Glazer Children's Museum Finds It Fun To Be 1

TAMPA -- Eighteen-month-old Braden Chapman toddled in his aqua socks in Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park on Sunday, venturing in seconds from blown bubbles to hula hoops to inflated balls bouncing on the grass.

Mom Janelle Chapman of Tampa said he eventually would find the fountains and splash. “This is one of his favorite spots. We love it,” she said.

Chapman brought Braden in his skull-and-crossbones swim trunks to the first birthday celebration for the Glazer Children’s Museum -- which as a gift to the public handed out free birthday cake and $5 admission. (The reduced price lasts until Sept. 30.)

The two are regulars at the museum at 110 W. Gasparilla Plaza, overlooking the park and next to the Tampa Museum of Art. Janelle Chapman said she especially enjoys the “,” when for the first Tuesday of each month admission drops to $2 after 2pm. Regular price is $15 for adults and $9.50 for children over 1.

“At his age, he has a short attention span, and there’s not a lot to do besides take him to a play area at the mall. You don’t want to be outside too much,” she said. “We come with his babysitter, and she has other kids all different ages. Nobody gets bored.”

Creating more exhibit spaces that are “a little quieter, a little more tactile” for toddlers is one goal that Museum President and CEO Al Najjar has for the coming year.

Even so, he feels blessed by the community’s response to the museum and what he considers a huge responsibility.

“The way the community has embraced the museum has been wonderful,” Najjar said. “The challenge is doing something new and making sure we’re living up to the expectations of the donors, teachers, parents and, of course, the children, who are expecting so much of us.”

The 53,000-square-foot building cost about $11 million to build and had an operating budget this year of $3.8 million, Najjar said.

Inside are more than 170 exhibits designed for children ages 10 and younger, making this another fun but educational option for families like Tampa’s Museum of Science and Technology (MOSI) and the Great Explorations Children’s Museum in St. Petersburg.

The museum also has space for traveling exhibits, such as one coming in October devoted to Clifford, the Big Red Dog, Najjar said.

About 250,000 visitors have flocked to the museum since it opened on Sept. 25, 2010, roughly 30 percent of them beyond the Bay area, Najjar said. The museum has sold about 8,500 annual memberships, but school groups also find it popular, causing the staff to post a regular “School Forecast” on the museum’s Facebook page.

“If you have three hundred schoolchildren [visiting] on a Wednesday morning and you’re there with a two-year-old, it’s sort of a clash of two types of audiences,” he said.

Since the opening, the staff has rebuilt about 15 to 20 exhibits, including parts of the kid-sized model of Tampa Bay, because of either technical issues or feedback from young guests. “We change the height of things and the texture, and the kids have responded,” Najjar said.

Sunday’s birthday party brought several new visitors, such as Valerie Calderon of Lutz and her 5-year-old granddaughter, Rionna.

“When it first opened, the lines were ridiculous,” Calderon said as Rionna snacked on cake.

The Villano family, with 3-year-old Gabbi and 5-year-old Andrew, made the trip from Palm Harbor. “We’ve been to Great Explorations in St. Pete,” said mom Charissa. 

“The five-dollars [admission] don’t hurt,” dad Carmine added.

Other regulars found plenty to enjoy, from balloon animals to the climbing structure called Water’s Journey.

Two-year-old Giovanna Hart loved splashing in the park's fountains, but in the museum, “she loves playing in the sand,” said dad Jay Hart of Tampa. The “sand” is in fact nontoxic rubberized recycled material that cleans off easily after kids dig for treasure.

Addison Arnette, 4, and her sister, Mallory, 2, always want to dress up in the Twinkle Stars Theater, said mom Shannon Arnette of New Tampa.

“We’ve been here a couple of times,” Arnette said while the girls got their faces painted. “It lets them be creative and do what they want to do.”