The Wabash County Museum is finding ways to keep kids entertained – and learning during school breaks by offering a little something for everyone.
The museum located in the downtown of the City of Wabash has two floors and a hundred permanent exhibits and, in the summer, they invite children from around the area to search through those exhibits to complete a scavenger hunt – and hopefully learn a little local history along the way.
Teresa Galley is the executive director of the Wabash County Museum. She said while trying to brainstorm summer programming, she considered camps or groups, but came up against the same concern.
“So many of the things like that, you have to come at a set time and that’s tough in the summer when you’re getting kids up and trying to get them moving," Galley said. "So we thought if we have a scavenger hunt that’s available any time you come to the museum in June, July and into August, then you can engage in that activity at your leisure and when you’re ready to do it.”
The scavenger hunt is a couple sheets of paper on a clipboard that guests can pick up at the front of the museum during the season. It directs kids around to different exhibits and has them search through the information provided in the exhibit to answer questions.
Some of the questions are a simple fill-in-the-blank, others are word scrambles or matching. The idea is to make the questions simple enough for kids to find on their own, but also encourage engaging with the exhibits they visit.
“And I will say, I say kids, but we never tell an adult no if they want to participate as well. So, we have had some adults and teens," Galley said.
The county has had a museum since 1923, but the current location was purchased in 1999. In the 25 years since then, the museum has added a large play area for children, a STEM space and a sensory room.
“So, we try to kind of be everything for everyone, but really if someone in Fort Wayne or anywhere is looking for something to do, you don’t have to be from Wabash county to find a lot of ways to have fun and connect in our museum," Galley said.
This was the fourth summer the museum has done the scavenger hunt and they’ve learned a few things along the way. For the past few years, they’ve offered different questions for June and July, Galley said, because kids were coming back and asking to do it again.
"Well, it’s not that much fun if you already know the answers," she said. "So, a couple of years ago, we started making a new hunt for each month. But the nice thing is, if a child comes in in July and they’ve only done July’s and they want to do another we can pull June’s back out for them.”
With 100 exhibits to choose from and two scavenger hunts a year, it means those building the questions are presented with two factors; an abundance of information to choose from and not repeating questions from years past.
Ella Covin is a special projects intern at Wabash County Museum. She began interning there in her junior year of high school and is beginning college this fall. She and another intern put together the scavenger hunts and Covin said they try to ask questions that encourage engaging with the exhibits.
“It’s just a good opportunity for people to read, instead of walk and browse," she said. "It makes people really focus on reading and retain the information that they’re learning.”
Galley echoed that sentiment. She said the ultimate goal is to get visitors to look more deeply into the exhibits and find the unique parts of them one might otherwise overlook.
“Our Victorian Hair Harp has been part of scavenger hunts a few different times because how cool to realize that this neat piece of art you’re looking at is from 1917 and made completely of human hair," Galley said. "So, that one gets thrown in a lot."
Galley said this year they’ve seen more than 300 kids come through the museum to do the hunt and it’s grown so successful they’ve implemented a version of it for winter break. Last year, the museum hid 12 elves around the museum.
“The interns moved them every week, and you could come back every week and search for the 12 elves," she said.
Covin plans to continue working with the museum and recommends a visit to anyone in the area looking to feel connected.
“If anybody wants to come and learn and chat, it’s a great place for the community," she said. "It’s a great place to feel like a part of a community.”
The scavenger hunt officially wrapped up August 1, just in time for kids to head back into the classroom, but Galley said those in the know can still request the worksheet during their visit.
