In a bit of serendipity, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum has opened Toolville while our new house is undergoing construction. My 5-year-old has become conversant in different construction terms and has made (too) many trips to The Home Depot, which also happens to be a sponsor of this traveling exhibit. In the fictional Toolville, kids can follow two otters, Henry and Olive. It is in keeping with the museum’s all-encompassing philosophy that one of the characters is a female, and girls at the exhibit seemed just as eager as boys to try out the six featured tools: lever, wheel, inclined plane, screw, pulley, and wedge. But first, my daughter, and many of the other visitors, suited up, choosing a hard hat, safety goggles and work gloves. A popular attraction is the pier, where kids can harvest and weigh clams (otters eat clams, and are one of the only animals to use tools, smashing open clams with rocks). There is a conveyor belt, a wheelbarrow and a scale. Kids can try different pulleys, comparing the ease of pulling; spin gears, or use a screwdriver. There is a construction site, where kids can be architects or builders using large LEGO blocks and operating a crane. If your child prefers to play, not work, he will learn first-hand that playground equipment uses tools. There is a slide, a seesaw, and a spinning ride. Special events in conjunction with Toolville include Build It!, March 15-16, 10:30am-noon, where you can make a tool to bring home; pre-registration is required at (718) 735-4400, ext. 110. There is also an interactive play about Craig the Construction Worker, March 15, at 1pm and 2pm, for early learners; and a concert on a saw, Sawing to New Heights, March 29, at 2:30pm. Even the Totally Tots gallery, for kids under 5, has programs about simple tools. Toolville runs until May 3. We are hoping to be done with our construction by then.
Info: Where: 145 Brooklyn Avenue, at St. Marks Avenue When: Wednesday-Friday, 2pm-5pm; Saturday-Sunday, 10am-5pm. For parents with younger kids, the Totally Tots gallery is open (with the rest of the museum closed) Tuesday-Friday, 10am-2pm How much: $4 person For further info: Phone (718) 735-4400; www.brooklynkids.org Getting there: #3 or C train to Kingston Avenue, walk 7 blocks. There is also a free trolley from Grand Army Plaza to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum at 15 minutes past the hour, Saturdays and Sundays, 10:15am to 4:15pm (also stops at the Brooklyn Museum of Art).
