If you haven't been to the Raise the Roof exhibit at the Science Museum of Virginia, you don't know what you're missing. It's an interactive exhibit for kids of all ages right here in Richmond, VA. It's also engaging and entertaining for parents, grandparents, and all adults.
A tour of the exhibit with Nancy Tait, Manager of Communications and Stories at the Museum, gave me an inside view of the exhibit.
Raise the Roof offers hands-on experimentation with:
- Creating a structure
- Constructing a dome using simple machines
- Stepping into the world of Mongolian culture in a yurt
- Building your own trusses and testing tension, compression, and gravity
This incredible exhibit offers an opportunity to learn more about steel, concrete, and glass and how they come together to create massive structures. There are lessons about wind velocity and the effects of storms and natural disasters on buildings. They show how properly designed structures can withstand these natural elements.
An exciting part of the exhibit is seeing how experts are able to implode buildings. They include a demonstration of how explosives are meticulously placed throughout walls and structures to bring a building down on itself - without touching neighboring structures.
Kids will enjoy the many interactive elements of the exhibit where they can build a doghouse to withstand elements of weather. They can also build their own structures using Kapla blocks. These unique blocks are intended to be stacked and remain in place thanks to gravity. They do not have snaps or interlocking parts and are not meant to be used with glue. Kids build all types of structures with these wooden blocks.
Don't miss this exhibit while it is still in Richmond. Raise the Roof runs through April 28, 2013 at the Science Museum of Virginia.
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