Encouraging your child's interests

Babies and toddlers are an exploratory lot. They sample pretty much everything around them as they learn about the wonders of the world. Then they get older and start to lean toward particular activities. Some seem to never stop drawing. Some seem to constantly have books in their hands. Others can't stop searching for information or just pictures of dinosaurs, horses, construction trucks, or plants.

During this time of exploration, parents find themselves wondering what is a passing interest and what could be a budding hobby for their children. They wonder how to foster the interest without pushing their child into one field of interest over another. Word on the street is that they just need to relax and let the child be the guide as she explores interests in her own way and at her own pace. But that's not to say parents have to be completely passive bystanders to their child's early education.

Parents who see their children showing more interest in art than playing with blocks or trucks can foster that interest by providing more opportunities to explore artistic abilities. A child will feel fulfilled if his or her interest blossoms or will get bored and move onto something else. Either way, active parents have played a role in educating their child.

"We find that many parents bring their kids here to do things they don't want to or can't do at home," Children's Museum of Tacoma Content Manager Kimberly Padilla said. "Most commonly mentioned in this category is art activities-the parents would rather kids make a mess here than at home and often times we have special supplies and materials the average parent doesn't purchase for their child. Additionally, may of the costumes and manipulative (objects the kids play with) in our general exhibits are very different from what a child would experience at home."

The museum even has a parental guide about how best to use the play areas to build everything from hand-eye skills to concentration and memory skills.

Current exhibit offerings are: Dream Maze: The World of Peter Sis; A Place to Play; Becka's Studio: Lessons from a Bowl of Fruit; Grubby Gardeners: Four Seasons of Fun & Cafe Ole; The Learning Lounge: School Readiness; and Curiosity Corner.

Additionally, the museum has just installed a new exhibit called "Polar Dreams." This exhibit follows pioneering women explorers Ann Bancroft and Liv Arneson as they made their way across the Artic Circle this spring and summer. The display and activities encourage people to plan and to follow their dreams.

Most children like to draw, or at least explore ways to express themselves through painting, drawing, or crafts. One great destination to take children to explore that activity is the Tacoma Art Museum, which has one of the largest art studios in the region.

The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Open Art Studio is a place where all museum visitors make hands-on connections between art in the galleries and the process of creation.

The studio offers art toolkits that contain everything from professional paint and drawing kits to clay balls and collage materials. Children can explore any and all art media in a single afternoon without much care about the expense of buying all the materials. Everything is free with museum admission. The museum, by the way, is free between 5 and 8 p.m. during the citywide Third Thursday Art Walk, which is a great way for parents to expose their children the any number of potential hobbies and crafts without investing any money on materials that could just end up in the closet.

Other great hobby resources include the city or county park system. Much like the local library, the neighborhood park system is one of the most underused resources around. Any parks catalog will have a host of free or low-cost activities for children to delve into potential hobbies. The Pierce County Parks Department, for example, offers everything from gem and stamp clubs to outdoor activities and sports. And these activities aren't just side activities to fill out the offerings at a nearby recreation center. They are top notch.

The ice skating program at Sprinker Recreation Center, for example, not only teaches children how to become better skaters by preparing them for performances, but they are taught by some of the best folks in the business. The director of the program is former world professional champion Lori Benton.