Invention at Play is a highly interactive, engaging, and surprising exhibition that focuses on the similarities between the ways children and adults play and the creative processes used by innovators in science and technology. It departs from traditional representations of inventors as extraordinary geniuses who are “not like us‚” to celebrate the creative skills and processes that are familiar and accessible to all people.

The Lemelson Center is pleased to welcome back the original version of Invention at Play to its new Lemelson Hall of Invention, a 3,500 square-foot exhibition gallery located on the first floor, west wing, of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.  The exhibition contains case studies of 5 inventors with briefer stories of many additional inventors; artifacts from the collections at the National Museum of American History; a variety of small and large-scale invention interactives; and 4 educational videos. Extended summer hours: Invention at Play is open until 6:30 p.m. until Labor Day!

A smaller version of the exhibition (1700 sq. ft) continues to travel under the auspices of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC). This version contains case studies of 3 inventors with briefer stories of several additional inventors; a variety of mechanical invention interactives; and 2 videos. For information on ASTC and the Invention at Play tour, please visit the ASTC Web site.