Nelson Atkins

Allison has been really interested in ghosts, mummies, and zombies lately. I'm not sure where it started from, but I think it's just a common conversation among kindergartners. I've been trying to explain that mummies are real but zombies aren't. I also took some book out of the library about kids who think they have ghosts in their houses, or tell ghost stories, but in the end it's all just imagination.

Allison didn't really believe me that mummies were real so we went to the Nelson Atkins museum. They have an Egyptian exhibit with a wrapped mummy, the stages of a preparing a mummy (putting on the masks, the breast plate), the sarcophagus, and finally the wooden coffin. The Nelson does a great job at making the exhibits kid friendly and there was a flyer with questions: How many black dogs are painted on the coffin? Can you find the goddess with the alligator head? Can you write your name in hieroglyphics? We spent an hour and a half walking around the museum, which was a HUGE milestone for Allison. She has never spent more than 10 minutes in the museum without complaining of boredom.

Next we went out side to see the "Walking Wall." It's a new exhibit that has been evolving for a few months. Every few weeks a portion of flagstone wall (about 4 feet high) is taken off the start of the wall and put on the end (so the wall is "walking"). They were moving it on this day so Allison and I stopped to watch it for awhile. They we walked through the sculptures on the lawn. Allison insisted on going through the glass maze even though she always hurts herself. I taught her a technique to gage if the wall was open or glass and she managed it really well. By the time we had walked around outside, we were both hungry so we went back into the museum where they have a cafeteria style restaurant and had lunch.