Meet Andalo!

When the Earth finishes another spin on its axis and day turns into night, the world becomes a fantastic place. The sky puts on a black cape. The Milky Way glistens. The warm wind blows. Clouds drift by like cotton candy. And the ocean dances to the pull of the moon.

It was on such a night many years ago the Andalo arrived in Virginia. Across the earth, children from Tennessee to Trinidad to Timbuktu, were learning. They were reading books, studying history, solving math problems, discovering science, and they were forming ideas, many millions of them.

Now, ideas are very powerful, especially the ideas of children. And when so many children had them at once, something marvelous happened. Their ideas rose into the night sky and created a very special energy. Atoms swirled! Lightning flashed! Stars streaked! Comets raced! And whales leapt from the sea!

All at once, there was quiet. And there, too, was Andalo, from the power of a child's imagination. The wind whistled in approval. The moon beamed. And thunder clapped in delight.

Suddenly, a wave rushed in and carried Andalo to Virginia and the children of Hampton Roads. Andalo now lives in the City of Portsmouth at the Children's Museum of Virginia, where new ideas are born every day.

‘What an amazing story!’ Just one look at Andalo tells the tale all over again. See the blue? That’s the sea. The yellow cap? That's the North Star. The yellow stripes? That's lightning, of course, hot, electric and beautiful.

Ideas strike, just like lightning, and when a child has an idea Andalo is there. Because there is no gift lie the gift of knowledge, Andalo always encourages children to be curious, creative and connected to the wonder of the world around them at the Children's Museum of Virginia.