The bike wheel maker is located in the garage area of the museum. This exhibit lets people make and test a wheel using a wood frame, bungee cords, and a pegged centerpiece. Small children tend to work with their parents on this toy. It seems that is it not very intuitive to them. Older children and adults put pieces together quickly and try to make different patterns with the colors.

The tester is interesting but not well labeled. Many wheels stay on the maker table because people don’t realize there is a second step. The wheels that do get tested often fall apart on the track if they are made by younger children because most don’t understand the structure of the wheel. They often make one layer of wires rather than two and do not evenly space the wires. Even though their pieces fail most children do not make a second attempt. They tend to move on to the next attraction in the room.

The bike wheel maker fits into the garage well. It teaches children about structure and physics in a simple way, like all of the contraptions in the room. The design of the toy also makes clean up easy, by having a contraption that empties all the pegs.

I think this exhibit teaches a lot to its users, but the lack of instruction does not help this toy. Children seem to get more frustrated that there makes don’t work and move on to the next part of the room. Even when parents help they often don’t seem to understand the testing ideas of the wheel.