Have you ever thought about where words come from or where they originated? Planet Word is a great way to explore the origin of hundreds upon thousands words in a modern and interactive way. It is located in Washington D.C. It is free to the public and is only a train ride away from West Chester, perfect for a day trip with friends and family! The exhibits are separated by three floors.
The first floor has three exhibits, “First Words”, “Where do Words Come From,” and “Spoken Words.” As you take your first steps into the “First Words” exhibit, on the upper floor you will see a monitor filled with babies babbling with each other. They explain how babies babble in order to communicate and how deaf babies will babble with their hands by showing videos. As you take further steps inside, you will come across the “Spoken Word”, which is a room filled with tablets of people speaking languages from all over the world and a big center globe lit up corresponding with each speaker. As you approach each tablet, the screen will light up and you will be able to interact with an instructor that speaks the language displayed on the screen. The Instructor will ask you to repeat different words after them to help you learn the language in a fun and engaging way.
On the second floor you will find “Lend Me Your Ears.” This exhibit shows several famous quotes from various different historical figures and celebrities. There is also a “Word of Worlds” in this exhibit. There are three digital walls with paint brushes below four words that read “luminous, verdant, surreal, and thrill.” All of these walls are digitally drawn showing different seasons in a farmhouse, country side, and city. You could mix and match the seasons using the paint brushes too! The next exhibit was “The Library.” This was one of my favorite rooms in the museum as the library had dozens of books all around, interactive touch stories, and a “magic” table. For the table, you would choose any book and set it up on the table and a display would shine on the book and table explaining the book to you!
“Unlock the Music” was the next exhibit and it featured a karaoke room. In the middle of the room were four microphones set up in front of a big screen and next to it were purple couches that had tablets to choose several different songs to sing from. There was “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift, “Royals” by Lorde, “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond and many other songs from different genres. The last exhibit on the second floor is “Joking Around.” In this exhibit you sit with a friend in front of a tablet that has preloaded jokes on it. Your goal is to try to make the other person laugh at the most jokes. In this room you will also see many quotes on the wall explaining several different origins of phrases and sayings.
On the first floor, or the last floor if you start on the upper floor, you will be able to explore the exhibit “I’m Sold!” In this exhibit, you will see different screens showing you how certain brands have used words in their name to show what their product does or how they produce a certain reaction from the customer. Next, there are interactive games on the touch screens that are centered all around the room that you can play around with. The final exhibit is “Words Matter.” In this exhibit, you are able to share your story in a recording booth and you are also able to hear other’s recordings.
As you are exiting the building you can visit the gift shop that has games, puzzles, and different pens, pencils and tote bags as well as stop by and don’t overlook some of the cool art work outside like the Speaking Willow Tree!