FCMoD has a large play area for small children called the Tot Spot. Toddlers have a variety of toys and machines to play with here, and although this zone does not have many traditional exhibits on display, its popularity demands constant attention. My position frequently required me to fix up some of the more heavily-used attractions. The Tot Spot contains a few water-powered machines for children to splash around with, such as this musical water cube, which I helped disassemble and ship back to the manufacturer for extensive repair work. While the cube was away, I worked on a replacement attraction
to fill its empty space.
Working off of a design drawn by FCMoD’s exhibit manager, Ben Griswold, I built a large box on which children could play with Legos. I built the Lego table out of MDF and wood, coating it with gray paint and gluing a Lego base to its top. The edges were rounded every seams and screws was covered to prevent injury to guests. The Lego table was immediately very popular and continues to see use even after the return of the water cube.
During the summer of 2017, we began adding new attractions to the Tot Spot. One such addition was a small reading area called the Story Garden. Although this new zone was not complete when I left FCMoD that August, I built a small bookshelf to serve as a centerpiece for it. The structure consists of a light wooden frame reinforced with hardboard and the shelves are made of a dense canvas material. The entire piece is painted blue to match the sky-motif of the wall it is attached to.
