Mpls.-Based 'KidZibits' Creates Unique Learning Environments

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Minneapolis-based company's work has been used as a teaching tool for kids across the country and world.

We're talking about KidZibits. It's a company is full of creative geniuses who put their imagination to the test every day, bringing smiles to both children and adults for the last 15 years.

KidZibits co-founder Jim Clark worked for the Minnesota Children's Museum for better part of two decades. That's when he decided he wanted to get back to building.

"I like the machines. I like the materials and I really love creating something that's really awesome," Clark said. "I have been doing it since I was probably 13 or 14 years old."

While he may not feel like the teen he once was, he enjoys being more hands on with the creative process.

"My back doesn't [feel like I am 13 anymore], but, yeah, it's a euphoric experience," Clark said.

Project Manager Dave Mink says in a single year their small team will design and construct some 30 different exhibits.

Their work can sometimes be seen locally, like their Thomas the Tank Engine exhibit, which visited the Minnesota Children's Museum. The exhibits have also traveled internationally to Vietnam, Abu-Dhabi, and Egypt.

"As the world more and more connected, more and more communities see the need to have a children's museum," Mink said.

When WCCO visited the KidZibits work space, the design team was currently working on two major projects: "da Vinci the Dreamer," which is headed to Michigan, and a "life size" airplane which will be shipped to a museum in San Antonio.

"Da Vinci's inventions used gears to give a mechanical advantage, and so this a prototype of whether a child would be able to turn and be able to understand how gears transfer energy," Mink said.

The da Vinci project is set to be complete this fall.

"It seems like over time things just keep getting better and the latest [project] is our favorite," said Clark.

No matter what the task, these kids at heart seem to have their assignment down.