An Interactive Caribbean “Mango Farm”

Virgin Islands Children’s Museum

Fruitful Collaboration

Boss Display partnered with Alpine Securities USVI on a new exhibit for the Virgin Island Children’s Museum located in St. Thomas. The goal was to create an educational experience that pays homage to life in the Virgin Islands. The team chose a farm-to-market theme and landed on the concept of building an interactive Mango Farm. Boss Display designed, developed, and fabricated custom elements for the project that were inspired by the local environment and culture. Every component of the experience was designed to engage visitors in various aspects of the farm-to-market process. The exhibit immerses guests in the process of growing mango trees, picking the fruit, sorting it, and selling it at a market.


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Visitors can play together in the island café or use the checkout counter to “purchase“ their produce.

Various custom graphics are mounted throughout the gallery, completing the aesthetic of the Mango Farm.

Guests can operate the pretend play cherry picker or climb the stair to harvest the fruit.

 
 

Caribbean Touches

Mangos are one of the most popular fruits in the local area. They’re sold at farmer’s markets and roadside stands around the Virgin Islands. Sustainable agriculture is an important consideration in the Caribbean. Each element of the exhibit allows visitors to take in various facets of the farm-to-market process through open-ended play. The learning experience is designed for active participation and reflects scenes from the local environment that mirror real life.

 
 

Colorful balls can be sent into the overhead track and into the mango trees using the decorative blower cabinet.

Users can weigh and purchase their produce at the checkout counter.

Plant your mango seeds and watch them “grow” as as they are sent into the mango tree using the handwheel conveyor belt system.

 
 

Bringing the Mango Farm to Life

Boss Display collaborated with the client on multiple redesigns, color changes and rearrangements until the right layout was achieved. Upon completion of the design for the Mango Farm, the museum was so excited that a new larger space was approved to seamlessly accommodate every feature of the exhibit. The final iteration of the floor plan makes the best possible use of the space. Boss Display worked on everything from the general design and gallery layout to the custom graphics on the signage. Finally, Boss Display sent a team of highly skilled fabricators to install the project and bring the Mango Farm to life.

 
 
“From collaborative design to installation, Boss Display was a pleasure to work with. Boss produced a beautiful Mango Farm to Market exhibit that serves to celebrate our local culture while facilitating a unique fun-filled interactive experience!”
— AMBER MCCAMMON, PROGRAMS DIRECTOR & CURATOR AT THE VIRGIN ISLANDS CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
 
 

An Immersive Educational Ecosystem

In one area, visitors pick fruit from two vibrant mango trees while others climb the “cherry picker” to harvest mangos and transfer them to the pickup truck. In another area, visitors “plant seeds” in raised planter beds fashioned with angled troughs that move the mangos toward a conveyor and lift them up onto a ball track when someone turns the wheel. Guests can meet and work together at the Island Cafe or ring up customers at the checkout counter. Every element of the exhibit piques the imagination and encourages participation in pretend play. Boss Display successfully created a sustainable ecosystem that helps visitors learn about the Mango Farm from a variety of angles through self-directed immersion.

 
 

The sloped bed of the pickup truck sends fruit into the bottom storage of the mango stand where guests can choose their desired mangoes.

The hand painted mural along the walls adds a fun touch to this immersive learning environment.

Features:

  • Mango Trees | Two mango trees function as ball catches. One is fed from a ball launch blower cabinet and the other is fed from a conveyor. Both feed points lift the balls onto a track which carries them to the trees and drops them in from above. The balls fall into one of five tubes inside the tree and roll to various catch points on the tree’s exterior. Guests “pick” the mangos from these endpoints.

  • Cherry Picker | Guests can sit inside the faux vehicle or walk up the side staircase to “pick” mangoes from the tree to use in other parts of the gallery.

  • Blower Ball Launch | A small round cabinet houses a blower that feeds air through a clear tube. Visitors feed balls into the system, which shoots them up into the track above.

  • Checkout Counter | A small cabinet structure includes a scale and a large calculator that acts as a cash register. Guests can go through checkout to “purchase” fruit from the fruit stand or “sell” fruit picked from the trees.

  • Raised Planter | A small cabinet has five holes where mangos can be placed as if the guest is “planting a seed” in the ground. The mangos roll through an angled trough where they’re set in place to be picked up by a conveyor. As a guest turns the wheel, the conveyor track moves up and around, lifting the mangos up and dumping them onto a ball track that leads back to one of the mango trees.

  • Pickup Truck & Fruit Stand | Guests can sit inside the front of the faux truck. In the back, there is a sloped truck bed where guests can drop mangoes picked from the trees. The fruit stand structure houses three internal tubes which route the balls into different bins. Guests can “purchase” mangos from these bins.

  • Island Cafe | A pretend cafe structure includes a small counter, faux sink and faucet where guests can serve each other.

 
 

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