The Wizard of Oz Children’s Educational Exhibit opened at The Henry Ford Museum on October 1. We visited Friday evening before attending Hallowe’en at Greenfield Village. The museum closed at 5p and our entry to Greenfield Village was at 6:30p, so we arrived about 4p to spend an hour at the exhibit and then had dinner before Hallowe’en.
The exhibit is definitely geared to young children, preschool age would be perfect. In my opinion, kids much older than 6 will be bored at the exhibit. Since it was close to museum closing time, the exhibit was fairly empty when we were there which may have made it seem less exciting.
The entrance of the exhibit starts with life in Kansas including several farm exhibits such as the one my daughter is playing with in the picture above. There were crops to harvest, a tornado exhibit, and more. There was also a house tilted by the tornado as the transition to the land of Oz which was divided into Munchkinland, Emerald City, the Wicked Witch’s Castle, and the forest. My husband and I thought the munchkin voice changer was cool, but my daughter wasn’t a big fan. She did like the rainbow building project. She also loved the web and rock wall at the Wicked Witch’s Castle.
There were several TVs throughout playing the movie including a sofa for parents or grandparents to take a break on. They also had someone doing face painting, although they were just cleaning up for the day when we arrived a few minutes after 4. There were scarecrow masks for the kids to make. The kids had to cut out their scarecrow, color it, glue on a nose, straw, patches on their hat, and the stick. My daughter enjoyed making her scarecrow. The masks are listed as a special activity for October with a different mask each week.
At the exit of the exhibit is a small store selling Wizard of Oz merchandise.
Weekends will have additional special activities. In October, they will have story times, costume parade, character appearances, and a discussion on the science of Wizard of Oz. From November 1-20, there will be a Wizard of Oz Board Game activity.
Saturdays in November there will be the opportunity to attend a Munchkin Luncheon and meet Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion.
Admission to the exhibit is included with your museum admission.
Admission rates:
Members: Free
Children 0-4: Free
Children 5-12: $11
Adults 13-61: $15
Seniors 62+: $14
If you are going to the Henry Ford, I definitely recommend checking out the Wizard of Oz exhibit. The Automobiles in America exhibit is currently closed for an extensive makeover through December 2011. The Wizard of Oz exhibit makes a nice addition to balance out the closed exhibit.
Disclaimer: I am a Henry Ford Member. I am not otherwise affiliated with the Henry Ford and have received no compensation for writing this review.
