Race Car Love for little (and big) kids: Metropolis II at LACMA

Do you know any kids who love, love, love race cars? I grew up with one -- my youngest brother loved race cars so much, his summer dream job in high school was working on the crew of a race car team. So this week, I'm sharing fabulous books for race car lovers--especially little kids whose eyes go wide at every fast car.

I'll start by sharing a video and experience--because books really are just one way to share an experience, to open kids' imaginations up wide, to create conversations. Chris Burden's Metropolis II is a room-size sculpture made of an intricate system of model cars and trains zooming through a maze of highways in a model city.

Metropolis II, by Chris Burden at LACMA

I tried taking pictures, too, but since the essence of this exhibit is how the cars ZOOM through the maze of freeways, a still picture just can't recreate the experience. Watch the video below, and let me know what you think.



Here's the museum's description (from the LACMA website):

"Steel beams form an eclectic grid interwoven with an elaborate system of 18 roadways, including one six lane freeway, and HO scale train tracks. Miniature cars speed through the city at 240 scale miles per hour; every hour, the equivalent of approximately 100,000 cars circulate through the dense network of buildings." 

If you want to learn more, check out this video and interview with the creator: Metropolis II, by Chris Burden.

Do you have any favorite things to do with race car loving kids? Every time we visit Disneyland, I insist that we go on Autotopia. Are there other video clips you would show to get kids thinking of all the things they could build or race?

I hope you enjoy the race car books I'll share this week. Come back tomorrow for more zooming fun!

©2014 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books