Children's Museum - very "cool"

Today JT could hardly wait to get to the Children's (art) Museum in downtown SD. "It is so cool," he told me. He went with Mr. Burli several months ago. Almost a year ago, maybe? And today we went with the neighbor and her daughter, since they had the free pass from the library (which now has a 300 person waiting list). And it was really cool. They had these neat foot powered scooter-thingees that you could ride all around.

They had a room full of hula-hoops, another with gaint cardboard puzzle pieces with astro-turf glued to them so you could creat your own topiary. There was also a "porta-party" which was basically a porta-potty made into a disco which resembled a giant i-pod on the outside, a room of mattresses and soft tires to jump around in, climbing walls, and, something Auntie J would have liked - a VW to paint and paint and paint...

And there were several art projects to make. JT made a 'flower' out of recycled toy pieces (and enjoyed the hot glue gun), cut out a shadow puppet, and also made a print from a wax-covered cd that he had drawn on with a tiny screwdriver.

The museum is not cheap, I think it costs 10 dollars per person, and children are not free, but a visit once a year or so seems reasonable, especially to get your children interested in art. Although I wonder how much do children recognize this as art? Most of the parents seemed to use the museum as a playground for their kids and this is how the kids interpret it. Do kids need to 'know' about art or learn about it as such? I did try to point out the artist bios to JT and tell him a little about the installations, since he wants to be an artist, but perhaps exposure to art as fun is simply enough? What do the artists out there think?