Previous visitors to the Northwoods Children’s Museum may remember our Body Moving Midway exhibit. This exhibit is themed around the human body, with the goal of teaching kids how their bodies work. However, time has not been kind to this exhibit. Bladder Boogie, a mechanism designed to reward kids for running quickly on it, didn’t even work. Belly Bonanza’s gears and sprockets didn’t work either, resulting in a glorified tube for kids to throw balls into; furthermore, the glass casing was falling apart due to being old and worn. Kids still have a fun time playing here, but it could definitely use improvement.
To make sure Body Moving Midway is up to the standards of some of our other exhibits, Bladder Boogie and Belly Bonanza have been removed. They haven’t been directly replaced with anything yet, but we have plans to do so. In particular, the wall where Bladder Boogie used to be will be converted to a chalk wall where kids can draw as they see fit. But even with those two gone, we’ve put something new in Body Moving Midway for everyone to enjoy!
We’ve received some big magnetic tiles and have put them in Body Moving Midway for kids to play with. The edges of these tiles snap together and can be used to create structures for little ones to climb around in. We’ve even provided big cushions to use as flooring or decoration. Many kids enjoy the idea of building a fort for them to rule over, and with these, they can do just that! Or perhaps they’d like to build something more complex, like an obstacle course to run around in. We at the NCM encourage creativity and ingenuity, and with these, a whole new world has opened for your kids to make what their imagination desires!
This isn’t to say the exhibit has been completely changed. We still have a crate full of playground balls for tossing around. For something a little more relaxed, we have a Connect Four board for some friendly competition. And if your kid enjoys climbing, we have our Lungle Gym on the wall. These will stay here even as we add more to this exhibit. Fans of Body Moving Midway will be pleased to know that we don’t have any plans on replacing the exhibit soon. We will focus our efforts on updating it and the rest of our exhibits so that each one is a different place for kids to play. Our future exhibits will have equally exciting additions, so stay tuned!
If all of this sounds like fun to you, come stop by the Northwoods Children’s Museum! We’re open 6 days a week, from 10 AM-5 PM on Monday-Friday and 10 AM-3 PM on Saturdays. You can find more details here! We hope to see you there!
