CORRECTION

Ruth Sheehan's Oct. 1 column about the Marbles Kids Museum omitted the contribution made by the David Mauer Architecture firm for the new pirate ship exhibit. The firm contributed 340 hours to the design and construction of the exhibit.

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Sally Edwards, the head of the new Marbles children's museum in downtown Raleigh, doesn't want visitors comparing it with predecessors Playspace or Exploris.

But it's awfully hard not to.

It's housed in the same spectacular Exploris building, with its signature architectural elements, including the wall of marbles for which it's named.

If anything, Edwards has "funked it up," to use her own phrase, to make the space brighter and more inviting.

Gone are the tedious displays and frequently broken computer terminals devoted to tasks such as creating a water system for a remote Indian village ... whoops, did I fall asleep? Trust me, this sounds more exciting than it ever was.

In place of the most boring Exploris gear are some of the familiar pieces from Playspace, geared to younger children.

There's the grocery store, the race car, the motorboat and the lighthouse, from which two gurgling water slides pour into small pools for water play. (Suggestion: The slides need a higher angle, so the water toys actually zip down on their own.)

There are new displays as well, such as the massive pirate ship beautifully rendered by the N.C. Maritime Museum, and the traveling Children Just Like Me exhibit.

What is nice is that in the new space, the Playspace crowd seems to be absorbed into the unfolding exhibits, rather than being crammed into one large, acoustically nightmarish room.

The old Playspace was wildly popular with kids, but for many adults, it was LOUD. At the end of my youngest son's third birthday party there, my husband asked plaintively, "Could you just kill me?"

Even with the zoolike atmosphere of opening day, Marbles ... worked.

I brought my oldest and youngest sons to the festivities. They are my in-house test market. (Middle son was playing football.)

The 4-year-old was delighted with the entire thing, zipping from one area to the next.

He especially loved the activities upstairs -- singing karaoke, constructing his own Web site and being featured on-screen climbing a pyramid or running with the bulls at Pamplona.

Unfortunately, the activities the 4-year-old liked best were actually supposed to be geared to the older kids.

My 11-year-old was not exactly awed.

Of course, this was just Day One, and Marbles is a work in progress.

In addition to more offerings for kids 7 to 12, the museum would benefit from a bit of context. To use the pirate ship, for example, to teach kids about North Carolina's colorful pirate history. To let parents of young children know what the experts say about how play helps children learn.

Still, it is impressive that Edwards, her staff and volunteers pulled off this merger in less than four weeks -- a reflection of the museum's new energy and direction.

I am cheered that Marbles will charge a reasonable five bucks a head for visitors -- unlike Exploris, which charged an arm and a leg for the kids to complain the whole time.

But there I go comparing again.

Marbles is a children's museum of its own, off to a great start. It just so happens to combine some of the best parts of Exploris and Playspace.

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