DreamWorksop

On Saturday, we took a little outing to a wonderful place:  the Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop, in Hamden.  A small, local museum in an old munitions factory where inventor and guns manufacturer Whitney worked on interchangeable parts and muskets.  Now the museum--which isn't really, in the sense that there isn't much of a collection or historical interpretation on view--functions primarily as a hands-on imagination workshop for kids and grown-up kids.  Every week there is a different craft, more of a woodworking/design/invention activity than the more traditional art museum paint/scissors/glue activity (admission is generally free but there is a fee for the craft kit, about $9).  And the kids loved it.  They made wooden trains, starting with gluing blocks together, then attaching axles and wheels, which they tacked together, ending with decorating.  All while wearing safety goggles.  With great concentration, they focused on all the details and carefully completed their work, surrounded by walls full of other projects, from catapults to castles, puppets to pull toys.  It really had that wonderful dusty, cluttered, full of inspiration workshop feel, magical even.  The staff, of predominantly very young (high school?) volunteers, were extremely kind, encouraging, and helpful.  When the kids were done with their project, they experimented with the wall of marble runs, including Pascal's Triangle and Archimedes's Screw.  Special for the holidays was Mr.Gilbert's Train, a large model train layout complete with New Haven green and a circus, plus, best of all, trains that the kids could take turns driving.  Then we all went across the covered wooden bridge to see the mill's "waterfall" and to walk in the park some.  It's a great place and we'll definitely be going back.