Madison Children's Museum
Madison, Wisconsin

In August 2010, Madison Children's Museum opened it's new museum. The new early-learning exhibit is about four times larger than previously. It has a new name - the WilderNest - but has the same goals. And it includes a Music Hut made of straw-clay, complete with a 'truth window'.

The WilderNest exemplifies the concept of MCM's exhibits as practical art. There is integration between careful age-appropriate design for children, high artistic quality by local craftspeople, and thoroughgoing sustainability. Locally-sourced, recycled, re-used and creatively re-crafted elements are to be found throughout. The WilderNest is designed as a community at a child's scale, complete with buildings arranged around a "village square".

The little Music Hut was built exactly like a full-scale straw-clay building.

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In 1999, Design Coalition helped the Madison Children's Museum (MCM) create it's award-winning First Feats exhibit, which celebrated the first years of a child's life with a homey feel and a safe environment full of rich experiences. It was the first such exhibit in the nation to accomplish this with artistic and natural, non-toxic materials throughout.
First Feats ~ The original award-winning exhibit

The original First Feats exhibit at the former Children's Museum on State Street also featured an un-plastered straw-clay music 'hut'. It opened in April of 1999.

For more on Madison Childrens Museum's entire exhibit, visit Design Coalition's website...

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