Museum Superheroes

Abstract

This article explores the role of play in an art museum. Reflecting upon a kindergarten field trip to the Warhol Museum in which children's play was the centerpiece of the museum experience, the author examines what early childhood theorists have written about the value of play in young children's lives. She shows how the Warhol's program for young children makes use of the theorists' concepts of active engagement, intrinsic motivation, identity formation, symbolic thought, and memory-in-action, and concludes that play can be an effective strategy for stimulating young minds in museums of all types.