Children can experience art with their whole bodies! [The Hakone Open-Air Museum]

Opened in 1969 as the first open-air museum in Japan, the Open-Air Museum celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. In the 70,000-square-meter garden overlooking the mountains of Hakone, 120 masterpieces by modern and contemporary sculptors are on permanent display.

In addition to the Picasso Pavilion, where 319 of the world's leading collections are exhibited one by one, and the indoor exhibition hall, the appeal lies in the outdoor sculptures.
Among them, this time, I tried to pay attention to "experience-based art works" that children can enjoy.

"Soap bubble castle" made by connecting several transparent capsules. It looks like countless soap bubbles floating in the sky. While playing in a capsule with the fun of a maze, you can discover the fun of forms created by nature.
* Target is elementary school students and younger.

This is "Net Forest". Inside the wooden dome, which is made by stacking large-section laminated lumber, a huge hammock structure is built in, which is made up of a number of colorful hand-woven nets connected together.

You can feel the sense of color and form with your whole body while climbing inside the work, jumping, and riding on the ball part.
*You can experience up to 12 years old.

This is the inside of the "Symphony Sculpture Calling for Happiness" tower with a height of 18m and an inner diameter of 8m. Stained glass made from fragments of 2 to 3 cm thick glass broken by hand with a mallet is inlaid throughout, creating a fantastical world that receives light from the outside. You can climb to the top using the spiral staircase, and it can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.
*Closed for renovation until March 19, 2020 (Thursday)

Outdoors, there is a free-flowing footbath that uses the hot springs that flow from the museum grounds. If you get tired of the art experience, take a break together. Please fully enjoy the natural scenery of Hakone.

《The Hakone Open-Air Museum》
[Opening hours] 9:00-17:00 (admission until 16:30)
[Closed] No holidays
[Admission fee] General 1,600 yen, university/high school students 1,200 yen, junior high/elementary school students 800 yen