Exhibits

ACTIVATE!
Balls float, pendulums swing, wheels roll, clouds whirl, feathers revolve. This is Activate!, the first exhibition space within Kids In Charge!. Located just past the building entry, Activate! is an
impressive space of motion and physical activity. Large-scale exhibits serve as iconic landmarks
to help guests orient themselves to this new space. The physical nature of the experiences allow
excited kids to jump right into the Kids In Charge! experience (and burn off a little energy while
they’re at it!).

Activate! is the guest’s introduction to some of the key concepts underlying Kids In Charge!.
Want to make the giant pendulum swing using just a tiny magnet? Guests discover that it takes
many people, all communicating and working together, to make small actions add up to big effects.
Other experiences, such as a raceway where guests experiment with weighted wheels, gravity and momentum, encourage observation and experimentation. And mind-boggling activities such as a Bed of Nails challenge people to look at their assumptions and see the science beneath the
mysterious. Activate! is more than making devices work. It is designed to jumpstart the mind and
the emotions, helping people of all ages and abilities engage fully in the Kids In Charge!
experience, open up to new ideas, and begin to connect in the conversations critical to the learning process.

One of the first exhibits guests encounter is a Cargo Loading area. Kids will learn how to operate a giant crane, with which they can move large boxes and place on large conveyer belts. Next, guests will be able to play in strong winds at the Wind Tunnel. Here, kids can learn about the power of wind as they use various wings and other equipment to re-direct wind. Kids can also redirect these strong winds to a Shimmer Wall, where discs on the wall will create colorful
reflections. The next area is the Bed of Nails, where children will be able to lay, literally, on a bed
of nails. As they lie on a plastic mat, nails will come up through holes and lift their bodies. In the
Lever Tug of War, guests on two sides of a giant lever are challenged to a tug-of-war, each side attempting to pull the lever in their direction.