Interacting with adults at MOXI- Juliana

One of the most common questions I get from friends and family about MOXI is whether it is only for children, and if there is anything for adults. I usually say that while most of the time I do see kids get more into the exhibits at MOXI compared to adults, there is definitely opportunity for adults to play and learn from MOXI’s exhibits. Here is an example of this from something I observed a few weeks ago at the Keva blocks:

A young boy was playing with the blocks, building various towers and structures. A man sitting close to him (I assume it was the boy’s father) was sitting on the bench looking slightly bored, half watching his son and half looking at his phone. I walked up to the man and asked him if he wanted to build something, pulled some blocks out of the box and put them on the table in front of him. He looked at the blocks and sort of laughed, and said “No thank you, I’ll just watch”. I left the blocks there anyway just in case he changed his mind. And sure enough when I come back about 10 minutes later, he was messing around with the blocks, starting to build something. The two of them sat there building for at least the next hour, and I took pictures of their creations:

I thought it was so cool how at first the man was so uninterested in building but then he ended up making this amazing cantilever structure. This experience helped me learn that sometimes adults just need a little encouragement to get started. This has definitely made me more comfortable approaching both children and adults while facilitating.