This Summer, a New Exhibit Equal Parts STEM and Art at National Children’s Museum

WASHINGTON - Creating new worlds as a video game developer, crafting the perfect vibe on the dance floor as a DJ, designing a fun, thrill-inducing roller coaster: It’s all in a day’s work while playing in Design Zone, National Children’s Museum’s newest visiting exhibit! This summer, Design Zone will challenge young innovators to put their creative problem solving to the test and discover how science, technology, engineering, and math concepts power design. On display from Saturday, May 28, through Monday, September 5, 2022, the exhibit seeks to engage learners ages 5 through 12 as they explore a variety of creative concepts to learn the processes and tools needed to create a successful design.

Highly interactive and hands-on, Design Zone is organized into three thematic zones, each of which highlights the importance of scientific and mathematical thinking in an area critical to building creativity and innovation. Design Zone’s themed areas include:

ART—See It!

In this area, budding artists discover the math behind visual creativity. From buildings to video games, designers use scale, patterns, and other key mathematical concepts to turn their ideas into reality. Young innovators will:

• Explore the relationship between weights and distance by creating their own colorful, two-dimensional mobile in “Balancing Art”;
• Navigate a “Marble Maze,” adjusting the variables in the video game to achieve the highest possible score; and
• Test their abilities to continue a pattern in three dimensions as they “Build a Tower.”

MUSIC—Hear It!

Future composers and musicians will explore relationships between length and pitch in musical instruments, ratios and rhythms, and visual representations of sound. Young innovators will:

• Experiment with tube length and pitch to create music with “Whack-a-Phone”;
• Explore the math behind rhythm and music by mixing a song on a “Drum Machine”; and
• Discover how laser light show technicians create mesmerizing patterns that get people dancing in the “Light Show DJ.”

ACTION—Move It!

Engineers and tinkerers will explore the math and physics behind anything that moves. Young innovators will:

• Discover what it takes to create a thrilling ride in “Roller Coaster Hills”;
• Explore how hill height and speed are needed to create a “Fast Tracks” roller coaster course; and
• “Design a Skate Park” by manipulating slopes to create essential skate park features, and then test their design with a virtual skater that rides the course!

The creation of Design Zone was made possible by the generous support of the National Science Foundation. The exhibition was produced and is toured by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI).

Admission to Design Zone is included in the cost of admission to the Museum: $15.95 for adults and children 1 and older; free for children under 1 and Museum members. For more information about the exhibit at National Children’s Museum, please visit www.nationalchildrensmuseum.org/visting-exhibit-hall.

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About National Children’s Museum

National Children’s Museum is a unique hybrid institution that combines learning elements found in a science center with children’s museum experiences. Through hands-on science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) based exhibits, programs, and virtual offerings, the Museum sparks curiosity and ignites creativity for children under the age of twelve and their families. Since February 2020, the Museum has reached more than 7 million people through in-person and digital initiatives. Reopened in September 2021 after an 18 month COVID closure, the Museum has welcomed more than 75,000 visitors from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and all eight wards of the District, and has built a membership program of more than 1,900 families. Learn how to visit the Museum and engage with virtual STEAM resources at nationalchildrensmuseum.org.