Exhibit Focus: Ramps & Rollers

Making things move and investigating how that can be done are part of what we do in the Make it Move Neighborhood at DuPage Children's Museum. Here we will look at our Ramps and Rollers exhibit.  What is happening there? 

Ramps and Rollers is designed to be a construction activity. Children can experience the joy and learning that come from actually handling and experimenting with concrete objects—from the thinking and problem-solving that come into play as children approach different ways to accomplish a building task to the feelings that develop when they  discover the success of their own efforts! During interaction with the Ramps and Rollers, each child unconsciously defines his or her own particular set of problems and solutions. Make note, there is no right or wrong way, only experiences that will lend to future learning.  

While engaged in construction activities with Ramps and Rollers, children may observe and predict many different relationships:

•   Gravity and Incline
•   Motion and Speed
•   Friction and Weight
•   Length and Proportion
•    Balance
•    Angles and Change of Direction

      There is also a wide range of learning experiences:

Physical Play and Practice

Through aligning pieces, matching and sorting ramps and support pieces, stacking, balancing, and moving pieces around, as well as repeatedly testing by rolling balls down an inclined plane.

Constructive Play

Continuous building allows for more complex configurations using a series of ramps and turns.

Goal-Directed Play

By experiencing and experimenting with the degree of an incline, span, and speed.

During your next visit, join us in the Make It Move Neighborhood.  An adventure in building your own ramps and pathways awaits!