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September 20, 2024 to January 5, 2025

Building Buddies title, logo that shows two characters and their dog with a speech bubble saying "Help us to plan, repair, build and renovate our homes."

The Building Buddies exhibition portrays a small community where everyone is busy working on their homes. Different characters, “buddies”, invite young children to play, explore, collaborate, create and learn while improving the “neighborhood”!

The goal of this exhibition is to provide a discovery environment that encourages the development of science and process skills at an early age, as well as promote social interactions between visitors.

Experience Building Buddies!

A Boy In A Hard Hat Kneels In Front Of A Wall Of Revolving Squares That Make Up Rooms In A House

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
A boy in a hard hat hangs curtains and two children paint a digital color wall
Two girls lay triangle tiles in decorative patterns

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!

Two children in yellow hard hats use building blocks to build an orange dog house
A group of children in yellow hard hats and orange vests play in a mock construction zone full of orange building blocks

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.

A boy in a blue sweatshirt turns the handle of a ramp moving a block upwards, leading to a big holder of building blocks

Building Buddies is developed by LooDo Exhibits and touring in partnership with Sciencenter.

Loodo Exhibits logo
SCM Family Pride

Regular Operating Hours

We're currently closed. We're open again on Tuesday () from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Member – Only Hours

Tuesday – Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

General Admission

Tuesday- Friday 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Saturday & Sunday 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Leo’s Learning Lab will be open
Wed. – Fri. – 10:00 am – 2:00 pm &
Sat./Sun. – 10:00 am – 4:00 pm