May 17 - September 1, 2008
Step inside beloved stories from around the globe in Once Upon a Time, Exploring the World of Fairy Tales, a hands-on exhibit that brings favorite multicultural fairy tales to life. From an African jungle to a giant’s castle, your family will enter the larger-than-life pages of seven favorite fairy tales from around the world. The exhibit is designed for children ages 3 to 10 but will appeal to children of all ages.
Each fairy tale in the exhibit was carefully chosen because of its impact and reach or because it allows a window into another time and culture. The tales include: Anasi and the Talking Melon, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Jack and the Beanstalk, Lon Po Po, and Thumbelina.
The unique and educational exhibit focuses on the power and significance of fairy tales throughout history and from around the world. Each tale is brought to life with its own large-scale environment and interactive components. You'll enter the exhibit via a magical portal into a fabulous storybook kingdom where you’ll learn the meaning and history of tales you've known all your life and others that may be new to you.
Once Upon a Time, Exploring the World of Fairy Tales features seven different fairy tales, each with a distinct imaginative environment and engaging interactive components. The featured fairy tales are:
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Anansi and the Talking Melon It’s a jungle in there as you enter the world of Anansi, a mischievous spider from African folktales. Visitors will cross a wooden bridge, sit on the monkey king’s throne, and play interactive games to discover all the ways that Anansi has tricked his friends. |
Beauty and the Beast |
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Jack and the Beanstalk This is an English story of a small boy who outwits a giant ogre. Just like Jack, you will climb up the beanstalk into the ogre’s oversized house. You’ll hide in a cubbyhole while giant shouts out “Fee-fi-fo-fum,” play a magical talking harp and discover a hen that lays golden eggs. |
Cinderella This story with both Chinese and French roots is the classic rags to riches tale. Cinderella is mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters until she meets her Prince Charming at a ball. Like Cinderella did, you can climb inside the pumpkin coach and watch the scenery go by on your way to the ball, try on the glass slipper to see if the shoe fits and hear the clock chimes ring at the stroke of midnight. |
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Thumbelina |
The Shoemaker and the Elves It’s better to give than to receive as this German tale from the Brothers Grimm teaches. A poor shoemaker and his wife receive help from a crew of hardworking elves, so they make clothes for the elves in return. You can recreate the story in a magical interactive picture box by changing the scene from day to night, and then get to work at the cobbler’s bench making some fancy footwear of your own. |
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Lon Po Po This thousand-year-old Chinese tale is an early version of the Little Red Riding Hood story. You will get to peer through a picture window and make the wolf pop up from beneath its covers, touch his bushy tail and use a rope to hoist him into a tree. You will discover how this tale is different from the European and American versions, and even learn Chinese translations of English words. |
Once Upon a Time, Exploring the World of Fairy Tales is a collaborative effort of The Magic House, St. Louis Children’s Museum and the St. Louis Public Library and is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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