Museum Guide

A.C.'s Backyard - completed June 6, 1998

The largest community-built project in Salem’s history resulted in the finest outdoor children’s discovery center in the Northwest. It took 19 days, over 6,000 volunteers, 20 miles of lumber, 2 tons of nails, and unending community support to create the masterpiece of A.C.’s Backyard. Climb the world’s largest erector set tower, play marimbas in the musical ensemble deck, explore the inside of an animal cell, or become the captain of a paddle wheeler. These are just a few of the fantastic adventures you will have in our Outdoor Discovery Center. Photo by Ron Cooper.

Erector Set Tower

The most famous and popular of A.C. Gilbert’s inventions was the Erector Set, introduced in 1913. The Erector Set was not only used by children to build toys, but also used by architects and engineers to build models of real structures and machines. In A.C.’s Backyard, you can climb inside our playful Erector Set creation, the Giant Erector Set Tower. At 52 feet, the Tower is the largest of its kind in the world. Three giant slides, including one that is two stories high, and a maze complete the tower.

Try This: How many different ways can you find to reach the tallest slide in the tower? Choose your favorite route. Now try to retrace your path and go back exactly the way you came. It’s not as easy as it sounds.

American Flyer Train

A.C. Gilbert made American Flyer Trains famous. Under his guidance, they became the most popular toy trains ever made. Climb aboard our American Flyer Train. Imagine hearing the engine chug & the whistle blow.

Try This: Imagine that you are the conductor of the train. Where will you go? What will you carry?

Try This: Pretend that you are driving a train through the wild West to the pioneer town of Salem. Make up a story about your adventure.

City of Salem Paddlewheeler

The roads in the late 1800s in Oregon were not efficient. Various wagon trails could be found all over Oregon, but none could move people and goods as easily as the Willamette River that served as the main route to transport goods and people into and out of the Willamette Valley. Paddlewheelers were one form of transportation used on the river for passenger travel. The paddlewheeler here is a model of the City of Salem, a beautiful ship that once served the people of Salem.

Try This: Become the captain of the City of Salem 100 years ago. Who will you pick up? Where will your next stop be? It’s up to you!

Try This: Devise a plan to abandon ship in the event of an emergency.

Mammoth Dig

Imagine a giant mammoth crossing A.C.’s Backyard 20,000 years ago and settling down in a sand pit. Now, eons later, you can dig this prehistoric mammoth’s bones in our Mammoth Dig. With a little exploration, you can also uncover many other prehistoric creatures.

Try This: Can you find all of the fossils in the picture below? How many other animals can you find? How can you tell if the animal was a dinosaur? Can you find any fossils of plants?

Gilbert Rocks

Professional rock climbers often practice on simulated rock walls. You can try out the exciting sport of rock-climbing on our easy horizontal wall climb at the south end of A.C.’s Backyard. Please stay on the hand holds and away from the top ledge.

Try This: Starting on the left side, how far across the wall can you climb without touching the ground?

Try This: Go as far as you did in the first activity touching the fewest number of hand and foot holds.

Miniature Village

Take a walk through the global village as you visit homes of people from around the world. Climb through the mud and sapling walls of a traditional Aboriginal hut, or imagine that you are a pioneer in a snug log cabin. Endless opportunities for make-believe abound in this tiny village of global dimensions.

Try This: What do the houses in the village have in common? How are they different? Which house would you like to live in?

Try This: Which house would be best to take shelter from a flood, hot sun, or an earthquake?

Giant Animal Cell

Imagine shrinking to a size so small that you could only be seen with a microscope. How would the world look? Find out as you climb inside a giant animal cell, magnified so large that you can walk right inside the nucleus and see the DNA! For a fun way to access the cell, use our Spider Web Climber!

Try This: All animal cells have the following structures in common. How many cell structures from the picture below can you identify in the Giant Animal Cell?

Discovery Garden

Wander through the raised beds and pathways of a quiet corner of A.C.’s Backyard, the Discovery Garden. You will find an herb, vegetable, an annual garden, a small pond, and a garden featuring the native plants and shrubs of the Pacific Northwest. The garden is maintained by the hands and hearts of our volunteers.

Try This: Rub some of the herbs between your fingers. Do you recognize any of the scents?

Try This: Walk through the native garden. How many of the plants do you recognize from the mural in our Into the Woods exhibit?

Global Games Amphitheater

When not filled with live demonstrations and activities, the amphitheater is a great spot to enjoy a picnic lunch and play a global variety of games on our kid-designed, hand-carved game tables.

Try This: Games pieces for tabletop games are available to check out in the gift shop. Try one of your favorites, such as checkers, or play a new game.

Try This: Try to solve the spinning block puzzles. At the Alphabet Blocks, match up pictures, letters, and words across the board. At the Number Blocks, try to make the blocks add up to 15 horizontally, diagonally, and vertically.

Talk Boxes

Hunt for the four speaker boxes hidden throughout A.C.'s Backyard. Have a friend stand and one box while you stand at another. Talk back and forth. Do you know why the boxes work? Air passing over your vocal cords causes them to vibrate when you talk. The talk tube captures these vibrations (sound waves) and channels them from one end to the other.

Try This: Can you find all four Talk Boxes? Work with a friend to discover if all the Talk Boxes are connected.

Try This: Both the Space Talk Tube and the Echo Tube change the sounds you make before they reach your ear. How are the sounds of each tube different? What do you think happens to the sound waves in each tube?

Musical Ensemble Deck

Try your hand at playing different instruments from around the world, including a variety of marimbas and a South American rainwheel. Get your toes tapping as you rock A.C.’s Backyard with your own global tunes. Follow the space talk tube on its twisting trail through A.C.’s Backyard. Have a friend stand at one end and you at the other. Try carrying on a conversation. What happens to your voice? Why do you think it sounds so funny?

Echo Tube

Shout and clap into this 75 foot tube and experience its amazing sound effects. Sound bounces off the capped end of the tube and is returned to your ear, altered by the rippled interior of the tube and by the distance the sound must travel. How do the sounds change when they are returned to your ear?

Try This: Pick out a simple tune such as “Hot Cross Buns” or “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on one of the marimbas. Do some of the marimbas work better for playing these tunes than others? Why do you think this is?

Try This: Gather several friends together at different instruments. Start a steady beat all together, and then make variations on it.

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