New exhibit helps kids to connect with how the internet works

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - The internet is a space used everyday by billions of people worldwide.

With the influence the internet has on daily life the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota is teaming up with Consolidated Communications in Mankato to teach kids more about how it all works.

“It is a part of our everyday life the internet and yet how does it really work?” director of community impact for the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota Sue Larsen said. “It really is an opportunity to shed some light on something that is around us and yet is a bit of a mystery.”

The exhibit features things like a LEGO built city and a table top painted by local artists and yarn to show the connection the internet has across different buildings.

Whether it be a video sent by a family member on social media or online shopping, Consolidated Communications and the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota wanted to create a simple way to show off the process.

“It sometimes seems like to some it is magic or it is super complex and we wanted to break it down into how signals get passed from one location to another,” senior manager of network engineering for Consolidated Communications Mark Sharpless said.

The Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota aims to ignite the natural curiosity of every child through the power of play in an interactive environment.

“Children can be hands on and have a view of this small landscape of how the internet might work with a school, with a hospital, with their home,” Larsen said. “So it brings it back with things that are real with them as well.”

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