Weekender: Toy Story/Dr Pepper Museum

Playful objects take center stage at the Dr Pepper Museum

Waco's Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute––which offers an entertaining look at the history of the soft-drink industry and the American free-enterprise system—amps up the fun this summer as it hosts a traveling exhibition called Toy Tech. With eight interactive stations, the 2,000-square-foot exhibition allows visitors to learn about the history and development of their favorite toys. Displays that encourage disassembling various toys to understand how they work prove popular with all ages.

Visitors can play with mechanical, optical, and acoustic toys such as model cars, Etch A Sketches, Magna Doodles, kaleidoscopes, and music boxes, and then discover the inner workings of each one by investigating cutout models. You can create your own cone-shaped paper helicopter and test it in a wind tube. At the construction table, get creative with inexpensive household materials such as cereal boxes, straws, and paperclips, and create a toy or musical instrument of your own.

An area dubbed the Doll Display features popular dolls and action figures throughout history, such as Raggedy Ann and GI Joe. The Air Tower offers throwing toys, such as boomerangs and Frisbees, as well as kites. Put it all into perspective by visiting the Toy Timeline, which notes when well-known toys were invented, such as Silly Putty (1945) and Beanie Babies (1993).

The overall exhibit emphasizes the importance of play in encouraging creativity in adults as well as children. Toy Tech runs through September 11. Dr Pepper Museum at 300 S. 5th St. in Waco, opens daily. Call 254/757-1024; www.drpeppermuseum.com

–Haley Dawson

From the July 2011 issue.

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