Show Thumbnails
Show Captions

Betty Brinn Children's Museum has been building exhibits for display and travel for the past 10 years, sometimes in partnership with other organizations. Those include some pretty popular exhibits, like Big League Fun, a partnership with Major League Baseball, and The Adventures of Mr. Potato Head, a partnership with Hasbro. 

The museum's most recent exhibit, Some Assembly Required, is a partnership with Build-a-Bear Workshop.

No, you won't be able to build bears at the exhibit. In fact, according to Carrie Wettstein, chief operations officer of exhibits and programs for the museum, you won't even see a lot of bears or plush animals in the exhibit.

So, what's the connection to Build-a-Bear?

It's all about the company's core values.

"Build-a-Bear does a lot of outreach programs in the community," said Wettstein. "And their outreach and the training of their employees all revolve around their core values."

Those six core values are: achieve, collaborate, celebrate, give, learn and embrace.

Betty Brinn has built hands-on activities placed at stations throughout the exhibit that focus on those values. Here are some examples:

  • Building a band from pre-recorded sound and percussion instruments will teach kids to collaborate by working together, and with their families.
  • Pretending to plant a community garden from play fruits and vegetables made from upholstery vinyl will teach kids how to give back to their communities.
  • Constructing a bridge from wooden pieces, plastic trusses and connectors will teach kids that sharing ideas helps them to achieve big things.
  • A giant quilting activity will teach kids to embrace other people's traditions and ideas.

The exhibit opens at Betty Brinn on Oct. 19, and Wettstein anticipates it will be at the museum for three months, after which it will start its travels.

"We always debut our traveling exhibits at Betty Brinn," said Wettsein. "That gives us the opportunity to make any revisions that need to be made and get feedback from our visitors."

If you go

Where:  Betty Brinn Children's Museum, 929 E. Wisconsin Ave.

When: The Some Assembly Required exhibit opens Oct. 19, and can be visited during normal operating hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.

Cost: Admission to Some Assembly Required is included with regular admission: $9 for ages 1 and over; $8 for ages 55 and over; free for children under 1 year old.



Today's Best from Wisconsin Family




FOLLOW WISCONSIN FAMILY: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Read or Share this story: