FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 28, 2006
Contact: Julie Moser (828) 254-6373, Ext. 310
juliem@thehealthadventure.org

CONSTRUCTION IS CREATIVE AT THE HEALTH ADVENTURE’S WINTER TRAVELING EXHIBIT, LITTLE BUILDERS

ASHEVILLE – The youngest visitors to The Health Adventure will become movers and shakers in the upcoming Little Builders traveling exhibit, which will be on display from January 19 through May 6, 2007. Donning little hard hats and construction vests, children ages 2 through 7 will create, play and learn as they explore the concepts of construction, motion and simple machines.

“Throughout Little Builders, the open-ended nature of the materials and activities allows creativity to flourish,” said President & CEO Paige Johnson. “Children are encouraged to use the exhibit in their own ways, and thus, learning becomes personalized. Little Builders is also a learning laboratory for parents, teachers and other care providers.”

Visitors have the exciting opportunity to:
• Hand-operate a pulley and conveyer belt to explore cause and effect
• Operate a child-size crane to hook, lift and move objects and materials
• Build structures with blocks, pipes, Duplo® blocks (toddlers’ large snap-on blocks) and
gears
• Insert balls into air chutes and see them shoot through clear pipes to experiment with
aerodynamics

Five themed areas in the exhibit include the Construction Site, Structures, Aerodynamics, Cranes and Simple Machines. Construction Site – Visitors will explore the physics of movement by: climbing through four levels of the Construction Site, transporting objects by turning the wheels of a hand-operated. They can build patterns in a brick wall and “paint” with rollers. Structures – Visitors will discover the concepts involved in building: size, weight, shape, balance, gravity and stability. Visitors can create houses and more using blocks, Duplo® blocks (toddlers’ large snap-on blocks) and PVC pipes.

Aerodynamics – Visitors will experiment with the characteristics of moving air by inserting balls into vertical air chutes and watch them whiz through clear pipes and pop into a basket, demonstrating the path of air.

Cranes – Visitors will learn about mechanical physics by moving block cargo to a waiting flatbed car using a gantry crane and rotating a miniature crane to raise and lower its hook to move blocks.

Simple Machines – Visitors will explore and experiment with simple machines using plastic hammers, screwdrivers and wrenches at the Tool Wall. Then they can work together at the conveyer belt moving materials back and forth. Visitors can also drop plastic balls down and series of clear pipes and watch as they travel down a twisty path.

Guests to The Health Adventure still have time to visit Flip It, Fold It, Figure It Out, an enticing exhibit for all ages that emphasizes the importance – and fun – of math in our everyday lives. This special traveling exhibit, which runs through December 31, encourages visitors to fold origami animals to see origami’s application to technology, compose a musical rhythm, or compare how much different containers hold while honing skills in measurement, arithmetic and geometry.

Little Builders was created and is toured by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, Oregon.

The Health Adventure, founded in 1968, is a nonprofit family health and science museum fortoday’s families with a mission to improve health awareness, promote wellness lifestyles, and increase science literacy through programs and exhibits. For more information, visit www.thehealthadventure.org or call (828) 254-6373.