Mel Williams, Visitor Services
We had some fun in the Whangārei Museum at Kiwi North last week, setting up a new Discovery Zone for visiting kids. It was a true collaborative effort with people from all departments brainstorming, planning, creating the installing the interactive exhibit, and the result is very exciting!
At the centre of the Discovery Zone is a MicroEYE, a simple to use microscope, designed for little hands, that opens a window into a world seldom seen.
Founders of Northland based MicroEYE Interactive, Jo and Richard Beddek, once imported and sold microscopes but chose to make the MicroEye a full-time endeavour around 10 years ago. With a background in Microscopy, they created a piece of equipment, using componants manufactured in Auckland, that young children could easily use, despite its complex internal structure. What makes it truly special is that the magnification is enough to intrigue an inquisitive mind but not too much that a child will lose perspective, and therefore lose interest.
This simple to use microscope quickly became a popular attraction wherever it was installed. First used at Te Papa in 2001, a visitor from Calgary Museum was so impressed they soon placed an order for one too. It didn’t take long for the kiwi invention to become a popular activity in museums and facilities all over the world.
The MicroEye continues to be one of the most popular activities for kids in the Whangārei Museum, so making it the central feature in our Discovery Zone made perfect sense. It is now accompanied by a range of exciting things to explore at a microscopic level, including bugs, butterflies, tuatara and gecko skins, kiwi feathers, rocks, shells, kauri gum and even wētā poop. Many of the specimens are interesting to look at with our own eyes, but taking a closer look reveals a beautiful world of colour and detail that too often goes unseen.
The establishment of this exhibit was also made possible by the involvement of the community. A call-out on social media for empty coffee jars resulted in donations from all over Whangārei, the lids for which are perfect to protect the specimens as they are being investigated.
I brought my own kids into the museum to see what they thought of the new Discovery Zone. My daughter went straight to the bugs, zooming in on the fine details she had never been able to see before. My son chose to investigate the poop then moved quickly onto his own hand, which prior to this experience he swore was clean.
The MicroEye is a special exhibit because it opens the minds of our little ones. It shows them a new perspective, a new way of looking at every-day things. It entices them to look a little closer and it rewards them with a world of microscopic wonders.
