Out in the Bay Area, there are a number of "play with science" museums such as the Exploratorium or TheTech.

(By the way, The Henry Ford called and wants their "leave off the last word of your organization" schtick back.)

Anyway, these "museums" (now I see why they don't wanna use the word) are full of interactive exhibits where you can step up, manipulate the controls, and cause Science to happen right behind the glass. The design of the exhibit forces you to reach the right conclusions.

Now, at The Western Railway, we commissioned a similar exhibit called "Traction Labs", which will work in a similar vein, allowing kids from 4 to 104 to play with the physics of electric transit. I believe it also ties into alternative power, not least since the parking lot is surrounded by giant windmills.

In Maine, the WW&F Ry Museum's annual "Easter Eggspress," (mainly for the kids) and Spring Steam-up (mainly for the grown-ups!) is this Saturday, March 30th. http://www.wwfry.org

We operate all kinds of special events during the year on our San Diego & Arizona Railway. I am specifically thinking about exhibits. Thanks.

It's good that someone's thinking of daily operations that are kid-friendly, not just special events.
Think about how it sounds otherwise:
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, that you came to the museum this weekend with your kids and there's nothing specifically for the kids today. But you should have been here last week for our annual kid event..."

I'm focusing on exhibits, etc. that would be in the Depot area or, in our case, in the Display Building (public area inside a building). Special days are important, for sure, coupled with train operations. I'm looking for examples of permanent exhibits.

In my opinion THIS is THE best interactive display. The reproduction handcars are always on standby, manned by a dedicated volunteer. These rides are VERY popular with the young visitors -- the future.

Jim,

One module of our computer exhibit is "Find the Parts of the Streetcar". Visitors use a mouse to click around on an image of a PCC. Each correct click identifies the part and gives a very brief description of its use (headlight, doors, window guards, etc.). This was developed for us by a member at the Minnesota Streetcar Museum. Jim Vaitkunas is a member there and reads these boards. Perhaps he can provide a referral.

At our old facility we had an exhibit "be seated" that showed photo images of various kinds of streetcar seating in cars in the collection. It also included a wood walkover seat that visitors could move back and forth, which they did frequently. This was designed and built in house.

Wesley

Shoreline Trolley Museum has a K streetcar controller that turns on lights on a wall display showing what happens on each control point. Kids enjoy operating the controller like the motorman they have just seen.

Shoreline also has a hand cranked dynamo that makes a model streetcar run backwards of forward depending on which direction it is turned.

Shoreline has a Johnson farebox opened up to display how the coin counting mechanism works. Naturally coins deposited are kept as a donation.

All have extensive information posted that explains how they work.

Has anyone ever tried a large-scale 'garden railway' track setup indoors? You could have kids do switching and moving cars around on spurs or a yard to show how that's done in full size.
Properly supervised, it'd be a neat way to have a hand-on experience with track and moving cars around that owuld be kid sized, sort of like a 'uber large scale' model train layout the kids can either ride on or walk beside...

I like these ideas. The coin machine which turns into a donation - GREAT idea.

The handcar requires free track and an adult supervisor at all times. Hard to come up with more volunteers.

Jim Vaitkunas - care to join in about how hard it is to do computer boards?

Thanks.

I can't take credit for this idea, but I don't recall where it came from ...

The idea is to teach kids how track is laid. To do this:
- Provide a bunch of boxes filled with "large size" track components - ties, rails, tie plates, joint bars (velcro strips?), spikes (think pegs), etc - use your imagination. (Note All these components should be made out of some rugged, light weight material, like wood or dense, rubbery foam, and painted bright colors.)
- Provide small plastic buckets, shovels, etc.
- Utilize a large, flat sand box.
- Provide diagrams, directions and possibly a docent to help show kids how to build track.

Put the entire display indoors so kids can use it year round.


My thoughts
Glenn

There's a difference between children's events, children's attractions, and making the overall museum kid friendly. The latter is difficult, but necessary. Hopefully it's not at odds with other museum goals. Train rides that adults and museum volunteers believe should run further, in most instances, already exceed a child's attention span. Short and quick may be better. The museum in Kyoto, for example, has a steam train ride that barely exceeds the train length, yet it is wildly popular. Static displays have a different problem. Kids under three feet tall or in a stroller typically sees only an exhibit's under-carriage. That's a recipe for boredom.

Fred