If your parents never let you break open your Etch A Sketch® to find out how it works, or if you’ve been wondering how to stop your toddler’s push toy from making such an infernal racket, you’ll love Toys: The Inside Story. Greensboro Science Center (GSC) guests can experience this temporary new exhibit beginning Thursday, September 26, 2019. GSC members are invited to preview the exhibit on Wednesday, September 25 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Toys includes 12 different hands-on stations illustrating the simple mechanisms commonly found in toys and lets guests create their own toy-like combinations of gears, pulleys, linkages, cams, and circuits.
Jack Gets Out of His Box gives guests a close-up view of the cam combination that frees our hero “Jack,” while elsewhere we unmask the amazing collection of switches, cams and motors that make Elmo® dance and Mr. Machine® run.
Many of the exhibit elements are free-form and open-ended: Gears at Play illustrates the effects of gear ratios as visitors figure out how to spin ballerinas and a carousel, while the Jeepers Peepers challenge at the pulley table may take a little experimentation to solve.
The Toys exhibition was developed by the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vt., with funding from a National Science Foundation grant awarded to seven museums nationwide, all seven of which comprise TEAMS (Traveling Exhibits at Museums of Science).
To accompany the exhibit, the GSC’s popular maze will return with a toy theme. Activities in the Toy Maze will include a virtual ball pit, fascinating facts about toys throughout time and hands-on stations that inspire play for all ages.
Toys: The Inside Story and the Toy Maze will be open Thursday, September 26, 2019 through Sunday, January 5, 2020. Admission to both exhibits is free with general admission or membership. General admission is $14.50 for adults ages 14 – 64, $13.50 for children ages 3 – 13, and $13.50 for seniors ages 65+. Children 2 and under are free.
Greensboro Science Center 