Building Buddies

Happy Homes

Meet the Building Buddies: visitors are welcomed by four large colorful panels shaped like
houses on which they discover the 6 “buddies” that they are invited to help.
On the back side of the panels, kids can:

• Take a helmet and a safety vest to wear throughout the exhibition
• Explore Peter’s office: organize and plan a house with Peter the Architect! Visitors flip
  graphic panels on which sections of a large house are depicted. Children get to choose
  the location of rooms and make sure there are staircases on each level to access all the
  floors of the house.

Eva Gardner’s Bungalow

Help Eva to brighten up her bungalow:

• “Paint with light” to change the colors of her kitchen cabinets using a pretend brush or a
  paint roller
• Dress-up a window by hanging curtain strips of different colors
• Arrange a wall of assorted foam flowers and butterflies on pegs
• Lay a garden path with grass patches and rubber tiles

Pipa Longpipe’s House

Pipa needs assistance to finish renovating her house. Visitors are invited to:

• Lay triangular tiles in the bathroom, making their own pattern with three different color
  tiles
•  “Tighten” the leaky pipes by connecting pipes and fittings together on a magnetic wall
  and using it as a ball run
• “Inspect” the large drain pipe by crawling into the bright orange pipe
• Measure and install siding planks on the outside wall of the house (magnetic wall)

Winston’s Doghouse

Build a dog house for Winston: visitors use foam “bricks” to build walls and long foam planks to
assemble a solid roof!

The Wallton’s Residence

Engineering and building skills are needed to help the Walltons enlarge their house: visitors use
foam “bricks” of three sizes to build sturdy walls and a tall chimney to keep the family safe and
warm!

Billy O’Toole’s Building

Climb up and build up with Billy the Brick Layer: visitors climb a scaffolding to move foam “bricks” up the structure with the pulley bucket and use the demolition chute to get the “bricks” down quickly. They can also use a hand-operated conveyor belt to efficiently gather the “bricks” in a storage bin, or move them around with the kid-sized wooden wheelbarrow.