Delaware Children's Museum (DCM) and ECO-HOUSE

Last Summer, I brought the family to the newly opened Delaware Children's Museum in Wilmington, DE. The last time (last year - see post about Please Touch Museum) we went to a children's museum, the kids and including me and my wife had lots of fun. Visiting DCM also provided lots of fun and learning experience. Even though DCM is not as big as Please Touch Museum, there were a lot of activities for the kids (and adults) to enjoy. The kids had a blast and they are looking forward to going back at DCM.

So, similar to what I did when we visited Please Touch Museum, I started looking for what they are doing for recycling. And just what I expected, the museum also recycles and you will see several recycling bins around the museum. Their recycling bins are shown below.

I thought I was done for the day, until I saw the Eco House. The Eco House is a very informative area in DCM and has details on ways of helping save our planet. It shows what can be done in a house to make it more Eco-friendly. 

The first thing I saw was the living roof. You can see plants on the roof of the Eco House.

The Eco House also has posters like this that explains how it helps the environment and the benefits. As you can see on the poster, there can be two types of living roofs and It's Alive!

Here's a picture of another part of the Eco House which shows the roof structure made of branches/twigs.

Inside the Eco House, there are several items you can use around your house that can be powered by the sun.

These are the items that are solar-powered. You don't need to pay for electricity since the sun's energy is free.

The Eco House also suggests Eco-Friendly building materials for your home: siding made from wood that's environmentally certified; insulation made from recycled newspapers and bricks. Using Eco-friendly materials for your house helps save the Earth's resources.

Another material that can be used in a house is Bamboo. I never knew that Bamboo can be rapidly renewed. I learned at the Eco House that Bamboo can grow 48 inches per day to as much as 39 inches in an hour. Bamboo can be used as hardwood flooring and furniture.

Here is another thing I learned. I also never knew that Linoleum is Eco-Friendly and can be rapidly renewed. I thought that Linoleum was some sort of a plastic product.

Using Rapidly Renewable Resources is a big help in preserving our planet. It uses less space, produces less waste and we don't have to wait a long time for it to grow back (like trees).

The Eco House also has information about using Geothermal for Heating and Cooling. I heard from my co-worker that the initial cost is expensive to have it installed in a home but if you're planning to stay for a while, it will be worth it. You don't have to worry about the electricity to cool the house in the summer months and fluctuating price of natural gas, oil or propane to heat up the house during winter time.

Also around the Eco House, there are several items made from recycled products. Aside from helping save the environment, these items can also make your Eco House beautiful.

This bird feeder was made from recycled plastic bottles.

This wonderful art piece used to be glass bottles and electrical wires.

The fishes and other parts of this beautiful art piece used to be soda cans.

This clock was once a bumper of a car.

This bowl was created from paper labels.

Another bowl but this one was a vinyl record once.

A "laughter" sign made from tin cans and scrap wood.

I hope you have learned something from the Eco House. I really did learn a lot and it would be nice to see these materials/items being used more and more so we can do our part in saving our precious resources.