Visitors can 'get cracking' with Wallace and Gromit exhibit at Children's Museum

Jan. 19—The new Wallace & Gromit exhibit at the Terre Haute Children's Museum is likely to bring out the inventor, or tinkerer, among all ages.

Wallace & Gromit: Get Cracking!, an interactive exhibit based on the popular film and television characters, had a ribbon cutting for members Friday and is officially open for all visitors starting today.

For those not in the know, Wallace is a good-natured, eccentric, cheese-loving inventor, and Gromit is his loyal, intelligent and human-like dog.

"Wallace is an inventor, he's a tinkerer. He likes to build things to make his life easier. He also tends to get in trouble with his inventions, and Gromit, his dog, always saves the day," said Susan Turner, THCM executive director.

Wallace and Gromit are claymation characters; claymation is an animation technique using movable clay characters.

They were very popular in the 1990s and early 2000s, Turner said, and there is currently a Wallace and Gromit movie on Netflix with another coming out in a few months.

"It's having a little bit of a resurgency in popularity," she said.

The traveling exhibit, created by the Minnesota Children's Museum, is now on the third floor of the Terre Haute Children's Museum and runs through May 19. CenterPoint Energy is the title sponsor.

In the hands-on exhibit, visitors step into the north England home of Wallace and Gromit.

Designed for children ages 3 through 9, Wallace & Gromit Get Cracking! builds on problem-solving themes found throughout the films in fun, engaging ways.

Activities focus on STEM-based problem solving.

Children will be able to design their own inventions; play with a porridge machine that launches "porridge" bean bags into a bowl; make toast in a rocket ship; play a circuit game; and take pictures standing by Wallace's "wrong" trousers.

The exhibit also includes a soft play area for very young children, complete with Wallace and Gromit characters to play with and books children can read with parents.

"I think this is a really great hands-on experience," Turner said. "I think it appeals to not only our littlest friends, but also their parents and grandparents. It's fun. It's bright and colorful. They are fun characters."

She also believes "it's really cool we have something of this high quality in our museum."

Among those checking out the exhibit Friday were Amber Hofmann and her daughter, Aurora, age 3, who played in Wallace's spaceship.

Hofmann is familiar with Wallace and Gromit. "It's an old cartoon. It's probably geared more toward people my age," she said. Hofmann said the exhibit "is great. The kids seem to love it."

On Saturday, members of the THCM education department will do hands-on science activities at the exhibit.

Also, for the duration of the exhibit, there will be Wallace & Gromit hands-on science activities twice a month for all museum guests.

Admission to the exhibit is included in general admission. Museum admission is $9 per person for ages 2 and up. Museum members get in free.

The museum is located at 727 Wabash Ave.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays; noon to 5 p.m. Sundays; and closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at sue.loughlin@tribstar.com Follow Sue on Twitter @TribStarSue