NPR - Ready, Set, Play: A Top 10 'Playlist' From The Nation's Children's Museums

Ready, Set, Play: A Top 10 ‘Playlist’ From The Nation’s Children’s Museums

By Cory Turner

It’s summer, and whether you’re 5 years old or 105 it’s time to play.

To inspire you, the NPR Ed Team called up leaders and designers at 10 of the nation’s best children’s museums and asked them one simple question:

What’s the one thing under your roof (or maybe out back) that kids and their grown-ups love to do/see/touch/play the most?

Here are their answers, our summer “playlist.”

S.E.C.R.E.T.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to defeat the evil Arcturus Vex and R.I.V.A.L. (the Ridiculously Intelligent Villainous Agent League). Vex is after a cluster of mysterious crystals that were discovered beneath the museum during its 2009 expansion.

Defeating Vex requires visitors to successfully complete six different missions, each taking between 60 and 90 minutes. Kids get a mission book with a map, clues and some vital gear, including a USB drive, spotting scope and lenses to read secret codes.

The exhibit requires both physical exertion and some serious problem-solving, says Keith Ostfeld, the museum’s director of educational technology and exhibit development. Oh, and how could we forget this:

“You have to get through a laser maze — R.I.V.A.L.’s base of operations inside the museum,” Ostfeld explains. “To get in, you have to hack their security code. And, once you’re in, if you run into too many lasers, the whole thing will shut down, forcing you to start over.”

Article Link: https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/07/27/486875233/ready-set-play-a-top-10-playlist-from-the-nations-childrens-museums

* CLUE CLUB *

S.E.C.R.E.T. News