American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum
4601 Texas Highway 360 at FAA Road
Fort Worth
817/967-1560
crsmithmuseum.org
Hours: Museum open 9am–5pm Tuesday–Saturday; 1–5pm Sunday from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Exhibit through September 8.
Admission: $7 adults; $4 for kids ages 2–18.
Parking: Free.
The August heat may be keeping your family indoors this month, but you can keep the summer fun full steam ahead until school begins by visiting the LEGO Travel Adventure exhibit, on view through September 8 inside the American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum. Kids can discover new and old modes of transportation, including racecars, steamboats and airplanes, see creations by LEGO Master Builders and then create their own dream machines all inside the special children’s exhibit, which was produced by LEGO and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
What you can do through September 8
1) Take off to the races
Choose any costume from the dress-up bins, including a racecar driver suit. Then act the part by building your own car to race down a miniature ramp or get behind the wheel of a kid-sized racecar made entirely of LEGO DUPLO bricks.
2) Get in the game
Get creative with the mound of soft DUPLO bricks heaped into the bed of a pretend dump truck and then walk around to play on the two-player arcade game in the cab of the truck. With cockpit controls and more than enough buttons on the dash, the truck takes on the virtual form of several vehicles as kids maneuver through a speedboat course, mountainous terrain and into the clouds.
3) Make ‘em small
Find more LEGOs inside the build area, with bins filled to the brim with bricks from sets including LEGO City, LEGO Creator, LEGO Friends and LEGO DUPLO. After your child’s model is complete, create a souvenir photo by placing it in the booth with the green screen. Choose a background and email it to yourself to print at home.
4) Get a transportation timeline
Models of the Wright Brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk, the Transcontinental Railroad, a Model T and more take visitors through the history of firsts in transportation.
5) Journey to amazing destinations
See dioramas featuring LEGO people piloting all kinds of vehicles from Paris to the Pacific. Plus, check out what LEGO calls its T.A.V., a travel adventure vehicle that can fly, float and drive anywhere. The kids will get a kick out of spotting the T.A.V. in the form of a rocket ship, submarine, helicopter, police truck and more all in one display.
6) Fill in the blank
To ensure that your child is soaking up the history lesson, pick up a worksheet at the entrance and walk them through fun facts and trivia questions about both the LEGO exhibit and the history of the C.R. Smith Museum.
What you can do anytime
The LEGO exhibit and the permanent exhibit inside the C.R. Smith Museum share the same floor space, so while you’re there, be sure to explore the history of the American Airlines. The commercial aviation company is headquartered in Fort Worth and its flight academy is right next door to the museum, which houses historical artifacts, photographs and interactive exhibits for all ages.
Ride inside the flight simulator, modeled after a two-seater Beech Sundowner. A museum volunteer will sit with the kids and guide them through the takeoff and landing.
See the cockpit of an F-100 luxury jet and propeller of Wright R-3350 engine and more full-scale aircraft engines close-up.
Throughout the museum, you’ll find more games and activities including an airplane puzzle wall and a craft table where kids can create a brass rubbing of planes with crayons.
The museum opens up to a hangar where kids can step inside a restored Douglas DC-3 airliner from 1940, which will elicit more wows from your brood than anything else.
Start or end your visit with an overview of American Airlines’ history of commercial aviation. The 15-minute film, The Spirit of American, starts every half hour. You’ll hear the final boarding call announced over the intercom.
Published August 2013
