Crisp Museum welcomes community members of all ages to make LEGO creations

Community members of all ages were invited to challenge their creativity at the inaugural family day LEGO building event at Crisp Museum on Feb. 8.

Visitors were able to attend a variety of different LEGO incorporated stations. Activities included watching “The LEGO Movie” in the theatre room, making individual LEGO creations, drawing on LEGO coloring pages, building a LEGO display sculpture and playing LEGO-themed games.

Jim Phillips, the museum curator, said the staff wanted to host an event that would reinvigorate the galleries and be enjoyable, entertaining and educational all in one.

“LEGO is one of those products that screams work with me. It can be art, storytelling, science, engineering and mathematics — and those are all aspects that we have incorporated into the museum, so it's something to engage the audience on that level,” Phillips said.

Phillips said the goal for this event was to introduce the public to the museum and make it a welcoming and familiar space.

“Our goal is to simply have people visit the museum, serve the student community, families and the public at large,” Phillips said. “It’s nice to get an audience in the space and show them that it's an enjoyable and engaging place to be.”

Throughout the course of the event, guests cycled between different stations and viewed museum exhibits which were reworked with LEGO character scenes.

Community member Marshell Lane explained her inspiration for bringing her family to the event.

“We heard about the event through the internet, and we love LEGOs, the kids love LEGOs, and it's something that will help develop their critical thinking skills,” Lane said.

Another community member, Sarah Hill, credited her attendance to the potential social opportunity.

“Our kids love LEGOs, it’s a good way to spend time with family, and there's even the possibility of the kids meeting new people and making friends,” Hill said.

Phillips said the overall takeaway the museum wanted guests to have an enjoyable time and a desire to return in the future based on their positive experience.

“I hope they had a good time at the museum, that they know we’re here and our programing, tools, and resources are something they'll enjoy on a multitude of levels,” Phillips said. “We look forward to hosting another next year and take what we learned from this year and expand it — more building, more models, maybe even robots.”

Crisp Museum will host another crafting event, Duct Tape Art Workshop, on Feb. 22. Community members will be able to create their own images and figures out of duct tape at the event.