Traveling to Boston: What Makes Boston a Great Place for Families with Children

My youngest son and I spent a week exploring Boston this summer.  We fell in love with Boston's open spaces, pedestrian orientation, and cultural amenities. This post is about some of our favorite places in Boston and why we found Boston to be such a great place for families with children. Next up, a post about why Boston is still losing families with children to the suburbs.

Our favorite family-friendly amenities in Boston:

1. Boston's extensive network of high quality parks. Boston has parks for everyone, big and small, with 97% of the population living within a ten-minute walk of a public park (compared to 43% in Austin), and 3.5 playgrounds per 10,000 residents (vs 1.3 in Austin). We visited a different park everyday. One of our favorite parks, or rather series of parks, was the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a mile-and-a-half ribbon of new parks that were built on top of a major highway after it was relocated underground. The parks were filled with family-friendly amenities, from water features to carousels and wide lawns.

Map of Boston's public parks
from the Trust for Public Land
ParkScore index website

The Canal Fountain in the North End Park of Boston
Part of the Rose Kennedy Greenway

The Armenian Heritage Park in Boston
Part of the Rose Kennedy Greenway

An alley in Boston's North End

2. Pedestrian-orientation. Boston is one of the most pedestrian-friendly U.S. cities we have visited as family, with its wide sidewalks, well-striped crosswalks, and walking access to a diverse array of urban amenities. Indeed, Boston ranks third on the Walk Score index of walkable cities. Whenever we arrived at a mid-street crosswalk, the cars would actually stop to allow us to cross! (This is a novelty in Austin, where you place your life at risk if you cross a mid-street crosswalk.). While my son would have protested, I could have easily spent the whole week just walking around the city.

3. Public squares and alleys. I was equally impressed with Boston's rich array of lively public open spaces beyond its parks, including the city's numerous public squares, pedestrian-friendly alleys, and historic walking trails. The city government is embarking on a new 2015-2021 Open Space Plan, which will identify opportunities for further enhancing the city's public space inventory.

Public square in Boston's North End

Park and public gathering space in Central Boston

Jaume Plensa's "The Alchemist"
MIT Campus

4. Cultural Amenities:

Boston is teeming with cultural amenities with its public art and historic architecture, outdoor concerts, and museums galore, all within walking distance or an easy ride on public transit. In a week, we could not come even close to visiting all of the museums on our wish list.  My son's favorites: Boston Children's Museum and Museum of Science (where, to my chagrin, one of the most popular interactive exhibits was a machine that you could make fart). My favorites: Old State House, Boston Freedom Trail, and the MIT Museum (in Cambridge across the river). We never made it to the Museum of Fine Arts, the Boston Fire Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Isabella Gardner Museum, the USS Constitution Museum, and many of the other museums in Boston.

Boston Children's Museum

Indoor climbing sculpture
Boston Children's Museum

Boston Science Museum
The toot machine

Austin Museum Day: Exploring Austin's Treasures with Kids

Austin's Bob Bullock Museum

This Sunday, September 22nd, is Austin's Annual Museum Day, a free, citywide discovery of museums in the area. I pulled up the list of participating museums and realized I had not heard of half of these museums. It looks like some are open just for this special day and are otherwise closed to the public.

Here are some of our family's favorite museums to visit with kids:

• Texas Memorial Museum (this museum always reminds me of the 1970s; maybe it is all those dioramas lining the walls; it isn't the American Museum of Natural History or the Exploratorium by any means, but it's our only science museum for kids in the city so we'll keep happily visiting it)
• Blanton Museum (offers several wonderful kids' programs)
• Children's Museum (soon to re-open as the Thinkery)
• Umlauf Sculpture Garden
• Mexic-Arte Museum
• LBJ Presidential Library (actually, I have been there but have not taken my kids yet; it is on our list!)
• Lady Bird Wildflower Center
• The Contemporary Austin

And here are some museums on the Museum Day list that I have never heard of before but am interested in checking out on Sunday with my kids:

• Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording (not usually open to the public)
• Texas Archive of the Moving Image (open to the public on Museum Day or by appointment)
• Austin Fire Museum (open to the public two times a year)
• Goodwill Computer Museum (to be able to show my kids' what I typed on in college)

2013 Austin Museum Day: List of Participating Museums

• Austin Fire Museum
• Austin History Center
• Austin Tour Guide Association
• Blanton Museum of Art
• Briscoe Center for American History
• Bullock Texas State History Museum
• Capitol Visitors Center
• City of Austin Cultural Arts Division
• Elisabet Ney Museum
• French Legation Museum
• George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center
• German-Texan Heritage Society
• Goodwill Computer Museum
• Harry Ransom Center
• Humanities Texas
• Immediatag
• Joseph & Susanna Dickinson Hannig Museum
• Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
• Landmarks Public Art Program
• LBJ Presidential Library
• Mexic-Arte Museum
• Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording

• Neill-Cochran House Museum
• O. Henry Museum
• Old Bakery & Emporium
• Pump Project
• Republic of Texas Museum
• Save Austin's Cemeteries
• Texas Archive of the Moving Image
• Texas Department of Public Safety Historical Museum and Research Center
• Texas Governor's Mansion
• Texas Medical Association History of Medicine Gallery
• Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural Science Center
• Texas Military Forces Museum
• Texas Music Museum
• Texas State Capitol
• The Beverly S. Sheffield Education Center
• The Contemporary Austin
• The Thinkery
• Tiny Park
• Umlauf Sculpture Garden & Museum
• Visual Arts Center
• Williamson Museum
• Women & Their Work

Discovering San Francisco's Public Art with Children

A second post on our recent San Francisco trip--this time on the delightful child-friendly art we found all over the city in public places and museums. In prior blog posts, I have written about the elements of child-friendly public art, including art that is tactile and interactive, engages a child's imagination and sense of wonderment, and is loved by people of all ages. Along those lines, here are some of the child-friendly art installations that we happened upon and fell in love with during our San Francisco trip:

Jonathan Borofsky's Human Structures
Plaza at 555 Mission Street

Terry Allen, Shaking Man Statue
Yerba Buena Gardens

Children flocking to touch the Shaking Man Statue

Maarten Bass, Sweeper's Clock;
Exploratorium (must watch the video for this) 

Tim Hunkin, Tinkerer's Clock;
Exploratorium (see this website link for more info on this enchanting clock) 

Exploratorium 

Exploratorium's musical lockers

Robert Ameson, Yin Yang
Embarcadero in Justin Herman Plaza

Ugo Rondinone's Moonrise Sculptures: March, October, and December
Public Plaza at 555 Mission

Scott Weaver, Rolling through the Bay at the Exploratorium;
made with over 100,000 toothpicks over the course of 35 years;
the video for this piece has gotten over a million hits

Child-Friendly Pop-Up Art in Austin

I have been posting a series of blogs on child-friendly public art installations. Here is another one, featuring two pop-up art installations in Austin.

Driving around Austin recently, my family happened across these two delightful installations. The first one is by local artist Johnny Walker as part of the 2013 Fusebox festival--a series of plastic sheets were hung on wires in Zilker Park along Barton Springs Road. My son and I ran out of the car to explore this exhibit and ran into the artist who explored the space with us. My son and I were both mesmerized by the artwork. Unfortunately, the installation was only up for the week and so is no longer available to explore, but we look forward to seeing other installations by Johnny. Johnny was also the curator of our favorite child-friendly art installation in Austin, the "Play Me, I'm Yours" series of pianos that were installed around town a few years ago.

The second installation we came across is located at E. 22nd (near Comal intersection) and appears to be a rogue installation, but is enchanting nevertheless.

I am loving the pop-up art movement that has hit Austin and other cities around the U.S., and I am especially enjoying seeing these installations through the eyes of my children.

"Walls" by Johnny Walker in Zilker Park as part of Fusebox Festival 2013

Pop-up Street Art on E. 22nd Street

20Ft Wide: Downtown Alley Activation Comes to Austin

I have written a of couple posts here about my love for alleys and the potential to transform these spaces into vibrant public places for families.  Last fall, the City of Austin's Downtown Commission (which I sit on) set up a workgroup to explore how to make this happen. This has led to the upcoming launch of 20Ft Wide, Austin's first downtown alley activation project (in recent times at least). Yay! What a thrill to see this project unfold, with a tremendous consortium of public and private partners.

20Ft Wide will temporarily activate a downtown alley along Congress Avenue as a public space over the course of five days in April. The project will involve an art installation in the upper levels of the alleyway, along with a series of artist programs and interactive activities for families, to draw people into the alley and to engage them with the alley space. “20ft Wide” is named after the 20 feet that serves as the standard width for many of Austin’s downtown alleys. On Saturday, April 20th, from 10am-3pm, the alley will be transformed into an artistic playground for children, with a writer's workshop, origami, musical performances, jugglers, and more.

The 20Ft Wide project is already generating lots of great buzz in the media, including these stories from YNN and KUT public radio. A detailed list of 20Ft Wide events will be posted soon on Art Alliance Austin's website.  Stay tuned for updates. 

Honk if You Love Spring in Austin

Spring has arrived full force in Austin. Just when I was thinking how much I was going to miss our winter, Austin's spring festival season kicked into full gear, with a whole host of outdoor offerings for families. First up in March: Kite Day, one of our favorite family festivals (which is technically in winter, but it feels like spring). 

Then, last weekend, my family experienced HONK!TX for the first time, a festival of community street bands that is every band geek's dream come true (written by a former band geek: I played the cymbals and xylophones in my high school marching band!). To take in as many bands as possible, I took my sons to the HONK!TX parade day last Sunday. We brought a picnic lunch and sat down on East 2nd street to observe a whole host of marching bands, from the eclectic to the deranged. We had a blast. Here are some pictures from the parade, although I am not posting ones from the thong-wearing band. 

Exploring Austin on Bikes with Kids: Duncan Park and Shoal Creek Trail

Duncan Park, Austin

Yesterday my family headed out on our bikes for an afternoon outing and discovered Duncan Park in downtown Austin (aka 9th Street Trails), a mecca for dirt bikers and kids of all ages.  Younger kids appear to congregate here earlier in the day, followed by older, more hard core BMX bikers in the later hours. My kids fell in love with this park, although (thankfully for my sanity) they stuck to the smaller dirt hills. There are several things I love about this park as well: its organic development and maintenance by a community of local BMX bikers; its prime location in downtown Austin; and the fact that you can access it via the Shoal Creek trail. 

Shoal Creek trail is now passable in most parts from Lady Bird Lake, providing a safe alternative for families with kids to bike through Downtown Austin, off the streets.  With our beautiful January weather, it was a wonderful outing!

Duncan Park

Riding back home, we also discovered the new interactive public art installation next to the Zach Scott theater: Rhytons by Cliff Garten

Shoal Creek trail 

Parts of Shoal Creek trail still need work

Most of our group on the pedestrian bridge over Lady Bird Lake

Child-Friendly Public Art III

"Gift : Unknown Pocket 2" by Toshiko Horiuchi, 2009
© Sizuken, available under a Creative Commons Attribution/noncommercial/sharealike license

As a follow-up to last week's posts, more ideas coming in from parents on what makes public art child-friendly and some fun pictures I found on Flikr:

The most important item is to be able to touch, climb, hands on interaction. I cringe when I see the do not touch, do not climb, etc. signs.  Kids enjoy just walking on curbs and benches in a row. It doesn't have to be fancy. Don't program too much. Green open space to play is key. The best art is good for all ages. I think something that falls into kid or not kid has failed. A top notch designer will make it work for both. Don't forget shade! Personally I prefer trees.   

A sustainable interactive sculpture park generated by solar, wind, and rainwater collection.  Instruments move based on natural resources.  A kite sculpture that moves with wind but where kids can shift movement patterns by levers.  This ties into our annual kite festival. Also, we are bike-friendly city (or trying to be).  Could make a bike sculpture garden with tandem bikes that don't move but wheels turn (but are covered/protected so little fingers and hands can't get in).

We were in Minneapolis this summer and kids and all kinds of people love these outdoor sculpture gardens. They have picnic venders and weekend activities in that space. Iconic tourist destination that is welcoming and high concept. 

I think "tactile" and "interactive" art captures kids attention. 

LOVE Sculpture in Tokyo
© RageZ, available under a Creative Commons Attribution license

Child-friendly art:

• Is stupendously large to them.

• Is made to climb on or touch.

• Is designed to walk around, under or through to get different perspectives and promote discovery.

• Is friendly or kind in spirit, appears to be looking at you, inviting you or celebrating ... or has a story the adults can relate to.

• Is designed to improve with time, weathering and patina, not wear out.

• Is multi-sensory, with texture, visual sparkle/depth, sound or movement.

• Is designed into the surrounding environment with human-friendly features like shade, breezes, benches for tired parents, low walls, trees, or ponds, all of which are also designed for lounging, touching and climbing. 

Children's Landscape Park in Kyiv, Ukraine
© Anosmia, available under a Creative Commons Attribution license

© louisemakestuff available under a Creative Commons Attribution/noncommercial/sharealike license

Children's Landscape Park in Kyiv, Ukraine
© Anosmia, available under a Creative Commons Attribution license

Children's Landscape Park in Kyiv, Ukraine
© Anosmia, available under a Creative Commons Attribution license

More on What Makes Public Art Child-Friendly?

Yesterday I posed a question on this blog about what makes public art child-friendly. Since then, I've received lots of great responses on this via email from parents. Here are some of their thoughts. I will post more of their responses later this week.

My kids want to climb everything -- so I'd want art that they are either invited to climb OR at least be sure it's something that doesn't invite climbing.  It's just awful when there is some sculpture that is practically begging a kid to climb it next to a sign forbidding it.  Or worse -- at the capitol there are guards there to keep kids from having fun. I think interaction is key.  They love goofing around in front of those wacky mirrors that make you look taller or fatter.  They love ringing giant chimes.  They like it if they can fit inside it or hide behind it.  They love the big, lighted disco dance floor in front of The Long Center.  They love garden paths that lead to leafy "secret hide-outs".  They like the giant terrazzo maps at the airport.  They like the big fruit/veggie bollards in front of Central Market.  They love mosaics -- discovering little details stuck into the design.  They also LOVE things they got to help create or that were obviously created in part by other children.

It doesn't have to be "kid art".  It shouldn't look like Romper Room.  It just needs to be unexpected and OK to touch.  It's not like they'll only like it if it's primary colors.  In fact, I think that's pretty condescending.  They kind of dig the manipulation of nature type of art exhibits -- the Andy Goldsworthy type stuff.  They enjoy the maze out at The Natural Gardener.

Here's one I really like where the public can alter the piece. 

My two criteria are that kids can touch and climb on the art. My kids love to climb on the statue "philosophers rock" at Barton Springs. It's not really kid friendly because it says you should not crawl on it and it's made of bronze which heats up like crazy in summer, but they love to try anyway.

Philosophers Rock at Barton Springs in Austin

I think interactive sculptures really capture kids attention -- like the Dell Children's hospital art.  Interactive water features are also great -- push a button & water shoots out.  Also, musical features are always a huge hit with kids -- they like to make noise. Murals are great and kids like things they can look through, like the painted body & they put there head or face through and get a picture taken.  They like telescopes.

Dell Children's Hospital

Interactive art-either that kids can climb on or 'play' like an instrument-really engages my kids! Or also they LOVED the one at Dell childrens, the balls when you first come in the door. That appeals to all ages.

In my experience and travels, child-friendly art is interactive and touch-able.  Sculptures, fountains, anything reflective, climb-able, touch-able, etc.  We go to Denver a couple of times each year.  Our go-to is the science museum and the zoo.  Both have great sculptures that kids can climb on and run around.  In San Francisco, both the California Academy of Sciences and the DeYoung Museum are great examples. There is a fabulous, open plaza connecting the two museums.  DeYoung has an amazing sculpture garden.  The kids can't climb on the sculptures (it's "art"!), but they spent a solid hour running around them, hiding amongst them, making up stories based on the sculptures' names, etc.  Plus, there were installations/designs in the stone work leading up to the museum.  It fosters conversations and play.  My favorite child-friendly art isn't even art per se. 

Asheville, North Carolina

Breckenridge, Colorado

Breckenridge, Colorado

What Makes Public Art Child-Friendly?

I attended a meeting with City of Austin staff yesterday to talk about what it means for public art to be child-friendly. The City is commissioning "child-friendly" public art to be placed just outside the new downtown library. What is a good definition for "child-friendly" public art? What are the key elements that distinguish child-friendly from non-child-friendly public art?   

Here are some of my thoughts. What are yours? 

• Child-friendly art captures a child’s attention and draws them in
• Child-friendly art allows for physical exploration (kids love to touch things and climb!)
• Child-friendly art engages a child's imagination and sense of wonderment
• Child-friendly art, if it is great public art, is loved by people of all ages, young and old

Austin's "Play Me, I'm Yours" interactive art exhibit

Pearl District in Portland

Dallas

Seattle

Dallas

Paris