Take the Kids: Play - Marbles' new Color Pop Corner

Need a place for a picnic downtown or just to let the kids run a bit? Check out the new Color Pop Corner at Morgan and Blount streets.

Posted 1:00 a.m. May 18, 2018 — Updated 7:23 p.m. Jul 13, 2018

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

, Go Ask Mom editor

Marbles Kids Museum made quick work of the corner at Morgan and Blount streets. On March 1, it tore down the former speedometer shop that had stood there for decades, but was empty in recent years. This week, it unveiled its replacement - the new Color Pop Corner.

"That space is turning into what we were intending it to be, which is a colorful courtyard and gateway into the Moore Square district of downtown," said Taylor Rankin, Marbles' senior marketing and communications specialist. "The mural will add a lot of color and vibrancy."

As I wrote back in March, Marbles acquired the property, which sits on .12 acres, in 2013. Museum officials have been putting plans together for this project for several years. It's the first in a series of enhancements at Marbles this spring as the museum works to expand its capacity and get ready to host this week's international conference of the Association of Children's Museums.

This week, Marbles also announced the opening of a new exhibit. Piece Out, a summer pop-up exhibit sponsored by Red Hat where kids collaborate using loose parts and larger-than-life play pieces to "build something great," takes over a former storage room and adds more than 1,800 square feet to its first floor exhibit space, according to the press release.

Color Pop Corner isn't huge (it sits on about .12 acres), but it'll be a welcome spot for parents, who need to let their kids run a little bit after a day inside at Marbles or a place for a picnic lunch while they're downtown.

The space includes a small landscaped area, along with some seating and big, colorful concrete balls, which the kids I brought - ages 8 and 13 - were climbing all over.

But the focal point is the bright, colorful mural, which, I suspect, will soon be a destination for selfies and family pictures.

Check it out ...

There's no charge to check out the corner. It's free and open to the public.

Go Ask Mom’s Take the Kids series is your No. 1 resource for weekly ideas about kid-focused places to take your family in the Triangle and beyond. New articles are published every Friday.

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