ShawneeDispatch.com

A unique opportunity to learn about a little-known culture may soon bring a number of schoolchildren to Shawnee.

Hmong at Heart, an award-winning traveling exhibit from the Madison, Wis., Children's Museum, will make its only Midwest stop this year in Shawnee at Wonderscope Children's Museum, 5705 Flint. The museum recently announced its selection as a stop for the exhibit, which is among seven exhibits created through the Association of Children's Museums to increase awareness about Asian cultures.

The exhibit, on display May 19 through Sept. 20 at Wonderscope, explores the history of a little-known Asian culture called Hmong.

The Hmong are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China. The early history of the Hmong people is difficult to trace as there are varying accounts. At the turn of the 18th century many of the Hmong migrated to Southeast Asia, and today, Vietnam and Thailand. After the Communist takeover in 1975 many Hmong sought refuge in other countries, including the United States.

The 1,000-square-foot interactive exhibit features hands-on lessons designed for elementary-school-aged children. Ann Zimmerman, executive director of Wonderscope, said while many of the museum's traveling exhibits focus on arts and sciences, this would be a hands-on cultural exhibit.

"It gives them an appreciation for diversity, in that here's how another child in another part of the world might have lived," Zimmerman said.

Visitors will participate in activities that simulate the daily life of a Hmong community, including three hands-on learning centers: a Hmong village in Laos, a refugee camp in Thailand and a Hmong American home. Activities such as weaving bamboo sheathing, planting a rural garden and constructing building materials out of mud allow the children to experience the basic rustic lives of this culture.

The Association of Children's Museums and the Freeman Foundation had museums create six other Asian exhibits, which explore the Korean, Vitenamese, Chinese and Japanese cultures. Zimmerman said that after Wonderscope applied for a grant to have one of the Asian exhibits visit Shawnee, the association chose to send the Hmong exhibit to Shawnee because there is a Hmong community in Kansas City, Kan.

Zimmerman said Wonderscope hopes to take advantage of that population to add another dimension to the exhibit.

"We plan to bring in Hmong storytellers, dancers, basketweavers, people who could be there to interpret and show, bring that culture to life," Zimmerman said.

The museum also expects the unique exhibit to bring in more visitors.

"I would hope that people looking to make a trip to Kansas City would be interested in adding this to their list of things to do, because it is a special exhibit, a way to introduce children to another culture in a way that is more interactive," she said.

Local residents can check out the exhibit later this spring during the museum's free open house, 12-2 p.m. June 9, which will be held in conjunction with a block party celebrating the opening of the Splash Cove pool at the Jim Allen Aquatic Center.

School, daycare and other group field trips are now being scheduled. The museum is currently scheduling groups starting as early as May 20 through the beginning of next school year. For more information visit www.wonderscope.org.