NAPLES, Florida (January 18, 2023) – From Bollywood to the Taj Mahal, and from riding a tuk tuk to enjoying the unique scents of popular Indian spices, visitors at The Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples will soon have the opportunity to experience the wonders of India, a country rich in colorful traditions with a focus on the future. The Museum’s newest cultural exhibit, Namaste India, opens to the public on January 21, 2023.
While encouraging global awareness and cultural appreciation, Namaste India features the vibrant art, food and traditions of the timeless Indian culture. With the goal to inspire visitors to compare the similarities and differences between their lives and those of children in the country of India, the exhibit features a variety of immersive environments including a dhaba (restaurant), marketplace, tuk tuk (or motorized rickshaw), home and school as well as iconic spaces like the Taj Mahal and Bollywood.
To provide authenticity and cultural accuracy, Namaste India was created by The Magic House, St. Louis Children’s Museum in partnership with the St. Louis Indian community. The Magic House formed the Namaste India advisory committee, made up of 32 professionals from around the St. Louis area, all of Indian heritage. Formed with input from the St. Louis Mosaic Project, the committee played a critical role in the exhibit creation process.
Namaste India is made possible thanks to generous donors, including lead gifts from the Asian American Chamber of Commerce, Bal Vihar of St. Louis, Bayer Fund, CEdge, Daugherty Business Solutions, Mastercard, Tim and Elizabeth Swank and Linda and Jesse Hunter as well as additional generous individual donors. The exhibit is scheduled to open to the public on January 21, 2023 and will remain at the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples through May 14, 2023. Namaste India is included with admission to the Museum.
Featured Namaste India Experiences:
Bollywood
- Families can walk a red carpet and pose for a glamorous photo op dressed in colorful sarees and other traditional clothing.
- Visitors can watch clips from famous Bollywood movies and learn more about the biggest film industry in the World.
Tuk Tuk
- Guests will take a simulated ride in a three-wheeled tuk tuk, a motorized rickshaw found throughout India.
- Families can pay for their ride using QR code payment technology, just like they do in India.
Cricket
- Visitors will learn about the popular game of cricket, the second most popular sport in India and the World.
- Children can don the jerseys from India’s national team and practice “bowling” or throwing a ball at a wicket target.
School
- Families will learn about a traditional school day for children in India.
- Students will study the geography and diversity of India as well as learn Hindi words and numbers.
- Children will create their own Republic of India flag and a tiger mask, the national animal of India.
Family Home
- Visitors will explore a traditional home featuring an entrance decorated with a rangoli and filled with other traditional Indian art forms.
- Children can pack a lunch for school in a tiffin box, a unique metal stackable lunch box used throughout India.
- Children can harvest vegetables and practice yoga in the home’s backyard.
Marketplace
- At the Spice Market, children will test their senses by smelling popular spices like turmeric, cumin and cloves.
- At the Sweet Shop, families can arrange a mithai box, a display of traditional Indian sweets.
- At the Fabric Market, visitors will try their hand at block printing, a traditional Indian art form still practiced today.
- At the Street Food Cart, children can use QR code technology to purchase a healthy treat.
Dhaba
- At this roadside restaurant, families will prepare roti, a traditional flatbread cooked in a clay tandoor oven.
- Children will serve tandoori chicken and other traditional dishes to guests at a unique table.
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About The Magic House, St. Louis Children’s Museum
The Magic House is a not-for-profit participatory museum that provides hands-on learning experiences that spark imagination, pique curiosity, enhance creativity and develop problem-solving skills within a place of beauty, wonder, joy and magic. Serving more than 550,000 visitors annually, The Magic House opened in 1979 and has 55,000 square feet of hands-on exhibits. In 2019, the Museum opened an all-new satellite maker space in the City of St. Louis on Delmar Boulevard, located between the Central West End and the Delmar Loop. For additional information, please call or text 314.822.8900 or visit The Magic House online at www.magichouse.org.
About the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples
The Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples is a brain-building powerhouse and Southwest Florida’s first museum devoted for children and families to learn through play. With hands-on exhibit galleries, the accessible museum invites visitors of all ages to journey through the swamps of the Everglades, weave through a maze, climb a two-story banyan tree, or experiment with the water play station. Children can become a weather forecaster, a farmer, a chef, a fisherman, an artist, an architect, or a veterinarian; explore the cold of an igloo, the whoosh of the wind, the sound of the sea, and the effects of gravity. Throughout the day special activities encourage our guests to get involved, try something new and be energized. CMON offers a variety of interactive exhibits providing kids with education, play, learning, science, technology, engineering, inventions, space exploration, art, math, storybooks, creation, building, sensory, and child development.
Connect with us:
Facebook: @childrensmuseumofnaples
Instagram: @childrensmuseumofnaples
For more information about Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples, or to make a contribution, visit www.cmon.org or call 239-260-1604.
Contact: Laura Bright
Chief Advancement Officer
Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples
239-260-1604 | lrbright@cmon.org
