Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 72.djvu/376

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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY
The Children's Museum Building in Bedford Park, Brooklyn, New York, a branch Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.

These collections illustrate zoology, botany, United States history, mineralogy, geography and art. They are attractive in appearance, simple in arrangement and labeled with descriptions adapted to the needs of children, printed in clear readable type.

Our zoological collections are installed in five rooms, whose contents are prepared for children of varying ages. The youngest children seek the room of "animal homes," where common mammals and birds of Long Island are to be found with their nests and young. High school pupils make use of synoptic exhibits and particularly of the insect room with its local insects, life histories of common forms, and living bees, ants and silkworms. Bird exhibits attract and delight visitors of all ages from the two-year-old baby, who can only say "Chicken, chicken" as he points his chubby fingers indiscriminately to the condor, albatross and flamingo, to the white-haired grandparent whose "hunting days" are recalled by the mallard duck and grebe.

That their conceptions of geography may not end with maps, globes and charts, we employ model groups to acquaint children with remote peoples of the earth, especially type races from the various zone belts. One of these scenes depicts the life of the Eskimo, his costume, shelter, implements and industries. The story of his life struggles and the influence of his environment on appearance and conduct are easily understood. From the comparative study of an increasing number of such models, children readily perceive the importance of climate and