TOLEDO — ”Are you ready? 3-2-1…go!”
One by one, kids eagerly stepped up to watch their LEGO brick creations sail down a miniature zipline at Imagination Station. Educator Carrie Martin assisted by offering design tips and ranking their builds according to qualities like “explosion factor.”
The construction engineering major at The University of Toledo pointed out the “museum of fame” she had accumulated during the evening and admired the originality of the models designed by kids. “There are pieces here that I didn’t know existed with LEGO, and yet they saw it and knew exactly how to use it,” she said.
The LEGO zipline was one of several activities aimed at encouraging attendees to practice their engineering skills during a member preview night on Oct. 3 for Traveling Bricks, a new LEGO-themed exhibit at Imagination Station.
LEGO fans also built and tested cars made from the bricks on ramps, assembled custom LEGO Minifigures and enjoyed rounds of trivia in the KeyBank Discovery Theatre.
Martin, a longtime fan of the classic, versatile building toy, said that as a freshman her classmates had to share why they became engineers and 90 percent of them said it was because they played with LEGO as kids. “So us having a LEGO exhibit here when we focus so heavily on STEM stuff — it’s so cool. I love it. It’s fantastic.”
Traveling Bricks brings more than one million LEGO pieces to the Imagination Station and features 120 models that explore the history of transportation. Creations are themed around land, air, sea and space, and range from the world’s oldest-known boat dating to 8000 B.C. to a towering Saturn V Rocket built from 26,000 bricks that stands nine feet tall.
One of the most dazzling models is a 22-foot-long model of the Titanic. Built from an estimated 200,000 bricks, the ship comes adorned with tiny LEGO minifigures taking in the sights from its decks. Many visitors stopped to take pictures and expressed admiration for the creation.
“I thought the Titanic was really cool,” Max Taylor, 11, said as he and his brother Leo, 5, built and tested cars on a ramp.
The two boys have many shelves filled with LEGO models at home. Max said his favorite things to build are cars and planes, while Leo said he likes to make people.
Along with presenting history through the lens of science and art, the LEGO exhibit includes a large play zone with about 200,000 loose bricks for families to build, play and learn together.
Fans say building with the familiar toy is not only fun, but helps teach creativity, communication, problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
According to Eryn Barwinski, education coordinator for Imagination Station, the LEGO exhibit promotes the learning concept of STEAM — Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics — in a variety of ways.
Family programs offered this fall will explore engineering concepts and include opportunities to program LEGO robots. “It also connects to the creative side of STEAM.” she said. “LEGOs are fun for everyone because there’s the art side.”
Traveling Bricks opened to the public on Oct. 4 and runs through Jan. 4. The exhibit is included in the price of admission.
Special LEGO-themed events include bridge-building workshops on Nov. 1 and 15, a series of homeschooling workshops this fall and a visit from former LEGO Masters contestant Tim Croll the weekend of Nov. 2-3. Some of these events require advance tickets; visit the Imagination Station website for additional information.
TFP photos by Laurie Bertke
