Exhibit Feature Friday: Ramp Up
Exhibit Feature Friday
At the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine (CMTM), we use the word exhibit to describe the interactive experiences, spaces and displays spread across three floors and immediately outside the facility at 250 Thompson’s Point Road. CMTM is home to over 15 exhibits, each designed to encourage experiential learning through open-ended play.
Our team at CMTM decided to give each exhibit the spotlight it deserves and is dedicating Fridays to highlighting a new exhibit, diving a little deeper into the WHY and HOW behind each playful space and experience.
EXHIBIT: Ramp Up
LOCATION: 3rd Floor
Ramp Up is an exhibit where design, engineering, and creative thinking converge! This is a high-energy, exciting play space where physics is the star.
The central focus of Ramp Up is a brightly colored air-powered kinetic sculpture. This one-of-a-kind, six-sided, ten-foot-tall interactive allows visitors to launch and race balls while experimenting with speed, velocity, momentum, and energy. The sculpture’s unique design includes different activities on each side of the base, and launch stations with ball tracks suspended from the ceiling. Visitors can manipulate multiple variables to change the trajectory of the ball they launch to create their own physics experiment in the ultimate learning-through-play experience!
The Ramp Up exhibit was designed with all ages in mind. An early childhood section allows visitors to practice mobility and gross motor skills while testing cause-and-effect, matching, and pattern recognition.
Guests can also work together or independently to build their own ball ramps. Connectable tracks feature miniature hills, loops, and baffles that change how far the balls can travel when dropped into each structure. This interactive allows visitors to create complex architectural creations while pushing the boundaries of possibility!
Did you know?
Ramp Up was one of the exhibits that inspired Centennial Celebration Play Festival performances! Roller Coaster Caper, by Annika Johnston and Nolan Ellsworth, and Dr. Winkle and the Nightmare Factory of Doom by Jessie Raspbury were both written for, and performed in, Ramp Up!
Mural by Rachel Gloria Adams
The Ramp Up gallery features a colorful and energetic mural by Portland artist Rachel Gloria Adams. Upward-turning designs in the Ramp Up mural were inspired by the movement of air throughout the exhibit.
Gallery made possible by a generous gift from Barbee & Drew Gilman. Dedicated to Matt, Luke & Katie.
Sculpture made possible by a generous gift from Dead River Company.
Rachel Gloria Adams Mural made possible by a generous gift from Gorham Savings Bank.
Ball Launcher Wall made possible by a generous gift from Spectrum Healthcare Partners.
Coming Up Next:
Tune in next Friday to learn about the Outdoor Adventure Playground exhibit!