DuPage museum puts machines in children's hands
Mary Perez of Aurora said her 6-year-old son, Ramon, loves to make things.
“You give him some paper, scissors and glue and he'll be occupied for hours,” she said.
It was a no-brainer, then, for Perez to bring her son to the DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville, which is hosting an exhibit called “How People Make Things.”
The exhibit gives children a chance to create objects by using real factory tools and machines. In the process, children learn about four key manufacturing processes — cutting, molding, deforming and assembly.
“He had a ball,” Perez said as she left the museum Sunday.
Other visitors Sunday watched a related dance performance by Chicago-based Perceptual Motion Inc., which used sharp, percussive moves to evoke the workings of a manufacturing machine. The four dancers often linked hands or arms and performed the movements as one interconnected unit.
Before the performance, the dancers and Perceptual Motion Director Lin Shook spent time with the children in the audience, teaching them about movement, shape and dance.
Shook said it took her about three months to choreograph the dance.
“It went very well,” Shook said. “It was a fun to create a dance that reflected the four processes highlighted in the exhibit.”
The museum will host “How People Make Things” through Jan. 27. For information, go to dupagechildrens.org.