Ever wanted to know how an Etch-a-Sketch works? Curious about what makes a jack-in-the-box pop up? Toys: The Inside Story includes 12 different hands-on stations that illustrate simple mechanisms commonly found in toys, and lets you create your own toy-like combinations of gears, pulleys, linkages, cams, and circuits.
- Use gears to determine how to spin a ballerina and a carousel.
- Tinker with circuitry to operate fans, blinking lights, and funny sounds.
- Operate cams inside a Dr. Duck toy to determine how he walks.
- Look inside Hokey Pokey Elmo and use motors and switches to make him dance.
- Keep a steady hand as you work an Operation-like circuit board.
It was so fun to see the insides of a giant Etch-A-Sketch and see how turning the knobs different directions changed how the tracer worked!
This portion of the exhibit showed the inside of an Operation game and shared info on circuits. We both had a hard time moving the ring all the way across the rod without touching it and making it buzz!
So many toys use pulleys! This hands-on portion of the exhibit allowed us to put bands on the pulleys to make them move in different ways.
My Mac Kid's favorite part of the exhibit was all of the info on gears. My dad, his grandfather, is an engineer who designs gears for large machinery, roller coasters, etc. so anytime we see gears anywhere, my son is intrigued! Being able to play with the gears in this exhibit and see how big gears interact with smaller gears and how gears make some toys move kept him occupied for quite a while. And he couldn't wait to send pix to his grandfather in TX to let him know everything he had learned about gears!
My Mac Kid loved getting an inside look at popular toys and being able to try his hand at making gears turn, pulleys work and toys beep and buzz. I loved that even as he was having fun he was learning about simple machines and basic mechanics! No summer slide here with a fun, educational exhibit like Toys: The Inside Story!
And of course, we can't come to Kohl Children's Museum without spending some time in my son's favorite permanent exhibits, Water Works and Whole Foods Market. As we played in the Water Works room, he pointed out some pulleys and gears used in the exhibit. Already putting what he learned in the Toys exhibit to work!
We always have a great time when we visit Kohl Children's Museum, and this trip was no exception. Toys: The Inside Story is a wonderful addition to the museum and will lead to lots of interesting conversations about your own family's toys and how they work. This is a temporary exhibit though, so be sure to check it out by Sept. 4!
Toys: The Inside Story is included in the regular admission price of $12. Kohl Children's Museum is located at 2100 Patriot Boulevard in Glenview, IL.
Disclosure: I was given two passes to the museum to facilitate this review, but all opinions are my own.
