Theme park rides like Thunder Mountain Railroad and others are a blast to ride and experience, but how do these rides come to be? Who designs them? Who builds them and creates all of the environments and machines that are required to make them work? Today we’re going to talk about none other than the world famous Disney Imagineers!

The magical world of Disney theme parks has captivated the hearts of millions around the globe for decades. Behind the scenes of this enchanting experience lies a rich history marked by creativity, ingenuity, and a team of visionary individuals known as Imagineers. The roots of Disney’s theme park legacy can be traced back to WED Enterprises and the birth of Imagineering. 

When Walt Disney first decided to build a theme park, after his wild success as an animation studio, Disney created a group called WED Enterprises. This was in 1952 and Disney formed the group because he knew he would need a crew of very talented people to help design and engineer his theme park, which was still just a thing of his dreams and imagination. 

WED Enterprises included artists, engineers, architects, and designers who would bring Walt Disney’s dreams to life. They were known for having more than just one skill, such as being an architect or an engineer. They had to have BIG imaginations and be ready to think outside the box. At heart, they were storytellers, responsible for creating immersive narratives that would become park rides and other experiences. Their mission was to blend creativity with cutting-edge technology to create an enchanting world for park visitors.

In 1986, WED Enterprises changed its name to Walt Disney Imagineering. Imagineer is the combination of the words engineer and imagine! Imagineers are expected to not only have the skills to do their job but to think creatively and come up with new, bold ideas as they tell their stories in the form of attractions. In fact, one of the Imagineers first principles is “It all begins with a story.” 

Next, let’s dive into the life of some of the most famous Imagineers! Marc Davis was born in Bakersfield, California and from a very young age loved drawing and art! He practiced during his free time and eventually went to college in Kansas, where he further developed his skills. In 1934, Marc joined Disney as an animator and helped illustrate for animated classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bambi. He worked closely with Walt Disney to create these films and when it came time to start designing Disneyland, Walt Disney knew Marc would be the perfect fit to help bring his dreams to life. 

One of his first projects was designing characters for The Haunted Mansion. Marc had a great sense of humor and was able to bring it to life through art as he designed characters such as The Hitching Ghost and the ghostly bride Constance Hatchaway. He also worked on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and many of the humor pirates you can see and experience throughout the ride. Marc also helped design the Enchanted Tiki Room, the Jungle Cruise, and EPCOT’s Journey into Imagination.

Another early imagineer was Harriet Burns. Harriet was born in San Antonio, Texas and early on had a passion for art and design. She started at Disney in 1955 as a set painter for many of the rides. She became one of the first female Imagineers and helped design and paint characters on the Disneyland Railroad, Its a Small World, and the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Harriet was also known for her strong will and personality. When she had a vision for how someone should be done, she worked hard at it and made her opinion known until she got results!

The history of Disneyland Imagineers wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Tony Baxter, whose first job at Disneyland was actually an ice cream scooper at age 17. He loved being at the park and was determined to help make it an even more fun and enchanting place. He went to school and studied landscape architecture and later theater design. At this time, he also started helping with construction projects at Disneyland.

In 1970, Tony officially became an Imagineer. His dream job! He helped redesign Fantasyland, then later came up with the idea that became Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain showcased Baxter’s ability to combine storytelling with groundbreaking ride technology. The attraction became an instant classic, enchanting generations with its whimsical charm.

Baxter’s gift for adventure and storytelling reached new heights with the creation of the Indiana Jones ride. Opened in 1995, this dark ride blended film and theme park elements, plunging riders into the heart of an ancient temple filled with scary sights! The attraction’s success showed Baxter’s ability to translate movie magic into an immersive and exhilarating theme park experience.

Other famous Imagineers worth mentioning are the artist Mary Blair, X Atencio, Wing T. Chao, Alice Estes Davis, Yale Gracey, Bob Gurr, Joe Rohde, and Marty Sklar. Because Disney parks are worldwide, Imagineers of many different nationalities, races, and backgrounds are now part of the Imagineering team!

Something else exciting about Imagineers is that as they are working on new rides, they often invent entirely new technologies that are used not only at Disney but in other theme parks and attractions around the world.

One of their most famous innovations are audio-animatronics. These are the life-like robots that become characters on the different Disney rides. They often look very realistic and move in real ways that make the parkgoers feel like they are experiencing the characters and the environments for real! The animatronics on some of the rides were ahead of their time. To date, one of the most advanced and realistic animatronics is the Shaman on the Na’vi River Journey at Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. Animatronics like this require many designers and engineers to figure out how to make them move in life-like ways. You’ll have to check out a video for this one, because you won’t believe your eyes!

Many of the vehicles for Disney’s rides also feature very advanced designs in order to move guests around through the attraction. This includes trackless rides that use magnets to orient them along the path. Another example is the jeep in Indiana Jones that makes passengers feel like they are bumping up and down on a wild ride, which has the flexibility to move many different directions.

Using RFID wristbands, guests are able to open their hotel rooms, enter parks and even make purchases using radio frequencies. Many of these technologies feel like magic when they are being used, but under all of the electronics a smart engineer had to design every piece of the advanced equipment to make it work. 

Other technologies include projection mapping, augmented reality, and virtual reality simulators… all with the goal of making guests feel like they have been transported to a different place and time and are living the actual experience. Pretty amazing, right?

Does becoming an Imagineer sound interesting to you? If so, be sure to look up their principles of design and think of ways you can apply them to your own interests. Do you like to be creative? If so, think of the kind of ride you would create if you were a Disney Imagineer. Draw up a plan and maybe even make a miniature version of it using cardboard and other materials. You might even simulate how it works using a space in your backyard or living room. Be sure to run it by your parents first, of course, but remember that all of these Imagineers were once kids like you who were passionate about art and design and had BIG imaginations! 

The post History of Disney Imagineering for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine you’re in a painting studio. You take a deep breath and smell the sweet smell of the oil paints and the crisp air within the painting studio. You look around and see many paintings on the walls, each one telling a different story.

But your attention quickly turns back to the canvas in front of you, which seems to be calling out for your attention. You dip your paintbrush into a palette of different colors and then put it on the canvas. You feel happy and excited when you see the brush moving so easily on the canvas. You create a beautiful picture of a world you want to see, and it makes you feel calm and happy.

You continue to work, feeling the warmth of the paint beneath your brush, and the gentle strokes of color as you add dimension and texture to your creation. As you paint, you feel a sense of peace and contentment that comes from being fully immersed in the creative process.

You continue to work, feeling the warmth of the paint beneath your brush and you see how the colors mix together, creating something new and unique. You love how it feels to make something special with your hands.

When you’re done painting, you step back and admire your work. You feel so proud of what you made and can’t wait to share it with others. You know that it will make people happy and inspire them to look at the world in a different way.

This is what it’s like to be like Bob Ross, a painter who made people happy by showing them how to paint and see the world in a new way.

Bob Ross was born on October 29, 1942, in Daytona Beach, Florida. He grew up in a town called Orlando, where he spent a lot of time exploring the beautiful landscapes around him.

His dad was a carpenter named Jack, and his mom, Ollie, was a waitress. As a child, Bob loved to take care of injured animals which sometimes made his parents unhappy because they never knew what kind of animal they would find in the house! They might see a hurt alligator in their bathtub or an armadillo running around Bob’s room. 

Later, Bob didn’t finish high school. Instead, he left after 9th grade to work as a carpenter with his dad. One day, Bob had a terrible accident that injured his left index finger. He lost the tip of it! Even though he was hurt, Bob didn’t let that stop him. It was an injury he later hid from TV viewers most of the time with his paint palette.

When Bob turned 18, he joined the Air Force which he soon didn’t enjoy. He said that he had to be “mean” sometimes, and that made him unhappy. When he was in the Air Force, he was known for being tough on his fellow airmen, and they even gave him the nickname “Bust ’em up Bobby.”

Although he had a tough exterior, Bob Ross also had a softer side. He discovered his love for painting while attending an art class in Alaska during his time in the Air Force. Many of his painting instructors at the time were more interested in abstract art, but Bob was fascinated by nature and the beauty of the world around him. He found that painting allowed him to capture that beauty and share it with others.

After attending many art classes that focused on abstract painting, Ross found his passion for painting returned through a television show he found called The “Magic of Oil Painting”. The show was hosted by artist Bill Alexander Bill introduced Ross to an old painting technique known as “alla prima” which means “first attempt” in Italian. Ross was fascinated by “alla prima” because it allowed Alexander to finish a painting in just 30 minutes. Alla prima is also known as “wet-on-wet” painting, which means that wet layers of paint are added to paper to create an image. Bob loved this new technique and decided to master it himself.

Bob Ross started earning money by painting Alaskan mountainsides on the inside of gold pans, after observing Alexander’s Wet on Wet technique. He soon became well-known among the local Alaskan people for his artistic abilities and often taught children and the elderly how to paint, too. Eventually, Ross began making more money from selling paintings and offering art lessons than from his day job in the military. After serving in the Air Force for twenty years, Ross left the military and said that he would never yell or raise his voice again, he was known from then on to have a very soft and calming presence. 

In the 1980s after leaving the Air Force, Ross had a burning desire to truly master the art of wet-on-wet painting. He found his favorite artist Bill Alexander in Florida. There, Alexander was a part-time art teacher and happily shared all his knowledge with Ross.

Next, Bob Ross got a job as a traveling tutor for the Alexander Magic Art Supplies Company. He had a soothing, gentle voice, and an encouraging teaching style, and said things like “happy accidents” instead of the word “mistakes” to make people feel happier and more positive about painting and being ok with messing up. 

Have you ever made a mistake? Well, in painting it is very easy to make mistakes and Bob was excellent at helping people understand that even when we make mistakes we can turn those mistakes into something good! This idea that he used in his painting lessons caught the attention of a woman named Annette Kowalski. Annette was fascinated by Ross and thought they might find a way to sell the experience of painting with him. She saw potential in Ross’s teaching style and decided to work with him to build a successful business.

After a meeting with Annette Kowalski and her husband, Ross became convinced that he should leave the Alexander Magic Art Supplies Company and start his own teaching business. Kowalski was so confident in their potential for success that she spent all of her life savings on the business. Ross and his wife spent most of their money too! Unfortunately, their high hopes were met with a harsh reality: the business lost $20,000 in its first year open.

Low on money, Bob Ross decided to take a bold step and change his look. Gone were the days of the strict military haircut, and in its place emerged a new and unexpected style: the classic afro that would come to define him. Ross said that he decided to perm his hair and make it curly because then he could save money and he wouldn’t need to pay for haircuts every week. Little did he know that this bold decision to perm his hair would change his appearance forever. Ross’s afro was so different than what his hair used to look like that many of his friends only recognized him by his missing finger that he lost while working as a teenager. 

It is not totally clear how  Bob became a famous painter on TV. There are two stories about how he was able to get onto the PBS channel. One story says that Bob and his former teacher Bill Alexander filmed a commercial for his art classes, which happened to impress someone important. Another version suggests that his partner, Kowalski, took a video of one of Bob Ross’ 30-minute lessons and sent it to the TV station. It is possible that both stories are true. Either way, it is obvious that Bob Ross was so good that he couldn’t be ignored. Before long he was a famous TV star in a new show called “The Joy of Painting”!

While filming “The Joy of Painting,” Bob made it feel like he was talking to his audience one-on-one. Almost like a personal teaching lesson. 

Bob Ross put a lot of thought into every detail of his show. He took great care in selecting his clothes, wearing timeless jeans and casual shirts that wouldn’t look old in the future. He also sanded down his painting palette lightly to keep it from reflecting the studio lights, a trick he figured out over time by switching to a clear painting palette for the first few episodes. 

Bob never received payment for his appearances on the show, nor did he sell any of the paintings he created on air. The show served as a platform to promote his teaching business which grew to include Bob Ross paint brushes, paint, and other supplies, soon making him a millionaire!

Even though being on TV made Bob Ross very successful he remained humble and generous with his artwork. He gave away most of the paintings he created on the show, as well as thousands of others he made throughout his life. Some were donated to charitable causes to be auctioned off, while others were gifted to friends and acquaintances.

Bob Ross taught us that mistakes are not failures, they are just happy accidents. When you make a mistake, don’t give up. Instead, use your creativity and turn it into something beautiful. Just like Bob Ross, you can use your talents to make the world a brighter and more joyful place

The post History of Bob Ross for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine a world where interesting creatures that have powers roam free, each with their own unique abilities and personalities that you can catch and keep in a little red and white ball. These creatures are called Pokemon and you keep them in a poke ball. As a young trainer, you set out on an adventure to explore this world and catch as many of these creatures as you can, traveling through different regions, each with its own unique environment and different types of Pokemon.

You’ll journey through lush forests, treacherous mountains, and even mysterious underwater kingdoms, encountering new and exciting Pokemon along the way. With your trusty poke ball, you’ll be able to capture these creatures and add them to your team, training them to be stronger and braver so that they can fight for you.

As you travel, you’ll meet other trainers and their Pokemon, and you’ll have the chance to challenge them to battles. These battles are a test of your skills as a trainer and a showcase of the strength and abilities of your Pokemon. You’ll have to strategize and work with your Pokemon, using their different moves and powers to defeat your opponents.

Along the way, you’ll also have the opportunity to collect valuable items and earn rewards, such as gym badges and special items that will make your journey easier. You’ll meet friendly and helpful characters who will give you tips and advice on how to become a better trainer.

But your ultimate goal is to become the greatest Pokémon trainer of all time. To achieve this, you’ll need to journey to the Pokemon League, where the strongest trainers from each region come together to compete in the ultimate test of their skills. You’ll have to defeat each gym leader, earning their badges along the way, and then face off against the Elite Four and the Pokemon Champion. Only then will you be able to call yourself the greatest Pokémon trainer of all time!

So pack your bags, grab your poke ball, and embark on an adventure through the history of Pokemon with us today!

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Let’s travel back in time to the early 1980s,  in a place called Setagaya, Tokyo, where there was a boy named Satoshi Tajirwhen. Satoshi loved catching bugs and collecting them as a hobby when he was young. His friends even called him “Dr. Bug”!  As Satoshi grew up in the bustling city of Tokyo, he noticed that the spaces where he used to hunt for bugs were disappearing as more and more land was being covered by streets and buildings. But Satoshi didn’t want to lose the feeling of catching and collecting creatures, and he dreamed of a way to bring that same joy to other kids.

As he got older, Satoshi became fascinated with arcade games and spent many hours playing them. His love for games like Space Invaders and Dig Dug inspired him to create his own video games. Satoshi took apart his video game system to understand how it worked, and even won a video game idea contest when he was 16 years old! 

Satoshi’s love for video games never went away even though his parents thought he was a troublemaker for spending so much time playing them. He even cut classes to play games. Ove time he made up for it by attending make-up classes and eventually earning his high school diploma. 

Instead of going to college, Satoshi attended a two-year technical degree program at the Tokyo National College of Technology, where he studied electronics and computer science. 

When Satoshi became a little older he made a special magazine that he would write by hand and staple together called “Game Freak”. Game Freak was a magazine that had tips and tricks on how to beat games and find hidden secrets in them. A hidden secret in a game is called an “Easter Egg”. The magazine became so popular that one magazine sold over 10,000 copies! Satoshi’s friend Ken Sugimori was the person who drew the pictures in the magazine, this is called an illustrator. As the two of them wrote this magazine they realized that most video games weren’t very good. So, they decided to make their own games instead! Tajiri learned how to make games by studying and practicing a lot. Finally, in 1989, Tajiri and his friend Sugimori started their own video game company called Game Freak. Their very first game, Quinty, was a big hit and they never looked back!

After several years of developing games for different consoles,  Satoshi Tajirwhen and his friend Ken Sugimori,  decided to talk about  their idea to Nintendo for a game about collecting monsters. The idea was a hit, but it wasn’t easy to convince Nintendo to take a chance on something so unique. Thanks to their previous successes, Game Freak was given the “OK” to develop the game under the help and mentorship of Shigeru Miyamoto. Shigeru Miyamoto was the creator of Super Mario, a video game about an Italian plumber who crawls through green pipes and collects gold coins while trying to save the princess Daisy from the evil Bowser!

Satoshi worked long hard hours on his video games and in an interview once he was asked why he looked so tired and he responded by saying, “I sleep 12 hours and then work 24 hours. I’ve worked those strange hours for the past three years. It’s better to stay up day and night to come up with ideas. I usually get inspiration for game designing by working this schedule.”

After 6 years of long hours and a lot of hard work the world was introduced to Pocket Monsters: Red and Green, the very first Pokémon video games. These games allowed players to catch, collect, and trade over 150 different Pokémon characters. It was an instant hit in Japan, and soon the game was spreading to other parts of the world.

So what is Pokemon? In the world of Pokemon, people known as Pokemon trainers catch and train creatures called Pokemon. Pokemon are fictional animals with unique abilities and characteristics. The trainers then battle their Pokemon against other trainers to determine who is the strongest.

The games and cartoon series follow a young trainer named Ash Ketchum and his journey to become a Pokemon Master. In Japan instead of Ash the main character’s name is Satoshi. If you remember, Satoshi is the creator of Pokemon, so Ash was supposed to be Satoshi when he was a little kid. He travels through different regions, catching and training new Pokemon, making friends and rivals along the way, and participating in many competitions and battles.

When the first Pokemon video games were released in Japan they were an instant success. In the games, players take on the role of a Pokemon trainer, starting with one Pokemon and traveling around the game world to catch and train more. There are now over 800 different species of Pokemon, each with their own unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, that’s a lot of Pokemon to catch!

The thought of catching and training creatures was completely new, and the game offered a sense of adventure and discovery that was unlike anything players had experienced before. The games quickly gained popularity and as Pokemon grew in popularity, it expanded into TV shows, movies, and card games. Kids everywhere were obsessed with the world of Pokémon, and it wasn’t just a game anymore – it became extremely popular and well-known to the point where almost everyone knows about it and it ended up having a big impact on things like movies, TV shows, toys, and games. 

The TV show followed the adventures of Ash Ketchum, a young trainer from Pallet Town, and his trusty Pikachu as they journeyed through different regions, encountering new Pokemon and battling against other trainers.

The success of the TV show led to a boom in the sale of Pokemon merchandise, such as toys, trading cards, and other products. 

One of the main reasons that Pokemon became successful was because the games were designed to be played with friends, and the trading and battling parts of the games encouraged players to connect and compete with one another. 

Over the years, the Pokemon franchise has continued to evolve and expand and Satoshi and Ken’s vision for Pokémon has inspiring a generation of young people to explore the world around them, make new friends, and be creative. Today, Pokemon continues to evolve and grow, offering new adventures and exciting experiences for fans of all ages. And so, the story of Pokémon continues, with new games, new creatures, and new experiences waiting just around the corner.

Just like in a Pokemon battle, we all have strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to remember that everyone is different, and that’s what makes us special. Just because someone is strong in one area doesn’t mean they’re better than someone else. We should respect and appreciate each other’s differences, and work together to achieve our goals. 

More recently, in 2016, the game Pokemon Go was released. It introduced many new gamers to an augmented reality version of Pokemon in which you can walk around the real world and see and catch Pokemon through your handheld device. Pokemon Go became very popular as well and is still played by many gamers today.

Pokemon Poem by Chat GPT: 

In a world of monsters big and small,

There’s a little creature loved by all.

It’s called a Pokemon, have you heard?

It’s captured hearts all around the world.

There’s Pikachu, with cheeks so bright,

And Charmander, all red and white.

Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and so many more,

Each one unique, you can’t ignore.

With special powers and moves to make,

Pokemon battles are never fake.

You’ve got to train and work real hard,

To become the best, to go far.

But even if you don’t compete,

You can collect and make them neat.

Trading cards and figures too,

Pokemon fun is endless, it’s true.

So join the craze, and catch ’em all,

You’ll have a blast, you’ll have a ball.

Adventure awaits, in the great outside.

With Pokemon there, right by your side,

The post History of Pokemon appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Think of some of the objects you saw: family, friends, trees, maybe a pet, or the big blue sky and white moon in the dark of night. Maybe you saw a smile and objects moving, a car speeding by, or someone kicking a ball. Most of these objects are things you are used to. But when you were a baby they were very interesting! You were curious about everything because it was all new and fresh! As we get older many of these things to become familiar and perhaps not as interesting. Tonight we’re going to learn about Leonardo da Vinci, also known as one of the most curious and creative geniuses in recorded history. As we learn about him, think about how he saw the world differently and how you might see the world differently, too. 

When was Leonardo da Vinci born?

Leonardo was born on April 15th, 1452 in the country of Italy in a town called Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci means Leonardo of Vinci, the town where he was born.  He was born during a time that later became known as The Renaissance, which means “Rebirth” because the way people saw the world was changing dramatically during this time. The Medieval Times was over and people were beginning to see themselves as beings who had control over their life and the world and could think differently than those who came before them. 

Childhood & Early Education

Leonardo grew up with his father and spent much of his time exploring the land around their home. He loved to observe the birds and animals and get lost in the beautiful countryside. Around the age of 15, his father noticed he had an interest in and a gift for art. For this reason, his father had him become an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence, Italy. An apprentice is a student to a master artist. And at this time Florence was known for its gifted artists and sculptors. In Verrocchio’s workshop, Leonardo learned from his master how to paint and sculpt. Sculptors used materials like clay or marble to make grand sculptures.   

Leonardo studied and helped with paintings and sculptures in Verrochio’s workshop until he was 20 years old. The next step in an artist’s life was to join a guide and Leonard did just that when he was accepted into the painters’ guild in Florence. A guild was a group of skilled artists who worked and met together. At this time he created many pen and pencil drawings and technical drawings of weapons and other mechanical devices. He was very interested in how things worked and in creating new devices. He loved inventing things! 

Milan and Duke Sforza

In 1482, when he was about 30 years old Leonardo moved to the city of Milan where he worked for the city’s duke, Ludovico Sforza. There he created paintings and worked on inventions for the Duke. The ability to create and improve technical devices is called engineering — and Leonardo was a very gifted engineer. He worked for Duke Sforza for many years. There he painted two of his best-known works The Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper depicting Jesus and his Twelve Apostles. He also helped design buildings and gave the Duke engineering advice for his army. 

One of Leonardo’s other biggest projects was a huge, 24-foot bronze horse for Duke Sforza. He spent 12 years designing it out of clay, which would be a mold to be turned into bronze. Unfortunately, before they could pour the metal into the mold to finish the horse sculpture, the project was stopped, because a war started and the metal had to be used for cannons instead of the horse! In our day, someone decided to get together the money to finally build the horse Leonardo always wanted. If you ever visit Milan, Italy you can see it today!

After the war Duke Sforza was no longer Duke, so Leonardo stopped working for him. Leonardo continued working in his workshop in Milan and soon had his own students and apprentices.

Florence

In the 1500s a French army invaded and took over Milan, so Leonardo left and went to Florence, where he had been an apprentice as a young man. In Florence, he painted his most famous painting, The Mona Lisa. Leonardo was a gifted artist, but he wasn’t afraid to learn new topics and never stopped learning. He was infinitely curious! Leonardo began to study math and science. He studied the human body, which is called anatomy. He also observed the flight of birds and studied the flow of air and water. He looked at everyday objects through different eyes. He wondered how bodies worked, how birds flew, and what gave living things their motion. He didn’t take anything for granted and saw the miracle in everyday life and studied deeply to try and understand it. 

Eventually, Leonardo moved back to Milan and continued his scientific studies, writing and creating many sketchbooks to help others understand the human body and how it worked. He came to believe that all bodies and living things worked according to certain laws of nature, which was very ahead of his time. 

Rome

In 1513, around the age of 60, Leonardo again moved to Rome where he lived in the Vatican and worked for Giuliano de Medici. At this time many of the popular Renaissance artists were living and creating amazing works of art in Rome. The famous St. Peter’s Cathedral was being built at the time and Raphael was painting walls in the Pope’s new apartments. One of the most famous artists of all time, Michaelangelo, was also in Rome working on the Pope’s tomb. 

By the age of 65, Leonardo was asked by the King of France to move there, where he became his main painter, architect, and engineer, which was a great honor. There he continued his sketches and consulted other artists in their works. He also helped plan a palace and garden for the king. He spent a lot of time arranging his writings and sketches about nature in his many notebooks, which fortunately we have today! Leonardo passed away at an old age while living in France.

Leonardo’s Influences

Today we’re lucky to have many of Leonardo’s paintings and notebooks. Many of the ideas he had were for machines that wouldn’t be invented for hundreds of years. For example, in his study of birds and flight, he had the idea for an airplane, a helicopter, and a parachute, which he sketched in his notebooks. He also had the idea for many military machines, such as an armored car, a giant crossbow, and a three-barreled cannon. When you get the chance you can find a book about Leonardo’s inventions at the library or look at them online. They are amazing!

What can you learn from Leonardo?

One of the most interesting things about Leonardo was his ability to take his artistic talents and engineering skills and combine them. He became known as a Renaissance Man because of his curiosity and ability to combine many different skills to invent amazing things. He believed artists were the best qualified to achieve true knowledge, because of the unique way they were able to view the world. Think about that as you observe the miraculous world around you. Never take for granted the little things. Even the smallest living things like a flower or a bee are extraordinary as you look at them closely and learn more about them. Think about what you might do to learn more about the world around you like Leonardo. You could take the time to study a rock or a leaf and sketch it into a notebook as Leonardo did. This is the way he came to better understand the world, one simple object at a time. 

Listen to the audio

The post History of Leonardo da Vinci for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Augusta Ada Byron was born December 10, 1815, in London, England. Her father was Lord Byron, a world-famous poet — and her mother was Lady Anne Isabella Byron. Only a few weeks after Ada was born her parents separated and her father left England. When Ada was 8 he passed away, so Ada never met her famous father. 

Early Childhood

Many times during her childhood, Ada was sick. When she was eight she had lots of headaches, then when she was 14 she had measles and had to stay in bed for nearly a year! Eventually, she was able to walk with crutches, but during this time she continued to study and learn about her favorite subjects such as math.

Unlike most girls at her time, Ada was taught math and science by her tutors. A tutor is someone who teaches children individually, which means she didn’t go to a normal school like kids in our day. Ada’s mother insisted she learned math and science and made sure she worked very hard to be educated. Sometimes her mother made her lie still for long periods of time because she thought it would teach her to have self-control. Self-control is being able to control your emotions and behavior. But from a young age, Ada showed talent with numbers, meaning she was very good at math. 

When Ada was 12, she decided she wanted to figure out how to fly. Very carefully, she planned out how she would do this and first designed her own wings. She tried different materials of different sizes, she studied birds to figure out how they flew. She even wrote a book called Flyology with drawings and descriptions about how someone would fly. Her final idea was to use steam power to fly. She never attempted to fly herself, but her investigations were a good example of how curious she was and the passion she had for a single project.  

Famous Acquaintances

When Ada was young she met many different famous scientists, inventors, and authors due to her social position. She often went to court and became popular even at a young age due to her smarts. At parties, some of the famous people she met were Michael Faraday, Charles Dickens, and Charles Babbage, a well-known inventor. Charles Babbage became Ada’s mentor, which means someone who taught her personally. She began to learn advanced math at this time and was very interested in Babbage’s ideas. Babbage was one of the first people to have the idea for a computer. He imagined a machine that could do the math on its own and he eventually created this machine, which he called The Difference Engine (Learn more about the history of computer science). Ada was fascinated by this new machine — which became one of the earliest versions of a computer. Babbage went on to create another machine called The Analytical Engine.

Ada Publishes Her Ideas

Ada also knew many languages, so she was asked to translate an article about Babbage’s Analytical Engine. But while making the translation she added many of her own ideas. The notes and ideas she added ended up being three times longer than the article! Her article was later published in an English Science Journal. In the article, Ada shared her ideas about how codes could be used to handle letters and numbers. She also had the idea of how these codes could be used to loop computer programs. Because of all of her original ideas, many consider Ada to be the first computer programmer! 

William King

In 1835, Adam married a wealthy Baron named William King, who later became the Earl of Lovelace, so Ada became the Countess of Lovelace. They had three homes and lived in luxury, both sharing a love of horses. Together they also had three children. In 1837 Ada became very sick and due to some of the medications she was given suffered from other problems. At the age of 36, Ada passed away from cancer.

Ada’s Contributions

While she was alive not many people read Ada’s article about computer programming. It wasn’t until the 1950s that her article was found and people realized how brilliant her ideas about computer programming were. Her ideas were shared in new books about computer programming. In 1980 the United States military named their new programming language after her, calling it “Ada.” Also, the Association for Women in Computing has an Ada Lovelace Award each year and since 1988 the British Computer Society awards a Lovelace Medal, named after Ada.  

Like Ada, you can be curious about the world around you and take the time to study subjects such as math and science. Ada not only learned about these subjects, but she took what she learned and started her own projects, like investigating how to fly and writing her own book. Ada showed that it was important to meet lots of different people and learn from their ideas. This is another great way you can learn, too, by meeting new people and asking lots of questions! Have you ever wanted to create your own app or website? You can do this by learning computer programming. If you’re interested in learning more about coding check out code.org or Scratch, which is a website kids can use to learn how to code.

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This isn’t a small boat, this is a very big, shiny white boat, full of people floating down a great river called the Mississippi. The year is 1835 and people are chatting in excitement because the boat is about to stop in the next town. The riverboat’s whistle blows and soon the boat docks and you load off with a large group of people. You are in the bustling town of Hannibal, Missouri, which will someday become famous because of a certain child who grew up here.

When was Mark Twain born?

On November 30, 1835, a boy named Samuel was born to John and Jane Clemens in the United States in Missouri. He was their sixth child and was born early. For many years he was an unhealthy child and his mother always worried about his health. With their big family, his father was always very busy trying to find work to support the family. He dreamed of making a lot of money for his family, but most of his businesses didn’t do well. Later Samuel said he never remembered his father laughing. But his mother Jane was very different. She was very funny and loved to tell stories and make jokes.  

Hannibal, Missouri

When Samuel was 4 his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a town on the banks of the Mississippi River. Hannibal was a busy town and exciting for a boy of Samuel’s age. Three times a day steamboats blew their whistle as they stopped in Hannibal. A steamboat was a large, white steam-powered boat before gas was used to power boats. People from all over Missouri visited Hannibal. This included circuses and tradesmen, such as blacksmiths who made a show of their skills for all to see. To young Samuel, Hannibal was a place of excitement and adventure with all of these new visitors. He and his friend ran around the town freely, pretending to be pirates or other adventurers. They swam in the river, fished, and rowed canoes to the island in the middle of the Mississippi River. Two miles from town was a cave he and his friends liked to explore. When Samuel got older he used all of these adventures in Hannibal as part of the stories he wrote. 

But Hannibal was also a dangerous place. Slavery was common at the time, so he saw people of African descent treated badly. Many people in town also had to deal with disease and hardship from being poor. Samuel’s family was very poor. But he still played with his friends and tried to make the best of his life in Hannibal. 

When Samuel was 13 he started working to help take care of his family. He worked at a print shop and later for his brother’s newspaper and started writing stories for the newspaper at a young age. At age 17 he left Hannibal and traveled across the United States, working in places like New York, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. where he had different jobs. 

Riverboat Pilot

In his 20s Samuel began learning how to be a riverboat pilot, the person who drove the big steamboats up and down the Mississippi River. After much training and practice, he was piloting boats himself and loved the job. It gave him purpose and with it, he felt like he might go somewhere in life. He was paid him well and he enjoyed visiting new places every day. During this time he started writing more and first came up with the idea for his pen name. A pen name is a made-up name some authors give themselves. Whenever a riverboat wanted to measure the depth of the river they would call out “Mark Twain!” He thought it would make a great pen name, too.

Civil War

Samuel’s job as a riverboat pilot was cut short by the start of the Civil War. He returned to his hometown of Hannibal and was a soldier for a short time. The next job he found was a reporter, where he got to write all of the time. This is when he first started using his pen name, “Mark Twain.” Not long after this, he moved to San Francisco and continued writing as a reporter. His writing was very funny and soon he became very popular in the area. As his writing became more and more known around the country, he started touring and speaking. Americans loved listening to his funny stories about his life. Part of the reason they enjoyed what he said and wrote is that he was very honest, even when it offended others. With his growing popularity, he even started traveling outside of the United States where he visited faraway places like Europe and Jerusalem. During his trip, he wrote about his experiences and sent them back to the newspaper and they were read all across the United States and around the world. 

Tom Sawyer

It was at this time that he met Olivia Langdon, fell in love, and was married. He continued to write for magazines and newspapers and eventually started writing his books starting with one called The Gilded Age and one of his most famous books, Tom Sawyer. Tom Sawyer was about a rowdy, trickster, similar to himself and his friends who grew up in a town similar to Hannibal. Tom, his friend Becky Thatcher, and other friends played pranks, and went on adventures, which included an exciting escape from a cave with treasure. 

Huckleberry Finn

After Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain (we’ll call him by his pen name now) started working on a book called Huckleberry Finn. He wrote the book as if Huck Finn was writing it, using his same language. It took him many years to write the book, because he would often get frustrated or stuck and move to other projects, and then start work on it again. When it was finally finished, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published. In some ways similar to Tom Sawyer it was about a rowdy boy who doesn’t want to be civilized and his escape from his adopted family with a runaway slave named Jim. Together they float down the Mississippi River and struggle to stay alive and avoid being caught. To this day it’s considered one of the best American novels.

Mark Twain continued to write the rest of his life. He had many ups and downs, parts of his life were very hard, but he always kept writing. During the last years of his life he made friends with a group of 10 to 12 young school girls, who he called the “angel fish.” They wrote letters back and forth and helped cheer up Mark Twain who was growing older. He also spent his last years writing his autobiography. An autobiography is when someone writes their own history. Samuel Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, died on April 12, 1910. 

Conclusion

There is a famous quote associated with Mark Twain that says “write about what you know.” He spent most of his life writing about what he experienced and what he knew. He loved writing about his wild childhood in Hannibal, his life along the Mississippi River and his travels throughout the river. It’s fun to write about far off places or fantasy, I know I like writing about those things, but it’s also good to spend time writing about the things we know, the things that happen to us every day. A lot of people use a journal to do this. Think about starting your own journal. You can start simple, maybe it’s just a few sentences at first. But many people find writing in a journal helps them clear their mind and be reminded of what they are grateful for. Like Mark Twain, you can observe the world around you and write about it. He found much joy in it and so can you!

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By Edgar Allan Poe:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—

            Only this and nothing more.

This is the opening of one of the most famous poems in American History.  It is called “The Raven” and is written by Edgar Allan Poe.  

Read more Edgar Allan Poe poems.

Edgar Allan Poe was a writer who became famous for his dark, mysterious poems and stories.  His storytelling inspired many later writers to write mystery and detective stories. And Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poems often come to mind for people this time of year near Halloween as the evenings get darker and spookier.

Edgar Allan Poe’s Early Life

Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 in Boston Massachusetts. His parents were both actors.  His mom was an actress from Britain and his dad worked in the theatres in Baltimore.  Unfortunately, Edgar never knew his parents, as they both died when he was very young.

After the death of his parents, Edgar was sent to live with his godfather in Virginia.  His godfather’s name was John Allan.  He owned a tobacco company and was very wealthy. 

Edgar enjoyed writing when he was very young and by the time he was 13, he had written many, many poems.  But Edgar’s godfather wanted him to learn more about business and not poetry so that Edgar could work at his tobacco company one day.  He told Edgar not to focus on writing anymore, but to learn about business.  Edgar listened, but entirely.  While he was supposed to be learning business lessons, he sneakily wrote poems on the back of his godfather’s business papers!

Education

When Edgar was old enough, he went to college. He did well at school but life became difficult for him at this time.  His uncle gave him money to pay for school, but Edgar also started gambling to pay for the rest.  Gambling means playing games of chance for money.  It can be quite exciting, as people that play hope to get rich.  But it also causes many people to lose all their money.  And this is what happened to Edgar.  After losing a lot of money, Edgar ended up in debt. This means that he owed money to others and no longer had any money for himself.  Around this time, Edgar also had his heart broken by his neighbor and childhood sweetheart when she became engaged to another man. 

Military Academy

Edgar Allan Poe dealt with his sadness about these things by moving away to Boston. He continued to write and he published his first book in 1827 when he was 18 years old.  He also joined the U.S. Army.  His uncle helped him get a position with the United States Military Academy at West Point.  But then he and his uncle did not get along and Edgar eventually left West Point to focus on writing full-time. 

Full-time Writer

As a full-time writer, Edgar traveled around to various cities in Eastern America, including New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Richmond. Edgar was quite poor because being a writer did not pay very much money. Edgar got a break when one of his short stories won a writing contest.  He began to publish more short stories and eventually got a job as an editor with a magazine in Richmond. 

Edgar got married when he was 22 to his cousin Virginia.  It was common at that time for people to marry their distant relatives. Edgar wrote a number of mystery stories around this time which were quite popular.  It was these kinds of stories that earned him a reputation as the father of the modern detective story.

Edgar had an aggressive personality, which means that he was often critical and mean to others.  He was difficult to work with and so he did not last in his job very long before being fired. Edgar found other editor jobs at magazines, but they never lasted very long. 

The Raven

In 1845, when Edgar Allan Poe was 36, he published “The Raven”.  People loved the strange and creepy story and he suddenly became extremely popular.  Edgar and his wife Virginia moved to New York City at this time to launch a new magazine called the Broadway Journal.  Sadly, his wife Virginia became ill and died of tuberculosis.  

Even though Edgar became a popular writer after this, he continued to struggle to have enough money. He died in 1849 at the age of 40. 

Later Fame

Edgar Allan Poe lived a short life but had a great impact through his writing. His poems are still read and studied today, over 150 years later.  Although Edgar’s life had many difficulties and sadness, there is a lot that we can learn from him.  

Edgar was passionate about writing at a young age and wrote all the time.  Even when he was told to go into business for a job, he still continued to write and pursue his passion. Because of his endless efforts to be a writer, Edgar became better each time he wrote and eventually found success in his lifetime and after.  He created a new wave of writing that inspired future writers to write detective stories. 

Conclusion

Is there something that you are passionate about that you could pursue as Edgar Allan Poe did?  Have you ever tried writing poetry?  There are many ways that we can use our hobbies to inspire ourselves even when times are tough.  In fact, many people use creative hobbies to help them overcome difficult times in life.  If you’ve never tried writing a poem, get out a pencil and paper tomorrow and see what you can create! 

Learn about other famous authors!

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Tesla Car Company

Have you ever heard of a Tesla car? Teslas are very fast cars, but unlike most sports cars, Teslas are electric-powered not gas-powered. Teslas are becoming very popular because they are one way to prevent carbon emissions and help the environment. Although you may be familiar with the name Tesla because of the famous car, you may not be aware of where the name came from. Tesla cars are named after an inventor named Nikola Tesla. Tonight we’re going to learn more about Telsa and why he became so well known.

Nikola Tesla’s Birth and Early Life

In 1865, Nikola Tesla was born to Serbian parents in what is now known as Croatia. His father was an Orthodox Priest and his mother never went to school but was a very intelligent woman. She was known for inventing her own electrical gadgets to be used around the house. Nikola later said his great intelligence came from his gifted mother.

Growing up Nikola went to school like most kids and studied German, math, and religion. They moved to a new town where his father was a priest and there he attended elementary and middle school. During high school, Nikola had a physics teacher who showed his class the power of electricity. When Nikola saw it he was amazed and wanted to learn more about this wonderful force. It was here that Nikola did so well in his math classes that the teachers thought he was cheating because he could do difficult math in his head, without using paper.

Nikola Tesla’s Education

Not long after graduating from high school, Nikola became very sick and spent nine months in bed, but finally, he got better. His father wanted him to become a priest like he was, but Nikola was more interested in engineering. Engineering is the science of designing and building things. 

Nikola went to the university in Graz, Austria for a time and did very well there. It was there that he first learned about a dynamo, which is used to generate electricity. He started to have ideas about how he could make it work better. Nikola worked very hard while in school. It was said he worked from 3 am to 11 pm and didn’t take breaks on the weekend. His friends and family worried if he didn’t slow down he would become sick from over-working himself.

After university Nikola moved to the country of Hungary and started working for a telegraph company. The telegraph was used to communicate by sending signals along a wire before the telephone was invented. While there, Nikola helped them improve the telegraph equipment! 

Thomas Edison

Nikola Tesla’s next job was in Paris working for one of Thomas Edison’s power companies. Thomas Edison was a famous American inventor known for designing the lightbulb among other inventions. From there Tesla moved first moved to America and got a job working directly with Thomas Edison. He was very poor at the time and arrived in America with only a few cents in his pockets and a few poems he had written. 

Alternating Current

Unfortunately, his work with Thomas Edison didn’t last long. Instead, Tesla took his ideas to Edison’s competitor, George Westinghouse, who bought his idea for the alternating current dynamo. Direct current is what Thomas Edison used and worked by sending an electrical current one way, but Tesla’s idea was to switch the directions in the current was sent. To this day Tesla’s alternating current is used more than direct current. 

Tesla’s Other Inventions

Next, Tesla started his own lab and experimented with ideas that helped pave the way for the x-ray. He also created the Tesla coil, which was later used for sending radio waves through the air or radios and televisions. It was around this time that the World’s Columbian Exposition was to be held in Chicago in 1893. This was an enormous world fair where people from all over the world would visit Chicago to see exciting new inventions and experience new things. This also started a competition between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla over whether AC (alternating current) or DC (direct current) would be used to power the huge world’s fair. In the end, Telsa’s alternating current won the match and it was used to power the World’s Columbian Exposition. 

Telsa went on to create the first hydroelectric power generator at Niagara Falls, New York. Hydroelectric means water power is used to create electricity. 

Telsa’s next big project was a huge electrical tower in Long Island, New York, which he planned to use to send radio waves all around the world. It was called the Wardenclyffe Tower. At this time a different tower was being built by Guglielmo Marconi to do a similar thing. Tesla got started on his tower, but Marconi beat him by sending a signal across the Atlantic Ocean first. This caused the people paying for Tesla’s tower to change their minds causing the project to fail.

Nikola continued to come up with new ideas, but most of his designs stayed in his notebooks and he didn’t get a chance to actually build them. 

For anyone who listened to the last Bedtime History episode about Mark Twain, you’ll be interested to know that Mark Twain and Tesla were friends. While growing up, Tesla read many of Mark Twain’s novels and so he was excited to finally meet him after moving to America. Twain was interested in Tesla’s inventions and often visited his lab and participated in experiments. He also gave him money to help with his new inventions.

Later in Nikola Tesla’s life, he won awards for his past inventions, and in 1937 when he passed away many around the world mourned his death. Someone was quoted as saying that he was “one of the outstanding intellects of the world who paved the way for many of the technological developments of modern times.”

Conclusion

Nikola faced many difficulties in his life, but he continued to learn and apply his mind to designing new things and improving the things around him. Like Tesla, you can be curious about the world around you. In school, he saw the power of electricity and wanted to learn how it worked. He found new ways to use it to improve the lives of people all over the world. Learning how to invent and improve things is a combination of learning how the forces in the world work, like physics, and what things are made up of, called chemistry — and then using creativity to apply that knowledge about the world. This is why it’s a good idea to pay attention in school and take the time outside of school to dig deeper and really understand how the world works.

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Have you ever played with Lego?

I grew up playing with Lego and was one of my favorite past times. On Sunday afternoons we often dumped the big box of legos onto a blanket and spent hours using the legos to build all kinds of imaginative things. Lego was amazing because, unlike most toys, those awesome little bricks could become anything as your imagination run wild. Once I had my own kids, they got into Lego as well. My daughters love the Lego Friends sets and my son has many Lego City sets, but Minecraft sets are his recent favorite. We also have a huge tub of Lego I bought from a friend a few years ago and now my kids love to dump it onto a huge blanket and create things for hours on end. With the quarantine in place, we’ve been spending a lot more time with Lego. In fact, right now we have a table out and they build the Lego police station my son has played the police while my daughter plays the robbers and they pretend to be breaking out of the station. 

400 billion

Do you know how many Lego bricks have ever been built? 400 billion! Can you believe that!? Each year there are 20 billion bricks being made. 50 million every day and 36,000 made every minute in the Lego factories.

Think about how many people around the world enjoy Lego. Now imagine a world where there is no Lego. It’s kind of hard to imagine right, because so many people have spent so many hours enjoying Lego. But the reality is that could have happened — if it wasn’t for the birth of a man named Ole Kirk Christiansen.

Ole Kirk Christiansen

Ole was born over 100 years ago in Denmark, in the year 1891. He had a big family, 10 kids, and they were quite poor. When Ole was 14 he became an apprentice to his older brother, Kristian who was a carpenter. A carpenter is someone who builds things with wood. With his brother, Ole learned how to work with wood and make useful things like furniture. In 1911 Ole left his hometown and worked in Germany and then other places in Denmark — and then after 5 years returned and used the money he had saved to buy his own carpentry shop, so he could have his own shop and run his own business. 

Ole’s Family

Around this time Kristian also got married to a woman named Kirstine and had 4 sons: Johannes, Karl, Gottfried, and Gerhardt. Sadly, his wife Kirstine died while having their fourth son, so Ole was left to take care of them himself. And to make matters worse, in 1924 when some of the boys were playing in his carpentry shop, there was an accident, the shop caught fire and burned down. But Ole didn’t give up. He drew up plans and got to work building a new carpentry shop and home for his little family. And he continued working! 

Wooden Toys

Even though Ole was working hard as a carpenter times were tough, but he did find that when he made small objects for others like toy ladders and toy furniture, they were very popular. So he started making more toys. Around this time his son Gottfried joined in and they started designing new toys such as cars, trucks, airplanes, and boats. These toys were made out of the best birchwood and painted and finished to the highest standards. It was important to Ole that his toys were made well and of high quality. They had a big sign in the carpentry shop that read “Only the Best is Good Enough.”

As Ole hired new people to work in his shop and the company grew he decided to give it a name. They finally came up with the Danish phrase “Leg Godt,” which means “play well.” He smooshed the two words together and got “Lego!” 

Plastic Toys

By 1947 plastic was becoming more and more common, so Ole bought an injection-molding machine so they could make plastic toys. It was a very expensive machine, but Ole believed it would be worth it if they wanted to keep making beautiful toys. Soon all of their 200 different toys were made out of plastic. And Lego was a family business. All of his sons helped in the business. Godtfred was the managing director and later President of the company, Karl was the director of plastic production, and Gerhardt was the director of wood products manufacturing.

At this time, a different company was creating plastic bricks that could be stacked on top of each other to build things. Lego started creating a similar toy, but it was until 1954 that Gerhardt, Ole’s son, was talking to someone and came up with the idea for a toy building system — that all of these little pieces could be combined in all kinds of creative ways to create entirely new toys. [demonstrate with actual lego] If you’ve ever fiddled with lego, you sort of start with just a pile of meaningless pieces, but as you tinker and try things they start to turn into something new and wonderful! [fast motion video of kids playing lego with the pile — and showing their own creations]. There are other toys like this — if you’ve ever used Kinects, erector sets, or games like Minecraft, that let you build things. So Gerhardt, in his wonderful mind, started imagining this new building system, but the problem was the bricks didn’t lock together, snap together so nicely and tight like they do today. So for five years, they searched for the right kind of plastic and design that would let them build the perfect, snapping lego. 

Lego Building System

Finally, on January 28, 1958, they patented the Lego building system using ABS polymer as the plastic. And this ended up being the same year that Ole Christiansen passed away and his sons took over the company, with Gerhardt becoming the President or CEO. 

So you’re beginning to see how big things like Lego don’t happen in a day. Someone like Ole or Godfred didn’t just wake up and build the first lego. It started with the carpenter shop, then building toys, then plastic toys, then stacking bricks, which led to the next idea, the bricks, and a more complex building system. Most history is like this, which is what makes it fun for me! To see how things, change and evolve and step by step become what they are today. 

So by this time Lego is selling their bricks and creating new sets for kids all over the world to play with. These ranged from houses to vehicles to spacecraft. 

In 1969 came Duplo, which many of you may have played with. I know we have lots of Duplos that the kids use before they get into lego. 

Lego Facts

In 1978 the first Minifigure was created.

Today Lego is made in factories in Billund, Denmark, and other places in the world using huge injection molding machines. And Lego is now more than just a toy. They have Lego movies now and theme parks, and a few years ago Lego replaced Ferrari as the world’s most powerful brand. 

In 2011 the Space Shuttle Endeavor took 13 lego kits to the International Space Station to see how lego would react in microgravity. I thought that was pretty cool. 

In 2013 the largest lego model was created in New York City. It was a life-size X-Wing with over 5 million pieces. The other world records include a 112-foot tower 2 ½ mile railway.

Watch a live video about Lego with Breck

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