Little Buckeye Children's Museum - Mansfield, Ohio

Back in June, we visited an amazing place - The Little Buckeye Children's Museum in Mansfield, Ohio.  I've been meaning to write a post about it because I wasn't able to find much in the way of information / pics before we went, and I feel like it's a hidden gem that needs to be shared.  I was absolutely blown away by the place.  Every part of it was so thoughtfully designed, so inviting, and so full of imaginative play potential.  Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos - I only had my cell and was regretting not bringing the good camera with us.  But hopefully this will help give you an idea of the size and scope of the place.

The first thing you see when you enter is this cool and fun musical instrument made of PVC pipes.  You slap the openings with pieces of foam to make various tones.

Next you come to a play area with a dinosaur dig, a cave, and an treehouse-like upper balcony.  Here you can see Bug disappearing into it.  The cave is pretty dark inside, and there are flashlights available for the kids to take inside and "discover" paintings and fossils on the cave walls.

Next begins a miniature city street with play areas for all different parts of the town.

 
First, the doctor's office:

And next, the Little Bank, complete with working pneumatic tube system for the drive-thru.  The kids spent a long time playing here.

Mansfield Art Center special exhibit - The Art of the Brick by Nathan Sawaya

Also in November, we went on a very cool excursion to Mansfield, OH.  It's only an hour away but I had never been there before.  The main reason for the trip was to visit the "Art of the Brick" exhibit by Lego artist/sculptor Nathan Sawaya.  His creations are both visually and technically amazing.

Self portrait of the artist.  Apparently he built this one of himself and one of his wife to greet guests at the entry to their home when they had a party.

"Yellow"

Untitled

"Gray"

Dress

Clouds

Tree

Flip flops

Towel

Skulls

Equally as interesting and creative as the actual exhibit, there was also a room full of pieces designed by kids in various Lego clubs. 

I was a bit confused by this one until I read the title:  Writer's Block.  Very clever!

Pretty picnic scene

These Wizard of Oz pieces were by far my favorites of the kid creations.  On the left is Dorothy's house, swept up in the tornado, and on the right is the Emerald City.

Finally, there was a room full of bins of Legos you could build with.  "M" for Monkey!

As we were leaving the museum, a volunteer overheard us talking about going to lunch and asked us where we were going.  We told her we had packed a lunch and were just going to have a picnic somewhere.  She recommended we visit the Gorman Nature Center, so we did.  It was definitely worth the visit.  There were lots of creatures to check out - snakes, frogs, fish, birds, turtles, etc. and the kids really enjoyed it.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not get a good shot of the little screech owl.  But he was my favorite!  Here, Bug is pointing him out.

The volunteer who was working let us go up into the third-story observation tower.  Here is a bit of the view.  Notice all of the solar panels on the roof, too.

In the observation tower

A real paper wasp nest, cut away to reveal a cross section.  *shudder*

Our final stop on our Mansfield excursion was to the lovely Richland Carousel.  It has a wonderful variety of beautiful hand-carved animals to choose from.  We had the entire place to ourselves and rode it twice.