TINKERTOY®: BUILD YOUR IMAGINATION™
Childrens Museum exhibit begins U.S. tour soon

MILWAUKEE’S BETTY BRINN Children’s Museum once again is demonstrating national leadership in the development of America’s youth, this time by blending the unique qualities of a 95-year-old educational toy with the innovations of one of the world’s most advanced corporations.

TINKERTOY: Build Your Imagination is the Museum’s latest interactive exhibit, developed in collaboration with General Electric Company and PLAYSKOOL, the infant/preschool toy division of Hasbro, Inc. The exhibit leaves the Museum at 929 E. Wisconsin Ave. on Jan. 24, beginning a four-year tour to children’s museums and science centers throughout the U.S.

Targeted at children ages 3-10, the 1,500 square foot exhibit uses giant replicas of the classic Tinkertoy construction set to provide the framework for fun, educational activities inspired by GE technologies and turns imagination into working solutions to real world challenges.

Created in 1914 in Evanston, Ill., the Tinkertoy Construction Set was designed to allow and inspire children to use their imagination. Subsequently, TINKERTOYS have been used to create surprisingly complex machines, from robots to computers.

The exhibit’s Welcome Gallery celebrates the 95th anniversary of Tinkertoy through a retrospective of the toy’s history, and highlights GE technologies that improve communities around the globe every day.

The exhibit features a variety of activities that promote imagination and collaboration:

Invent – Children are encouraged to think about where ideas come from, and to explore the emerging field of biomimicry – nature’s influence on design. Visitors can match real inventions with their natural inspiration and create designs of their own.

Collaborate – Dual-sided panels allow visitors to work independently or with a partner to create Tinkertoy designs.

Energize – Children can experience renewable energy as they use a kid-powered fan to test their own wind-powered TINKERTOY creations.

Change – A Rube Goldberg-like contraption illustrates the power of creative thinking and how simple mechanisms work. The activity lets children select and position words to build the kind of silly (but thought-provoking) sentences that could serve as the springboard for innovation.

Process/Connect – TINKERTOY-inspired equipment lets children explore the concept of filtration, while a companion activity invites them to build ball tracks that illustrate how GE technologies help address the challenge of providing clean water.

Develop – Visitors fill a life-size human form with TINKERTOY hubs, providing a great photo opportunity and revealing the elements of a healthy lifestyle.

Create – This open play area reserved for children ages three and older features a spectacular assortment of Tinkertoy pieces. Pictures of remarkable TINKERTOY creations and special tips provide guidance and inspiration.

The Tinker Tank – A walk-in size replica of a Tinkertoy canister is the starting point for the exhibit’s challenging scavenger hunt. The Tinker Tank contains a variety of educational materials that show how unconventional ideas have resulted in some of the world’s greatest inventions.

Local exhibit media sponsors include 99.1 WMYX, Clear Channel Outdoor, WITI-TV FOX 6, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and MilwaukeeMoms.com. Additional support was provided by KEY Milwaukee Magazine.

The Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. and from noon-5 p.m. Sun. Admission is $6 per person and $5 per senior (adults older than 55); children younger than one are free. For more information, call (414) 390-KIDS (5437) or visit www.bbcmkids.org.

Working with children inspires GE Healthcare

HOW COULD one of the world’s leading medical imaging companies benefit from working with young children?

“Because creativity and imagination are the keys to what we do,” answers Robert T. Schwartz, general manager of Global Design at GE Healthcare. “There’s no better place to find those qualities than at a children’s museum.”

GE Healthcare, a global leader in medical imaging with major operations in Waukesha and Milwaukee, has partnered with Milwaukee’s Betty Brinn Children’s Museum on several special projects.

Calling the partnership “a two-way street,” Schwartz points to a new GE program developed to help youngsters undergoing sophisticated imaging tests. Early indications are that GE’s “Pediatric Adventure Series” may help to reduce the number of kids who need to be sedated. Special rooms and personnel are used to stimulate stories that make the tests seem more like adventures, such as a spaceship launch.

Originally, GE saw its projects with the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum as a way of “contributing to the community and teaching kids what we do so well – imagination at work,” says Schwartz. “But now our Global Design Team loves to visit the Museum for inspiration.”