New children's museum exhibit puts kids in the game

Visitors to Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta aren’t usually encouraged to throw things inside the building.

But one of the most entertaining stations in the new exhibit, “TEAM Up! Explore Sports & Science,” demands that you do exactly that.

Any kid who has watched Tim Hudson take the mound for the Atlanta Braves knows the fun in measuring your own pitch speed, and with a setup including a small booth, a tennis ball and a radar gun, mini-MLB wannabes will learn within seconds, thanks to an overhead miles per hour display, how much heat is in their hurl.

The smallest slingers will likely score in the 10-15 mph range, while older pitchers might hit 50 mph (though there is nothing to be ashamed of with a speed of, uh, 29).

The “How Fast Is Your Pitch?” portion of the hands-on display will likely garner the most attention in the 2,500-square-foot exhibit space, but the recent addition to the museum’s programming, on-site through Sept. 11, encourages family interaction at every turn.

“We try to have [an exhibit] for younger and older kids in the summer so families can do things together,” said Lisa Bokovoy, marketing and communications coordinator at Imagine It! “This one is definitely appropriate until age 12 or so. We want to make sure the older [kids] are engaged, too.”

Other highlights include:

• Bounce Pass: Think it's easy to be LeBron James? Try bouncing a basketball under a sheet of Plexiglass into a hole and then judge.

• Inside Scoop: If you're among the many who probably had no idea that a bocce ball is made of plastic resin or that the innards of a baseball consist of a cork core surrounded by yarn, it's worth checking out this fascinating display of balls – volley, foot, bowling – and bats sliced open to expose their stuffing.

• Ricochet Racket: Since the bigger point of the exhibit is to learn about physics and geometry (shhh, don't tell the kids), visit the Plexiglass booth set up with a tube to shoot – rapidly -- a tennis ball at a movable racket with the goal of hitting one of five targets.

• Get in the Game: On a video monitor set in front of a green screen, kids can choose to be a goalie in soccer or ski and then duck and dodge the virtual elements.

Earlier this week, Zachary Felt, 11, became winded after two rounds playing soccer while a few feet away, his sister Kearstin 6, attempted – and was eventually successful at -- the Bounce Pass.

Their father, Sean, stood between them, beaming.

“They learn a lot more from the hands-on stuff. And it makes it more fun for them to learn without realizing it,” he said, adding that he wanted to check out the museum because, “I’m a big kid, too.”

In addition to the interactive elements of the exhibit, the Imaginators, the in-house troupe of actors/singers/educators, perform a daily 15-minute show, “Cross Training!”

Jerry G. White, the playwright, director and musical director of the show coordinated the presentation with his father, Abe, who composed the music and fellow Imaginator Eric J. Little.

During the performances, which take place twice a day on weekdays, three times on Saturday and once on Sunday, a trio of Imaginators dressed in track suits sing songs about getting fit while encouraging their young audience to stand and do jumping jacks and knee bends.