Museum traveling exhibit making holiday stop at Children’s of Mississippi

Published on Monday, November 25, 2024

By: Annie Oeth, aoeth@umc.edu

Photos By: Lindsay McMurtray/ UMMC Communications

Children’s of Mississippi patients have a surprise waiting for them at the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower: the interactive Rocky’s House exhibit from the Mississippi Children’s Museum.

Inside the little red house and in its surrounding displays, children including Luke Starkey of Clinton, Benton Davis and his sister Avah of Meadville and Journee Bracey of Terry have found games, books and creative outlets including a stage with costumes and a puppet theater. The traveling exhibit arrived at Children’s of Mississippi Nov. 18.

“This is a wonderful surprise,” said Luke’s mother, Sarah Starkey. “This wasn’t here at our earlier visit.”

Rocky’s House is at the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower at Children’s of Mississippi through Jan. 10 to encourage reading to young children as part of the partnership of the museum and Children’s of Mississippi’s Reach Out and Read program.

In the exhibit, Rocky the Reader and his friends Kareem, Ella, Mei, Cody and Mateo guide guests through three primary methods of language and literacy development: playing, talking and reading. At Rocky’s House, visitors can read a book, ask questions and put their own stories into motion with puppets.

The Reach Out and Read Program, a national nonprofit organization that promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric primary care where books are incorporated into the pediatric well child visit, is part of all of Children’s of Mississippi’s pediatric ambulatory clinics and many other pediatric clinics across the state.

“We’re so excited that our patients and their families can visit Rocky’s house this holiday season,” said Dr. Susan Buttross, professor of pediatrics and a principal investigator for Mississippi Thrive. The partnership with the Mississippi Children’s Museum and Reach Out and Read is furthering Mississippi Thrive’s goals to create a robust early child development and behavioral system for Mississippi’s children.

“Rocky’s House fosters a love for reading in young children, which lays the foundation for curiosity, critical thinking and lifelong learning,” she said. “Encouraging parents to interact with their children by reading books to them enhances their vocabulary, nurtures their imagination and emotional growth and sets them on a path toward success in every area of life. We’re grateful to have this wonderful exhibit at Children’s of Mississippi and the partnership with MCM."

Susan Garrard, president and CEO of the Mississippi Children’s Museum, said Rocky’s House supports the mission of Talk from the Start, a museum program that  was formed to raise awareness around the fact that talking to and with children from birth is essential to learning and literacy.

"Our museum is committed to developing innovative programs that address the needs of Mississippi’s children and set them on the path to success,” she said. “Struggles with literacy are among the biggest challenges that our children face. This project is an unprecedented opportunity to partner with an acclaimed educational institution, The Barksdale Reading Institute, to create resources that will raise awareness and positively impact children and families in our state.”

Rocky’s House, moved to Children’s of Mississippi Nov. 18, is part of Talk from the Start, a partnership between the Mississippi Children’s Museum and the Barksdale Reading Institute, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

MCM’s Talk from the Start and Reach Out and Read both champion the effects of shared reading, starting in infancy. Early childhood reading is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics to “promote … social-emotional development … and language and literacy skills during this critical period of early brain and child development.”

The partnership of the Mississippi Children’s Museum, Children’s of Mississippi and Reach Out and Read has been putting books into the hands of pediatricians across the state to share with their youngest patients during well visits. Parents then take those books home to read to their children, starting a home library.