DALLAS (1080 KRLD)- An exhibit now open at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science gives kids a chance to use LEGOs to design and build their own skyscrapers. "Towers of Tomorrow with LEGO Bricks" has been touring internationally since its launch in Sydney, Australia.
"Ryan McNaught, one of the 21 certified LEGO masters, designed all of these. That's his specialty to really look at architecture and look at buildings," says Jessica Chavez, chief learning officer at the Perot Museum.
Buildings include the world's tallest, Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, the Empire State Building in New York City and Willis Tower in Chicago. A complete list:
Barangaroo Hotel Crown Resort in Sydney
Burj Khalifa in Dubai
Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta
111 West 57th Street, New York, NY
Central Park Tower Building, New York, NY
Chrysler Building, New York, NY
Empire State Building in New York City
CN Tower in Toronto
Eureka Tower in Melbourne
Infinity Tower in Brisbane
International Commerce Tower in Hong Kong
Marina Bay Sands in Singapore
N Seoul Tower in Seoul, Korea
Petronas Towers in Malaysia
Q1 in Queensland
Shanghai Tower in Shanghai
Taipei 101 in Taiwan
Tokyo Skytree in Tokyo
Willis (Sears) Tower in Chicago
Wilshire Grand Centre in Los Angeles.
Kids can also design and build their own skyscrapers.
"LEGOs are a great example of what I call 'sneaking in the vegetables,'" Chavez says. "There's great learning that happens when you're playing with LEGOs. Not only can you learn about scale and proportion with LEGOs, but you can talk about weight distribution and all the other components in different STEM careers. It's a catalyst to a lot of different opportunities through science and STEM."
Chavez says giving kids a chance to play with LEGOs and start figuring out how to make structurally-sound designs at a young age can spark a life-long interest in science, technology, engineering and math.
"The sky is not the limit. As a parent, you can really encourage your child, whether you have LEGOs at home, whether you have cardboard at home, whatever you have. It's just sparking that interest in trying and keep trying, and how can you tweak things?" she says. "A lot of our children like to go right to the 'create' phase. When you start to get a student to think about the planning process, you're developing those 21st century skills that are so important for the next STEM workforce."
Kids at the Perot Museum can design their own buildings with 200,000 LEGO bricks provided in "hands on construction areas."
Towers of Tomorrow with LEGO Bricks will be on display through April 24, 2022. Details and tickets are available HERE.
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