said Dana Peters, assistant marketing manager. “Talking to kids and parents, trains came out by far.”

“Trains — Get on board!” which opened last Monday and will run for the next two years, will be updated next August. This exhibit is so large that it spilled beyond the usual temporary exhibit space and into the museum's Math Connections area.

Staff began planning the exhibit last spring with help from the Elmhurst Model Railroad Club and Atlus Model Railroad Co.

“These guys live for training,” said Marcia MacRae, interdisciplinary arts specialist. “These hobby enthusiasts really want children excited about this field.”

MacRae said she was surprised by the complexity involved in setting up the exhibit's centerpiece, a diorama where a model train moves along the tracks through urban, suburban and rural scenery. Train vendors donated some of the materials and helped them learn about how to arrange things to prevent derailments.

The museum plans to regularly update the scenery, adding details and replacing items to reflect the change of seasons. Kids can stand or grab a seat around the diorama, get an aerial view from a signal tower or even crawl inside and watch the models move around them. Kids get especially excited watching the trains move through a tunnel and then reappear.

Kids will also be able to get dressed up in jackets and hats and grab a purse or briefcase to take on different roles. They can stand behind a ticket booth to sell Metra tickets, press buttons and pull levers in the front car of a train as the conductor or grab a seat on the train as a passenger.

“We really know the importance of pretend play to our age group,” MacRae said.

Staff members facilitate by asking kids where they're going and how long they have to get there. Older children are encouraged to consult the train schedules posted on the walls and an overhead clock, teaching them new skills. The exhibit is also designed to expand children's thinking about trains beyond the traditional steam engines.

Kids can attach magnetic images of different types of train cars to blackboards. Paintings and photos of trains are positioned around the exhibit space, including a mural of a passenger train by Norman Rockwell. The art is accompanied by prompts for parents to talk to their kids about which type of images they like best and discuss mathematical concepts like how fast different trains seem to be moving and how being close to a train would affect your perception of its size.

Kids can make their own train-themed art at a table and put their works up on display. They can also learn more about trains by taking a seat on a big plush bench and reading one of the many picture books positioned around the exhibit.

“Trains — Get on board!”

<b>Where: </b>DuPage Children's Museum, 301 N. Washington St., Naperville, (630) 637-8000; dupagechildrensmuseum.org

<b>Hours: </b>9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday

<b>Admission: </b>$9.50; $8.50 for seniors