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Idea Lab

Join MOHAI as we tinker, experiment, and create our way through history. Explore in the Idea Lab in the Bezos Center for Innovation or at home using the templates and videos. Activities change regularly!

Explore examples of innovations throughout history, build skills for innovation, and let your imagination soar with activities for the young and young at heart that rotate bi-monthly. At the museum, sit down at the Idea Lab any time for a self-guided, hands-on activity inspired by MOHAI exhibits and programs. Explore the same ideas at home with videos and downloadable instructions for a craft or experiment designed by MOHAI Educators.

CURRENTLY AT THE IDEA LAB

Create images out of light with activities inspired by Ansel Adams: Masterworks and Perspectives on Place: Photographs From Here. Collage luminous scenes, explore how a camera works, and build a camera obscura at home!

 

At the Idea Lab

At the Museum

Create a luminous collage of a Seattle scene using photographs from the MOHAI collection.

Online

Explore how innovations in photographic technology have changed the way we see and document the world around us, then learn how to build a camera obscura.

At Home

View the world through a new lens with a portable camera obscura that captures light.

Download Activity

Past At-Home Activities

On-site Idea Lab activities rotate regularly, but you can still enjoy the videos and at-home activities from prior months!

Boats

Seattle is a city of water – it’s all around us! What makes boats float? Learn about some of the important elements of boat design, then complete a buoyancy challenge at home.

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A square "boat" made out of aluminum foil, supporting 8 screw nuts

Music

Rock out with MOHAI! Learn about the history and science behind the electric guitar, then explore the relationship between vibration and sound with a simple but musical cardboard box guitar you can build at home.

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Guitar crafted with household supplies

Clocks

Explore the simple machines that make mechanical clocks tick!  Take a peek into the past with one of our outdoor artifacts, the Carroll’s clock, on display on the MOHAI Boeing Centennial Terrace. Then, learn how to use everyday materials and the physics of pendulums to make works of art at home!

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da Vinci Bridge

Explore the many bridges of Seattle and the basic elements of bridge design. Then, learn about a unique bridge designed by Leonardo da Vinci that can be built and deconstructed rapidly, and how build your own version at home! Pair the activities with a visit to Da Vinci – Inventions, currently on view at MOHAI.

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George Tsutakawa

Explore the art and process of renowned painter and sculptor George Tsutakawa. Watch a quick introduction to the fountains of George Tsutakawa, then explore how water falls over and through different shapes.

 

Explore the shapes that water makes and design your own fountain sculpture at home!

Download Activity



			

			
			

			
			

	


	    

    
		










    
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