If you’re headed to Philadelphia for APA’s 2002 annual meeting, you won’t want to return home with just a T-shirt for your kids—not when there’s a city full of fun, history, and educational opportunities waiting for them. So be sure to bring your family with you.
"It’s definitely a child-friendly place with lots of places for kids to spend the day and enjoy themselves," said Marvin Kanefield, D.O., chair of APA’s Task Force on Local Arrangements.
Kanefield’s top choices for children are the Philadelphia Zoo, at 34th Street and Girard Avenue in the city’s Fairmount Park, and the Franklin Institute Science Museum, located at 222 North 20th Street off the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Kanefield can speak from personal experience when he promises that kids won’t be disappointed. "Literally, ever since I was a kid, the Franklin Institute has been a place you could wander around all day," he says. "The zoo is a full day too, and it’s right in the middle of the city."
The mission of the Franklin Institute, first open to the public in 1934, is to perpetuate the legacy of Philadelphia city father Benjamin Franklin by promoting public understanding of science and strengthening science education. The museum has a hands-on approach to science and technology that youngsters will love.
One of the Franklin Institute’s most enduringly popular exhibits is on the human heart. The centerpiece of the exhibit is a giant replica of the heart through which visitors walk following the path of circulating blood. After exploring the giant heart, visitors can take a look at a real human heart, learn about blood typing, and watch a video of open heart surgery from the surgeon’s point of view.
The Train Factory is designed to replicate an authentic 1920s-era train factory, from the I-beams on the ceiling to the rivets on the walls. All of the graphics, newspaper articles, bulletin boards, and work orders help create the setting of an train factory. Children will discover the science behind yesterday’s locomotives and can explore what makes the trains of today and tomorrow go further and faster than they ever have before. The grand finale of the Train Factory is taking the Baldwin 60000 and its new engine for an experimental test run.
Since 1990 visitors to the Franklin Institute have also thrilled to the awesome power of IMAX films at the Tuttleman IMAX Theater. Projected onto a four-story, domed screen with 56 speakers, the films give visitors the experience of being a part of the action. In the past, visitors have been plunged deep into the heart of a tropical rain forest and seen the breathtaking beauty hidden within Antarctica.
The Franklin Institute is open seven days a week from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $9 for seniors and children. A special Sci-Pass, including admission to both the museum and Tuttleman IMAX Theater, is $13.
No family trip to Philadelphia will be complete without seeing America’s first zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo. The zoo, first open to the public in 1874, is home to nearly 1,800 animals.
A must-see once you are there is the PECO Primate Reserve, featuring 11 primate species, from majestic gorillas and playful orangutans to endangered blue-eyed lemurs and golden lion tamarins. The 2.5-acre exhibit has been custom designed to provide the best in animal care and exhibition. While setting a new standard for exhibition, PECO Primate Reserve offers a face-to-face experience with these beautiful creatures.
The newest arrivals at the zoo are Filbert and Cocoa, two squirrel monkeys born last December 14 and 26, respectively. Squirrel monkeys are native to Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, and Guyana. They have a very large baby-to-parent size ratio and as babies are equivalent in size to a human giving birth to a 26 pound baby.
Both babies are being reared by their mothers and have been successfully integrated back into the squirrel monkey group after a brief adjustment period. The babies, along with five adults, are now on exhibit.
Zoo hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. General admission is $10.95, and $7.95 for seniors and children aged 2 to 11.
Also highly recommended by Kanefield is the Please Touch Museum, at 21 North 21st Street. Designed for children 7 years and younger, the Please Touch Museum is one of the nation’s outstanding interactive educational facilities just for kids. The museum was founded in 1976 by a group of educators, artists, and parents with the mission of stimulating the curiosity through hands-on exhibits, programs, and collections.
The museum features six major exhibit areas:
• "Sendak" at Please Touch Museum is based on four books by the artist and children books’ author, Maurice Sendak. Visitors will find a fascinating world of creatures and settings created under Sendak’s supervision.
• "Growing Up" is a journey through childhood in the Delaware Valley and other parts of the world, exploring a variety of cultures.
• "Move It!" is all about transportation. Kids can drive a city bus, operate a canal lock, gas up in the service station, and much more.
• "Foodtastic Journey" follows food from beginning to end. Kids dig potatoes, shop for groceries, and cook in a kid-sized kitchen.
• "Nature’s Nursery," a perennial garden for children under 3, has everything from flowers to robins feeding their babies. ▪