The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

You can still nominate a youth in grades 6-11 for The Power of Children Awards through midnight, May 18, 2012.

Youth philanthropy is vital in our world today. We try to instill humility and compassion in our children to help make them wise and caring adults. We strive to teach understanding and independent thinking to prepare them for the real world. Youth philanthropy teaches all of these elements and allows them to grow up appreciating the differences they can make.

Nominator Sharon Stark shares her story about 2010 winner Ben Gormley.

As Director of HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program, a comprehensive community program serving the homeless of Indianapolis since 1988, I was honored to nominate Ben Gormley for the Power of Children Awards in 2010 for his project “Operation Backpack.”

When I nominated Ben, he had been collecting, cleaning and repairing used backpacks, filling them with hygiene items, socks, gloves and hats and delivering them to our Street Outreach Team since October of 2008, when he was just 12 years old. In order to accomplish this, Ben met with middle school principals for permission to set up collection sites, convinced students and teachers to donate used backpacks, and enlisted friends to help him with the project. He put notices in school newsletters and Church bulletins and established a collection center at the Kwik Kleen Coin-Op Laundry where he cleaned the backpacks.

Ben is now a sophomore in high school and still collecting and delivering backpacks to the Homeless Initiative Program – over 500 and counting. Ben’s belief in the importance of his project is demonstrated by his continued commitment to purpose and his ability to motivate others to help in the cause. Ben was inspired by a visit to Wheeler Men’s Mission to help those men who seemed so alone and in need of care. There are other children like Ben who see a need and find a way to fill it; to make a difference in the lives of others. That’s why I nominated Ben, and why I would encourage others to recognize those exceptional children in your community with a nomination to this year’s Power of Children Awards.

For more informaton on Ben Gormley's project, watch his video.

For more information on the awards, please go to our webpage: http://www.childrensmuseum.org/poca

By Becky Wolfe, Science Programmer

Bright yellow and purple flowers. Lush green vegetation. Sounds like you are on the roof!  Wait. The roof? At The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, we have the Schaefer Rooftop garden, visible from the Sunburst Window. This beautiful garden is one of the ways the museum is trying to be greener and more sustainable. By adding this garden, we are helping with water conservation efforts.

When water falls on this garden or enters the garden from gutters on the roof, it is absorbed by the soil, which is a mixture of clay and plant food. We have to use a special mixture so the garden doesn’t become too heavy for the roof. Plants in the garden use the water and will even release this back into air.  Water that is not used by the plants, particularly if we have a huge rainstorm is filtered by the plants and soil.

So why would the museum want to capture this water? Why don’t we just it run into the sewers? In Indianapolis, all of the rain water that enters our sewer system is sent to the treatment plant. When we have a lot of rain, this puts a lot of stress and strain on the treatment facilities. By sending some of the rain water to our garden, we are helping to filter water and also lowering the burden on our treatment facilities.  We also provide a beautiful garden for visitors to enjoy!

In front of the Welcome Center, the museum has also installed a rain garden. The rain garden provides the same benefit to our environment.  While rooftop gardens can be difficult to install at home, a rain garden can be planted in your yard. Look for areas where water naturally collects in your yard or choose a place near your downspouts for your garden.  Send the water from your gutters into your garden to filter and conserve water. Native plants work well in rain gardens and there are many local resources to help install rain gardens. A quick internet search will connect you with experts!

Next time you are at the museum, stop by the Sunburst window, located on Level 2 to see the museum’s beautiful rooftop garden!
 

The deadline for the 2012 Power of Children Awards has been extended to May 18, 2012. There's still time to nominate an extraordinary youth!

2005 Power of Children Awards winner Daniel Kent shares his story.

"Youth are tomorrow's leaders" - or so the adage goes.  The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis sees things differently - "youth are TODAY’S leaders." In 2005, the Power of Children Awards were created to identify youth making a difference in their communities.

Net Literacy (http://www.netliteracy.org) is a digital inclusion nonprofit founded by middle school students that originally began by teaching computer and Internet skills to senior citizens in 2003 as Senior Connects.  Students comprise 50% of the board of directors, write all of the grants, and conduct all of the volunteering.  Today, Net Literacy has an expanded mission and has engaged and empowered a team of 3500 social entrepreneurs that have increased computer access to over 170,000 individuals, donated more than 20,000 computers, and provide $1.4 million in annual services.  Internet associations representing 270,000 Internet companies on six continents have endorsed our Digital Literacy best practices initiative (http://www.digitalliteracy.org).

As founder of Senior Connects , and a current member of the Net Literacy team, I was honored to be selected as one of the Power of Children Award Honorees during this program's inauguration. The Power of Children Award was very important to me because it represented the trust and confidence that community institutions like The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis have in young social entrepreneurs.  This trust and confidence in me and the team of Net Literacy volunteers, when our nonprofit was very young, reinforced our collective belief that we could change the world.  The Power of Children Awards is a program designed to show that youths are not just tomorrow’s leaders; we’re also today’s leaders.

It's seven years later and the Children's Museum of Indianapolis is still looking for youths that are today's leaders.  Are you, or is someone you know in grades 6-11, making an extraordinary difference in the lives of others? Nominate them for the Power of Children awards.  Visit http://www.childrensmuseum.org/poca  for more details.

To learn more about Daniel’s work, watch his video. http://www.childrensmuseum.org/poca-2005

Photo: Daniel Kent, 2005 winner.

My Moto-Plane is an AWESOME vehicle that is a half motorcycle half airplane. It has a captain driving in front with a little doggy and trainer in the back. The massive wheel in front is controlled by Captain. Plane wings are red and can fly anywhere, anytime, anyplace. Extra seats are provided safely on sides of the wings and wheels in back are for keeping the Moto-Plane controlled. And in the back there are extra pieces. Those are just funny-looking equipment. Also, if Captain gets tired he can lay back his seat and sleep while the Moto-Plane controls itself. If I were able to ride in this SWEET motorcycle-plane, I would go to the LEGO® store, my friend’s house, and fun places such as arcades, sports games, etc.

That's my idea of a COOL LEGO vehicle.

This entry was submitted by Ryan DiGiallonardo in the 4-7 age group.
 

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.

This vehicle is called XOFlyer and, it glides over the seas and deserts. This vehicle's adventure is to discover hidden islands in the seas. And to find treasures in pyrimids. And it will say "hi"!, to boats. And see camels walk in sand. There's a little ship on the front so when the XOFlyer needs help it will get others to help it.

This entry was submitted by Marshall Krakora in the 4-7 age group.
 

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.

My dream machine is an All Terrain Vehicle. It goes on water, land, and air. My adventure is driving to the bottom of the sea to discover new creatures. There are red lights on my vehicle so that I can see under the water. It has a five-thousand horse-powered engine. My vehicle has an animal prodder on its front to gently move animals out of my way. After I come out of the water, I will have my creatures that I found in the back of my vehicle. Then I fly in my vehicle to the airport near an animal research program. Once I land, I drive to the animal research program and I show my creatures to the head research person. I found a very cool creature.

This entry was submitted by Herschel Nathan int he 8-13 age group.

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.

I will go to Egypt in my cool veicool. It has a pump in it that carries water so people can drink becuase there isn't much water there. It can also fly over the pyramids, and it carries digging tools to find old things in the sand like fossils and jewlery. I would love to travel to Egypt in my 1 cool veicool becuase it would be so fun flying over the Sphinx.

This entry was submitted by Zachary Brodnik in the 4-7 age group.
 

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.


 

This is my Rocket Racer. I would use its twin rocket boosters to get around faster than ever. I would use its Drag Racer features to race with my friends. The rockets make you tavel at nearly 1,000,000 mph. The Drag Racer features are good for derbys. All in all this would be a good car for me.

This entry was submitted by Ayden Haase in the 8-13 age group.

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.

The Power of Children Awards nominator, Troy Cockrum, highlights his nomination of 2010 POCA winner Claire Helmen.

If you, or someone you know in grades 6-11, is making an extraordinary difference in the lives of other, nominate them for the Power of Children Awards at childrensmuseum.org/poca.

All teachers have special students.  Each year, a group of wonderful children come through our classes. But, over the course of a career, we may only have a handful of truly exceptional students. From 2008-2010, I had the honor of teaching Claire Helmen.  Claire was your average middle schooler, trying to fit in, not wanting to draw attention, but at the same time wanting so desperately to stand out.  Claire had a secret. At age 12, she started an organization called Claire’s Comfort for Kids. 

Claire had heard her mother telling stories about children that were caught in the middle of traumatic situations and decided to make and distribute blankets for sheriff’s departments across the state of Indiana.  Emergency responders now carry these blankets with them to give to distressed children.

I visited the Power of Children exhibit in 2010, and was intrigued by the award display.  I immediately thought of Claire.  I was excited to hear that Claire was one of the award winners.  Even better, the accolades associated with this award are something Claire would never seek out herself.  Watching Claire beam as she received her reward, spoke at the award ceremony, and was interviewed by news outlets was a reward for me.  Seeing her honored, seeing her grow as a person and also build her organization because of the confidence the Power of Children Awards instilled in her made me proud to know her and to have nominated her.  If you have that special student in your life, don’t hesitate to nominate them.  The joy it brings to you is as great as the joy it brings to them. 

For more information about Claire’s project, go to her video.

Photo: Claire Helmen, 2010 POCA winner.

If you have been to a public event at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, you have probably noticed a whole gaggle of teenagers wearing black shirts helping you at table top activities, character appreances, or just being there to lend helpful information. Have you ever wondered who they are? Or what they do?

This black-shirted army of champions is better known as  the Museum Apprentice Program, or MAP for short. The MAPs are 13-18 year olds who help out at public events and family programs; however, being a MAP is so. much. more.

Every year the MAPs complete 2 or 3 projects that are related to the exhibits and create programs for the public. You may have recognized some of their work if you've ever scanned a QR code at one of the major icons in the museum. They actually created Wikipedia entries for those icons! In the summer of 2011, they traded their wikihats for shovels and sunscreen and became connoisseurs of archaeology. They used their expertise to create and facilitate activities as the MAP Summer Archaeology Festival. This spring they will be creating their own lemonade stands and activities and selling lemonade for national Lemonade Day.

To learn about the brainstorming process and how to create programs from exhibits, the MAPs spent their last meeting with a guest LEGO® builder, where they learned how to take their LEGO brick building to a new level. They built mansions, dungeons, cats, landscaping, and more, all in a quest to brainstorm future programming possibilities related to exhibits.

Keep your eyes out for their next big project on Lemonade Day, May 19, when they will reveal their lemonade stands.  I'll keep you updated on their progress so that you can be with them every sweet and sour step of their lemonade way.

This is the fifth in a blog series that features a collections object from images that we have donated to Wikipedia. Read the first blog post to learn more about why and how we have donated more than 264 images to Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia's image repository.

We need your help! Can you think of Wikipedia articles where this image can be added? First, read on to learn more about the object from our Cultural World curator, Tris Perkins. Then, tell us where you think this image belongs in Wikipedia! 

Image: cc by-sa 3.0 The Children's Museum of Indianapolis 

Cricket-shaped hairpin with kingfisher feathers

• Year: 20th century
• Location: China
• Accession Number: 94.98.9

A woman's elegant hairstyle was once ornamented with this beautiful blue cricket. Delicate kingfisher (woodpecker) feathers are glued to the cricket's body to look like enamel. The iridescent quality of the feathers looks much like the shiny covering on real insects.  In China, crickets represent good fortune and luck.

Help us make an impact! So far these images do not appear in any Wikipedia articles. Can you think of any articles that should include them?  Do some browsing and be creative. Leave a comment and we’ll share your suggestions with the Wikipedia community. Then, come back in a week to see where in Wikipedia this image ends up!

Don't forget, you can also suggest articles for the Electric Marx Mobile, Quail Trap, Alaskan Red King Crab and Baculites!

By John McCollum, Biotechnology Learning Center Supervisor

This is a great at-home science activity for your kids! Seeds often use the genetic material from two parent plants to grow into a plant with a new mix of traits different from the parent plants. Since farmers want their crops to consistently have the same types of traits (such as large size, good taste, fast growth, etc.) they try to grow certain crops like potatoes without using seeds. Instead, plants like potatoes are reproduced using a process called cloning.

When planting potatoes, you will cut a fully grown potato into pieces and use those little pieces to start your new plants. In cloning, there is only one parent plant and the genetic material stays the same, so the offspring produce the same traits as the parent. 

Be sure to prepare your potatoes the day before you want to plant them, as you need to have the seedlings dry overnight. Any potatoes could be used, but special “seed potatoes” are preferable to grocery store-bought eating potatoes if you actually want to grow plants for food. Store-bought potatoes will be more likely to have problems with disease.

Materials:

Potato
Paring knife
Mulch and/or potting soil

Procedure:

• Take a potato and locate the "eyes." Use the knife to cut the potato into 1-inch cubes, each cube having one eye.
• Let the potato cubes dry overnight.
• Put the cubes on top of well-drained soil, 16 to 24 inches apart, in a sunny location.
• Cover the cubes with 6 inches of mulch, and water them until the mulch is wet.

If you would rather start your clones indoors, it is acceptable to plant each potato cube into its own pot with potting soil. Once you see a sprout in your pot, you’ll want to transfer it to a garden area outdoors as soon as weather permits. A typical growing season starts in the early spring with some people choosing to plant as late as mid-June.

You can do even more programs like this in the Biotechnology Learning Center at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis!

Note: Adapted from content by Andrea Helaine
Read more: How to Clone Potatoes | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_7786227_clone-potatoes.html#ixzz1kalVdnQ3

 

My machine goes traveling in a little graze. He stops at the world of Tatooine. He goes to a little house of a place where a bunch of people launch grazes. Some of the grazes go to space and they blow up this little tiny ship that is a skeleton graze. The graze attacks the skeleton graze.

This entry was submitted by Clark Hewett in the 4-7 age group.
 

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.



 

In my Custom Tie Fighter I will fly throughout the galaxy defending the great Galactic Empire. I will blast away at every X-Wing I see, hoping to destroy the menace that is the Jedi Luke Skywalker. I may even take a shot or two at the Millennium Falcon and that rebel scum Han Solo if I get the chance! Then I will fly back to the Death Star... and hope it doesn't blow up again!

This entry was submitted by Ethan Good in the 8-13 age group.
 

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.

My dream machine is the best in off-roading. It is 33% gator, 33% airplane, and 33% helicopter. It includes satellite, search engine, and steering wheel. It seats 5 people and a pilot. That is all the facts you need to know, now here is the real story.

When I go on an adventure, I fly, drive, and hover. If I were to go on an adventure with my dream machine, I would first drive out to the desert. I’d invite my friends and we’d go off-roading. I would drive over rock as ramps, do flips and donuts, and I would pop wheelies. After a couple of hours, we would head off to the ocean waters. We’d cross the Atlantic Ocean and stop to swim. To swim, I would set out the pontoons and stop and drop the anchor. Afterwards, we’d go into helicopter mode and hover around the jungles. We’d fight snakes, find hidden treasure in the caves, and even ride giant spiders. After all of our fun adventures, we’d hover, fly, and ride back home.

We would have been taking pictures throughout the entire trip, meaning we’d turn it into a photo album. Every day after the adventure, we would all get together, look at the album, and then check out the same car still sitting in my garage.


This entry was submitted by Jacob Einstein in the 8-13 age group.
 

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.

I will go all the way across the Pacific Ocean and visit China. I will stop there and try to see if a Chinese Dragon is really real.
Then I will hop aboard the "XO" and fly to Africa! I will land there in a herd of Rhinos and they will chase me, but the "XO" will be too fast for them. Not even a Cheetah will be able to catch me. After a good race with the Cheetah, I will fly back to Indiana, where I live. I will go to my play room and build an even bigger and better LEGO® flying machine and plan my trip to another GALAXY.

This entry was submitted by Samuel Duke in the 4-7 age group.
 

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.

With a sudden solar flare, an enormous amount of heat was sent from the sun to Mars. The red planet began to thaw. The ice quickly became water, and Martians that had been trapped in the ice for centuries began to come to life. The heat from the sun was so great and so sudden the ice almost instantly became water thus flooding the planet. The once red planet was now blue.

Knowing that their planet would one day turn from ice to water, the Martians prepared by building boats before all was frozen. These boats would become their homes and means of transportation. Millions of Martian boys and girls floated around on their houseboats every day with nothing to do since all their toys where underwater.

One Martian, who was lucky enough to visit earth on a cow harvesting expedition before the big freeze, remembered coming across an amazing toy during his adventure. The toy was called LEGO®. In fact he recalled that it was much more than a toy, it was also a tool for learning and developing creativity. The lack of fun and creativity on their boats was sucking the joy out of all Martian kids so he decided to send earth an SOS. The message read, “Urgent! Our kids are falling into extreme distress from the lack of playing and creating. SEND LEGO building bricks as soon as Martianly possible!"

Being that Mars was completely under water and around 250 million miles away we had to get creative with our means of transportation. Needing a rocket and boat, with the help of my two daughters, we combined the two and created the LEGO Rocket Ark. The LEGO Rocket Ark is set to launch May 11th 2012. Our first stop is LEGOLAND® Florida where we will load the Ark full of LEGO Building sets and Minifigures. From LEGOLAND Florida we will launch into space. 13 and half hours later we will land on the Moon for an hour to see if the suspension on the Ninjago Skull Truck rivals the moon land rover. (Apparently Lord Garmadon and Darth Vader have a little bet going.)

Our third and final stop will be the fourth planet from the sun, Mars. We will land the LEGO Rocket Ark in the Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the Solar System, and now the home of thousands of Martians. There we will open up our doors inviting any and all Martians, young and old, to board the LEGO Rocket Ark to build, create, learn, and play LEGO.

This entry was submitted by Ben Glenn in the 14+ age group.
 

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.

Evan was working on his new invetion - The Dark Spaceship. This spaceship was ready for its first launch. The Dark Spaceship could only hold 1 person. It had a newly designed motor on top, but old fashioned doors. It had a machine bomb gun on top for protection from asteroids. It had a large invisible collecting tank for Mars artifacts. It was invisible to keep his mission a secret. Evan blasts off to Mars. The hatch lifts over his head to allow him to explore. The shuttle locks itself and only opens for him. As he explores Mars he discovers a mysterious wrecked spacship that uses star dust for fuel. He decides to use that fuel in his spaceship. He has an idea to now fly his shuttle to the horsehead nebula (because he remembers this one looks cool). He will use the special collecting bars at the back of the tank to gather as much star dust as he can. His invisible collecting tank worked well. Because while returning to Earth he was attacked by mysterious spaceships like the wrecked one on Mars. They didn't see his collection, and so they didn't follow him back to Earth. He returned to Earth with a new power source. He was a hero, and started preparing the Stardust Shuttle for his next adventure.

This entry was submitted by Evan Unzicker in the 4-7 age group.
 

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.

“Abby,” cried mom, “come on up stairs for dinner. You have been down in the basement all day!”
“I’ll be there in just a minute!” I called back. I had been working on the most amazing invention yet. I called it, the Turbo Horse. It could run like the wind, leap high in the air, and it was a beauty. It was just one in a group of animals I had titled “The Adventure Squad.” I had been working on it for months but kept it a secret. I decided I would test it after dinner. I could hardly wait!
“So Abby,” asked my little sister Katie once I sat down, “can you please tell us what you are doing?” My sister had been anxious ever since I started.
“As a matter of fact, I am going to test it tonight!”I excitedly answered as I scooped up the delicious corn soup mom had made. Katie and my younger brother Nathan looked at each other and quickly finished eating.
After dinner, we all ran outside and I revealed the Turbo Horse.
“Can I ride it first?” asked Katie.
“No, I want to go first,” Nathan argued.
“I ride,” declared my youngest two year old brother, Kevin.
“I think I’m going to test it first,” I said at last. So I climbed up the tail of the horse and strapped in. My mom watched anxiously from the front porch. This wasn’t my first invention. I was always coming up with ways to create new creatures out of Legos.
When I pushed the button that was supposed to make it go, it bolted forward, much faster than I expected, toward the city! Terrified, I held on as tight as I could. It was headed straight for a building! With all my might I pushed up a lever, and the horse leaped over the building! I closed my eyes tightly, waiting for it to be over. Landing safely on the other side, I finally yelled, “Stop!” The horse came to a halt.
“Where am I?” I asked myself. “I must be miles from home.”
“Help,” sounded a faint cry in the distance. “Help me, please!” I trotted closer to where the sound was coming from. I realized it was a girl about my age sobbing by the ocean shore. After talking with her a few minutes, I found out that her name was Claire, and her sister had been taken captive and was brought out to sea!
I had an idea. Using my phone, I signaled my robot Lego dolphin that had been docked at my house. Once it arrived, Claire and I hopped on its back and skimmed the water, hopping we could make it in time.
“It’s too late,” Claire cried as she watched the enemy in the distance taking her sister underneath the water in a domed ship. “If only we had a submarine so that we could follow them.” Then I remembered the robot Lego Turtle Sub I had made the year before! Instantly, I signaled it to also come to us. Once the turtle finally reached us, we climbed into its shell and started following Clair’s sister. I was glad that we were camouflaged inside a turtle. We followed them all the way to the bottom of the ocean. I couldn’t believe my eyes - there was a sunken boat!
“That was my father’s boat,” Claire whispered. “They’re trying to force my sister into telling them the code to the boat, so they can take the treasure inside.”
“Well we can’t let that happen,” I said confidently. So I drove the turtle straight ahead and it crashed into the dome on the boat and broke it. We managed to bring Claire’s sister in the turtle sub with us. We came back to the shore and notified the police, who then captured the enemy.
I was just glad that Claire and her sister were safe, and that I was back home with my family.

This entry was submitted by Abby Emerick in the 8-13 age group.
 

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.

Soaring through the sky, the wind blasting against her face, Katie couldn’t believe what had happened. While she was sleeping, her comforter had turned into a cocoon and she emerged as a butterfly! At first, she was trying to figure out how to fly. Then she got the hang of it.

A bird spotted her and without a moment to spare, she flew away as fast as she could. The bird was catching up, getting closer and closer! She ducked behind a leaf and closed her wings so she blended in with the leaves.

When she looked toward the ground, she saw a field of flowers. She smelled something really sweet, so she swooped down and landed on a flower, sucking the nectar. It tasted like the most delicious thing in the whole world!

Unfortunately, her alarm clock woke her up. She thought to herself, “If I could make something that could fly, I could go anywhere!”

Inspired by her dream, she began the design of a robotic butterfly. First she made blueprints. Then she went to her basement, and seeing all the different LEGOs she had, she knew she could build a butterfly.

When she was finished, she wondered where she should go first. She remembered the time when she heard her friend talking about LEGO LAND she said it was so much fun. She decided to go there.

First climbing onto her butterfly, Katie felt really nervous. She was afraid that the butterfly wouldn’t work and she’d just fall from a great height in the air. What if she couldn’t steer it right and bonked into buildings, breaking all kinds of things?

However, she didn’t need to be afraid. Her butterfly flew perfectly. All was going well until an airplane almost flew into her! She had to zoom down really fast to avoid being crushed.

She was out of control…It was just like her dream! But then after awhile she got back in control.

Finally, she steered it into the LEGOLAND parking lot. Katie couldn’t wait to go on the roller coaster, so the first thing she did at LEGOLAND was ride the fastest one there.

Then she went on a water slide. She also went to the pirate ship. After visiting Duplo Park, she got some lunch and then cotton candy for desert. Then she rested a little bit at a one of the water parks, went on more roller coasters and water slides, and then flew off on her giant butterfly.

She had a great day, but she still thought that her butterfly was the most terrifying ride of all – it was a dream come true.

This entry was submitted by Katie Emerick in the 8-13 age group.


 

You can enter the Build Your Dream Machine Challenge, too! Build a vehicle using LEGO® bricks for a chance to win a trip to LEGOLAND® Florida! Enter March 10–May 10, 2012. A car that becomes a sailboat? A sailboat that can sail through outer space? Use LEGO® bricks as a vehicle of your imagination. Where do you need to go? What does your vehicle need to do? You imagine the journey and the destination, then build the perfect means of transportation!



The LEGO® Travel Adventure exhibit is at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis through July 22, 2012.