On a typical day at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, hundreds of children might have pushed miniature carts brimming with plastic replicas of apples, cereal boxes, and bread as they explored the aisles of a kid-sized grocery store.
The children’s museum’s market exhibition has existed, in some form, for more than four decades, part of “Healthy Me,” the most popular, and perhaps most important exhibit at Please Touch. Along with a kid-sized bistro, hospital, and garden, the display is designed to teach kids decision-making and collaboration.
But today, amid a global pandemic, all the interaction in the market — collaborative, touchy, in close and public quarters — could cause anxiety for plenty of parents. It’s why, months after its closure along with other arts and entertainment venues across the nation, the museum has remained shuttered, forced to consider a new approach to reopening.