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Date: 11/20/2015
HOLYOKE – With educators speaking about the need for additional science and math education in schools, a new exhibit at the Children’s Museum at Holyoke does just that – but in a fun way.
“World of Motion” will open at the museum on Nov. 21 with a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. and Executive Director Susan Kelley sees the exhibit as a new center for school field trips to the museum.
MindSplash, a company based in Illinois that develops exhibits for museums, designed the exhibit. Becky Lindsay, the designer, said the new exhibit reflects the idea that “all things are in motion … kids are in motion.”
Construction was by 42 design Fab of Indian Orchard.
The exhibit features various stations that include at its entrance a mechanism that sets balls into motion through a maze of tracks. Next to it is a similar kind of exhibit except this one allows a child to design his or her own track through which a ball can move.
“The exhibit is all about how you move things,” Lindsay said. “We layer that idea from sorts of vantage points.”
Kelly guided Reminder Publications through the exhibit, which was built in a section of the museum that had been used as a theater. There is a racetrack that allows children to build their own cars and then time their speed so they can make improvements in design.
Another exhibit features bottle rockets that are propelled by air that a child can control. Air is pumped into the bottle and a child can measure how much air it takes to launch the rocket.
Next to it is an exhibit teaching how electricity flows from a source to a bell or light bulb. Children take metal plates and form a link from the source to the device.
There is a floor with interactive computer games projected onto it and a multi level “fort” with a range of musical instruments on its lower level.
Kelley said the current exhibits at the museum appeal to children generally up to the age of eight. She believes this exhibit will push that age higher.
The exhibit cost $224,000 and has been in development for almost a year. Funding was through a grant, a capital campaign and the museum’s annual Fancy Steps fundraiser.
Kelly noted the museum draws 50,000 people a year, many of whom see the museum as a point of destination in Holyoke.
While the museum has regularly upgraded or added exhibits, Kelley called the new exhibit’s impact on the museum as “gigantic.”
For more information, go to www.childrensmuseumholyoke.org.