The Children’s Museum of Brownsville will open the doors to its new multi-station exhibit “TinkerToy” Saturday where visitors will enjoy an interactive experience to nurture their innovation and collaboration skills.
The 1,500-square-foot exhibit will run until May 10 and it brings the idea of creativity and innovation all in one package so children learn to see how nature is involved and how they can be masters of creativity, Felipe Peña, executive director at the museum, said.
“It just gives them that spark of imagination, it just leads them on that road where it’s all around you, it’s everywhere in your life, at home it’s the reason why you have a television, it’s the reason you have all electricity around you. I mean everything is connected that way,” he said.
“The exhibit gets them thinking that way about the world when they’re young then they’ll be able to carry that on as they get older and maybe we’ll get some inventors right here at the Children’s Museum that started because they liked this exhibit,” he said.
The multi-station exhibit was developed by the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum in collaboration with GE and Playskool, the infant/preschool toy division of Hasbro. Sponsors include Gladys Porter High School Cowboys, Rotary International and the Raul Tijerina Jr. Foundation.
The exhibit features nine activities that promote imagination, collaboration and creativity such as The Tinker Tank, a giant replica of a Tinkertoy canister that allows visitors inside to view a variety of educational materials that highlight some of the world’s greatest, and most odd, inventions.
“It would have been amazing to have something like this when I was little. I think everybody would appreciate it, especially as an adult,” Peña said. “Thinking back it would have been nice to have been exposed when I was little because then I would have had that in my memory bank ready for when I grew up.”
TinkerToy also features an energize station where visitors can explore the renewable energy concepts in which children can build their own wind-powered vehicles and test their efficiency by using a fan.
“It’s good that they’re bringing a new exhibit and that they keep on expanding. We at the city really support the Children’s Museum because they’re a great asset to have here,” City Commissioner Nurith Galonsky said.
“The Children’s Museum is a great asset to the city of Brownsville because they draw from all parts of the Valley and even from outside. At any time of the day and at any time of the week that you come here there’s kids, there’s families here and it’s always an enjoyable and educational experience.”
The exhibit is available to all visitors with the purchase of a museum admission and follows the same museum hours of operation Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 12 to 5 p.m.
