Robot Zoo

Based around large-scale working models designed to illustrate the mechanical principles that allow living creatures to perform extraordinary feats of endurance, camouflage or speed, the Horniman Museum's 'Robot Zoo' shows how constructive an interactive exhibition can be when it's well thought through.

During our visit, kinetic learners timed themselves as they dangled from a bar in order to understand how bats benefit from a locking mechanism that keeps them hooked upside down. The way camouflage works became clear as children swathed themselves in animal prints, stood in front of a similarly patterned wall and looked for themselves in a monitor, only to discover that they'd practically disappeared. Toddlers with tortoise shells strapped to their backs crawled around a mini racetrack. Whether they learned anything as a result is debatable, but they looked cute.

The impressive models that form the basis of the exhibition - including a grasshopper, a chameleon, a giraffe, a squid, a fly and a rhinoceros - are as attractive as they are sturdy, and every exhibit was in working order (not always a given).

Lighting in the exhibition was very dim - whether this was to simulate an animal habitat or create an atmosphere that mitigates against the kind of mindless mayhem that can sometimes prevail at an interactive exhibition wasn't clear. What wasn't in doubt was the pleasure families were having learning together.