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Toys: The Inside Story - June 13, 2008 through September 28, 2008
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.
This exhibition illustrates the simple mechanisms commonly found in
toys and lets visitors create their own toy-like combinations of gears,
pulleys, linkages, cams, and circuits. Many of the exhibits are
free-form and open-ended. A list of activities based on the exhibit is available .
Toys: The Inside Story was designed by the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vt., and supported by the National Science Foundation.
Exhibit Components
The Toys Exhibition lets visitors peek inside some common toys while exploring the basics of pulleys, cams, gears, linkages, and circuits.
Opening Piece: Introduces the five toy components explored in the exhibition: pulleys, cams, gears, linkages, and circuits. It also includes two “take home” cards for additional exploration at home.
PULLEYS
Pulley Wall: The Pulley Wall examines what a pulley is and the basics of its behavior. In The Magic Behind the Silver Screen, visitors play with an intact Etch a Sketch® and then look inside and use an open version to watch how pulleys and wires guide the drawing tip. Pattern Tracer: Trace different patterns on a giant version of an Etch a Sketch®. Big Pulley, Little Pulley: Run crazy optical illusions and a toddler’s roller toy by connecting pulleys on this 8’ table. The movable pulleys allow endless combinations and encourage discovery of the relationship between pulley size and speed.
CIRCUITS
Circuit Wall: An introduction to circuits uses toys to illustrate the basics of circuits, switches, and circuit boards. Challenge yourself to keep a circuit open as you move a ring along a wavy rod and learn how this principle has made the Operation® game a classic. Circuit Challenge: A giant printed circuit board lets you open and close switches to operate fans, lights, and sounds. Can you make all of the circuits active at once?
CAMS
Cam Wall: What is this mysterious, oddly-shaped thing called a cam? Turn some and see. It can make a frog jump, a gator bite, or a firefly flash. Look insidethe classic Dr. Duck to see how a cam lets him walk the walk.
LINKAGES
Linkages Wall: Many toys include linkages that connect moving parts. Operate a Hungry Hippo® and a model of the inner workings of the utterly charming Pudgy the Piglet® to see how you or a motor can turn a simple motion into one that’s more complex.
GEARS
Gears Wall: Gears are wheels with teeth. If two gears mesh, and you turn one, the other turns. But that’s just the start of what a gear can do. Turn a worm gear and see how incredibly slowly it moves – then keep your eyes open for another worm gear in a surprising place elsewhere in the exhibit. Set the Mechanical Dog® into motion, then see what a difference it makes to have a gear train control the rotation of toy wheels.
Gears at Play: Movable gears on a big table can set a carousel in motion or a pair of ballerinas twirling. Can you figure out how to use gears of different sizes to make them spin as fast as possible?
Big Gear, Little Gear: Feel how dramatically an industrial-size gear train can change the speed at which a shaft rotates, then see exactly how it works by following the motion of the colored shafts and gears.
WHAT’S INSIDE?
Three stand-alone exhibits look in detail at popular toys.
What’s Inside The Hokey Pokey: Hokey Pokey Elmo® loses his red fur and his plastic skin to reveal the motor, cam, circuit board and switches that make him dance. What’s Inside the Marching Machine: Mr. Machine®, a classic toy from the 60’s, is made of clear plastic. A video shows him in action and highlights some of the linkages and cams that make him move. The original 1960 commercial is also on the video. What’s Inside Jack-in-the-Box: Turn the crank on a real Jack-in-the-box and watch live by video-cam as the worm gear and cam unlatch his box.
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