Forever Forest Exhibit
This traveling museum exhibit is all about trees, from the forest to your home. It’s designed to help kids learn about where wood comes from, how it’s processed, and transported and all the ways it can be used.Forever Forest features interactive play spaces where children and their parents learn about the many careers and products made from wood. Children learn some of the different professional roles available in the industry as they maneuver a kid-size grapple skidder, load items onto a Union Pacific train, work with tools to create projects using building materials, and even distribute play medicine at the general store.
The exhibit explores the realities of forests through play, families learn about sustainability, selective harvesting, transportation needs, and the everyday products we use that are made from trees.
The traveling exhibit includes six core pieces:
Tree Top Climber: A climbing structure designed to look like three trees with protective netting and a slide.
Harvest Time: An area where kids can operate four-foot, kid-friendly grapple skidders — machines that grab and move several (faux) logs at a time.
Wood Works: A bare-bones house with a plethora of wood accents that kids can mix and match to customize their own home, such as siding, roofing, molding and more.
Train Challenge: A train modeled after a Union Pacific engine that teaches kids how lumber and other goods are transported.
Sawmill Science: A miniature sawmill that demonstrates how wood is cut and how the sawdust from mills is reused as fuel.
Tree Transport: A play table with toy vehicles and movable buildings and trees designed to show how trees get from forests to lumber mills to homes.
You can see a 360 Tour of the Forever Forest Exhibit at the Omaha Children’s Museum:
For Teachers…
The Educational Outcomes of this Exhibit Include:
Develops gross motor skills by climbing and crawling through the trees. Provides connections and critical thinking skills development through hands-on lessons about how the industry gets lumber products from the forest to home. Develops fine motor skills through the introduction of the tools and materials used to build homes and communities.
Develops competency skills and creative role by placing guests in the role of train conductor, lumber manufacturer, retailer, and more.
Exposure to a deeper understanding of responsible harvesting and renewable resource sustainable practices.
Tactile enrichment opportunities through the exploration of everyday products that come from trees.
The Forever Forest Exhibit was created courtesy of the Omaha Children’s Museum with collaboration and funding from Union Pacific Railroad, DMSi Software and the North American Forest Foundation.