Rochester Museum & Science Center Has a New Exhibit

Over the weekend, I showed my dominoes-obsessed almost-five-year-old the Rochester Museum & Science Center newsletter and told him about their new exhibit, Keva Planks. Both of my sons love to build with blocks and Legos, plus they build some pretty fantastic domino runs so I knew the new exhibit would be a hit with them. Since it rained buckets today, it seemed like a great day to go.

The Keva Planks exhibit is on the second floor. We bypassed everything and headed straight up there. The perimeter of the room is lined with Keva structures, obviously built by people with infinite patience and time, and extremely steady hands. And I wonder if they actually used glue...hmmm...

There is so much space to create! A large, steady table is available, or you can grab a kneeling pad and create your masterpiece on the floor. Bins of planks await, or you can wheel over one of the large crates and get started. There are idea cards for inspiration, or you can just use your imagination and go crazy.

Or you can ignore the planks entirely and just play with the kneeling pads. My younger son had a blast stacking them (see below), and lining them up to make a "bridge" so he could hop from pad to pad.

Collectively we attempted a castle, a boat, a train, a couch, a coffee table (which became a tower of coffee tables), and lots of towers. My boys also set up the planks as dominoes and had fun knocking them down. We spent over an hour just at this exhibit alone!

Yes, they really are just wooden planks. There's nothing particularly special about them. But hand a bin of them to a child (or a grown up!) and you have endless entertainment. I highly recommend checking out this exhibit at least once before it's gone on September 3rd. On the drive home, my older son informed me that we need to go there each day. So I guess we'll be heading back again soon.

If you've never been there, RMSC is located at 657 East Avenue in Rochester, NY. There are parking lots, and parking is free. There is at least one restroom per floor, and there are changing tables in all of the women's and family restrooms (I'm not sure about the men's rooms, however). Mario's Cafe is located in the basement level, or you can bring your own lunch. If you purchase your lunch, there is plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. If you bring your own, you must sit at one of the tables located to the left or right of the staircase in the basement level.

As always, thanks for reading. If you've built some fun things at RMSC with Keva planks, be sure to Post a Comment and tell us about it.