Mister Rogers' Factory Tours

Want to see the factory tours Mister Rogers and friends took to learn how wagons, plates, sneakers and other everyday items are made?  Just click here!

Rich Task Activities

Open-ended investigations for individuals or groups designed by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh's Education Department and based on standards from the International Technology Education Association (ITEA).

• For Assembly - Bookmaking
• For Assembly - Flashlight Game
• For Cutting - Making Puzzles
• For Cutting - Soap Cutting
• For Deforming - Foil Embossing
• For Deforming - Modeling Dough
• For Molding - Dental Stone Molding
• For Molding - Sidewalk chalk

Activities from the International Technology Education Association's (ITEA) – Kids Inventing Technology (KITS) Series:

• Invention & Innovation
• Using Technological Devices
• What Is Engineering Design

Exhibit Terminology

• Exhibit Terminology

Websites

• Robot Café
• Girls Go Tech
• How Stuff Works
• How Things Work

Books

Ages 4-8 | Ages 9-12 | Other Books

Ages 4- 8

My First Book of How Things Are Made: Crayons, Jeans, Guitars, Peanut Butter, and More
by George Jones
Scholastic, 1995

How Things Are Made
by National Geographic Society (U.S.) Special Publications Division
National Geographic Society, 1981

What Happens at a Toy Factory? (Where People Work)
by Kathleen Pohl
Weekly Reader Early Learning Library, 2006

Machines Inside Machines Series
Featuring titles on using screws, hinges, springs, levers, ramps, pulleys and gears.
by Wendy Sadler
Raintree Perspectives, 2005

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Ages 9-12

Design Challenge: Amazing Machines
by Keith Good
Evans Brothers Ltd, 2003

Gear Up!: Marvelous Machine Projects
by Keith Good
Lerner Publications, 2000

Shape It! Magnificent Projects for Molding Materials
by Keith Good
Lerner Publications

2000 All About How Things Are Made
by Kathleen Kain and Robert Byrd
World Book, 1995

The New Way Things Work
by David Macaulay and Neil Ardley
Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books, 1998

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Other Books

From Start to Finish Series
Featuring tours through some of America's most interesting factories where you can see and understand the whole manufacturing process--from raw materials through finished product.  Items featured include sneakers, guitars, trading cards, homes, snowboards, kids' clothes, pens, skateboards, pianos, music CDs and teddy bears.  Age range varies.
Various Authors
Blackbirch Press

Vacuum Bazookas, Electric Rainbow Jelly, and 27 Other Saturday Science Projects
by Neil A. Downie
Princeton University Press, 2001

How Things Work
by Steve Parker
Kingfisher Books, 1990

Processes of Manufacturing
by Thomas Wright
Goodheart-Wilcox Publisher, 2004

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