The Children's Museum of Eau Claire / Exhibits

CMEC's six exhibits were custom designed & fabricated for the Children's Museum of Eau Claire by VEE Corp. & Kidzibits of Minneapolis. They are developmentally most appropriate for children up to age 10, although older kids visiting as part of a family group have been having a great time, too!

BODY SMARTS

Body Smarts invites you to join others on an adventurous journey through the human body. Immerse yourself into our enlarged gastro-intestinal tract. You will begin by entering through the mouth via a giant tongue. From there you will go around the uvula, slide down the esophagus to the stomach and then crawl around in the small intestines. Your journey will be complete when you land in a huge toilet seat bowl. Body Smarts provides a fun, scientific look into the anatomy, physiology, health and nutritional aspects of the human body.

Sponsored by:

BITTY CITY

A cluster of city buildings that surround a Town Hall. Bitty City includes a post office, bank, grocery store, diner, magazine stand, corner market and an orthodontist office. Visitors to this community will find ample opportunities for role-playing. Perhaps you’ll find yourself working as a bank teller or as a bookseller in the street-style magazine stand. Or maybe you’ll be stocking supplies from the delivery truck located behind the diner, corner market and grocery store. The opportunities are endless in this creative community area.

Orthodontist Office Sponsored by:

KIDSTRUCTION

Guests are welcomed to a place where they can crawl and climb through structures deep in the midst of construction. Here you will find and use building materials, solve electrical problems and work together with other guests to finish a variety of projects. Play our materials matching game to learn what natural resources our building materials come from or take on the challenge of plumbing a sink. We encourage you to try all of our construction activities!

Sponsored by:

SHOW BUSINESS

An area where true, creative expression is sure to take place. Here we have set up a stage and various sets to illustrate a real theatrical experience. A theater marquee beckons guests to step inside where they will find such attractions as the Foley Room, a stage, dressing area and a shadow room. In the Foley Room guests can create sound effects for a video and listen to the audio projected back through a monitor. You are welcome to use your imagination and create your own play on our stage, or use the scripts we have provided. Feel free to customize the stage by sliding in various set pieces and don’t hesitate to choose from our selection of short, audio clips to enhance your production. You are sure to find imagination, creativity and lots of fun in Show Business!

TODDLER PARK

An enclosed area where younger children and their grown-ups will uncover a world of activities in an enchanting city park. The park is complete with ambient nature sounds, a pond, a garden and an eight-foot aquarium. Here imaginations will run wild with a suspension bridge, a waterfall slide that emerges from a two-dimensional stream, a boggy area surfaced with a cushy material suitable for bouncing and jumping and a hollowed out oak tree that spans three levels.

WATER WORKS

Water Works, CMEC’s newest permanent exhibit, is making a big splash! Since opening in April 2009, children and grown-ups alike have enjoyed exploring the power and properties of water through interactive play with pumps, wheels, pipes and other elements.

Features:

Ball Launch - This component begins the main watercourse. Here, children drop balls into a series of clear plastic tubes. By turning valves to increase or decrease pressure inside the tubes, they can send their ball all the way up the trackway that runs above the pipe play area.
Pipe Play - Children can build free-form water sculptures with a series of connecting pipes that spray water out the top. They can also connect the pipes to nozzles that take aim at playful chimes and other contraptions.
Falling Water - As balls feed out of the overhead trackway above the pipe play area, they travel down a maze of troughs that direct them into the water table below.
Archimedes Screw - As balls feed down the watercourse trackway, children turn a hand crank that moves the water and balls up an Archimedes screw and down into another water table.
Buckets & Conveyers - Children turn a large crank to start a series of buckets that scoop water and balls along a vertical conveyer, carrying them upwards to a trough which spills them down into a swirling vortex.
Toddler Table - This stand-alone table for toddlers features a playful water flute that shoots water from its center, floatable boats, and other water toys.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For safety reasons, children must be supervised by an adult at all times. Also, kids will get wet! We will provide waterproof smocks and hand dryers have been installed, but packing some extra clothing isn't a bad idea!