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Table offers hands-on fun

• An interactive Albany children's museum makes use of Hyper LLC's space-age technology.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — Five-year-old Kendell Sanders touches the glass on the 52-inch screen and manipulates a puzzle piece into place with a movement of her hand. When the piece locks in, celebratory fireworks go off and a number flashes at the top of the screen, adding to Kendell’s growing point total.

Such is the magic of Albany-based Hyper LLC’s HyperScreens digital table, one of a series of digital display products designed, developed and built by the fledgling company for applications whose only limitation is that of its owner’s imagination.

“You’re not going to find a table like that anywhere in this region,” Chris Conlon, managing director of Hyper LLC, said of the digital wonder at Albany’s IS Kids Interactive Children’s Museum. “It was built the old-fashioned way, piece by piece in my garage.

“We’re allowing IS Kids to demo the table because we think what they’re doing here is amazing, and it’s a perfect place to show off one of the many applications of our HyperScreens.”

IS Kids, located at 2401 Dawson Road, is the only interactive children’s museum in the United States recognized by the faith-based Regional Association of Children’s Museums and is one of only three in the world, according to President/Founder Marie Sanders. And the museum is getting great response to Hyper’s digital table.

“The table was a wonderful new exhibit for the museum, and kids of all ages have just loved it,” Sanders said. “From 2-year-olds who stand on their tippy-toes to reach the table to adults who are mesmerized by it, it has opened a huge educational opportunity.

“There’s a sci-fi quality to the table that you just don’t get from any other piece of equipment that’s out there. And its interactive capabilities allow children to make contact with other kids from all over the world in a safe environment.”

Sanders knows about education. A teacher in the Sylvester school system, she used many of the activities that are featured at the IS Kids museum in her classroom.

“One of my students came up to me one day and said ‘Mrs. Sanders, can we do this on Saturdays?’ ” she says. “That planted a seed.”

So Sanders left her job and, with her mother, Charlotte Bogert, designed and filled the 3,200-square-feet of exhibit space with interactive equipment that expands the educational horizons of her target audience. The nonprofit museum opened on Aug. 1 of last year and has become an instant hit.

“Albany has graciously opened its arms to our idea,” Sanders said. “We’ve gotten a tremendous response from all demographics in the region. Everyone seems to love the concept.”

IS Kids is open to the public from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays and from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The museum is open on Mondays, by appointment, free of charge for special needs groups, and birthday parties are scheduled on Fridays and Saturdays. Cooking classes are conducted for children ages 5-12 Monday evenings.

The HyperScreens interactive table will be available at the museum for a while longer.

“It just fits perfectly with what they’re doing at IS Kids,” Hyper partner Mike McComb said. “The touch-screen technology opens up an amazing world to the kids there.”

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