About The Melissa Porter Masoner Hall of Bright Ideas Hall of Bright Ideas

Step into the Hall of Bright Ideas, where imagination becomes invention! Children explore how ideas are turned into creations through the engineering design process: ask, plan, build, test, and improve. Hands-on activities include a hand-cranked generator, magnetic ball wall, circuit maze, shake table, light table, and illumination station, encouraging experimentation, problem-solving, and teamwork. Hundreds of acrylic bulbs hang overhead in a striking art installation, while a light bulb mural places children’s inventive ideas alongside historical Kansas inventions, showing how bright ideas are part of the state’s story. On the Imagination Stage, kids can perform and explore in underwater worlds, outer space, or downtown Topeka, applying the same process of testing ideas and learning through trial and error. Every corner of the exhibit shows how bright ideas grow into real-world creations.

Fun Facts
The stage’s space background is a fun nod to the importance of small things, even in outer space! Most visitors will spot Saturn, but budding astronomers may notice that the other planets depicted are the dwarf planets Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea. These small but mighty worlds remind us that even the tiniest ideas can have a big impact, just like every child’s bright idea has the potential to grow, inspire, and change the world(s)!

Brain Building
Imaginative Play, Cooperation, Problem Solving, Engineering Thinking

Body Building
Hand-Eye Coordination, Small Muscle Development (Fine Motor), Gross Motor (for climbing and stage movement)