The MAD Museum has Christmas all wrapped up!

The MAD Museum (Mechanical Art and Design) has everything all wrapped up for Christmas whether it's a unique and quirky gift or treating someone to a day out interacting with 90 pieces of kinetic art and automata. Located in Stratford-upon-Avon's most popular tourist street, also home to Shakespeare's Birthplace, visitors can watch and interact with mind-boggling mechanical creations such as flying mechanical birds, clever clocks & witty characters. They can also build marble runs and learn some engineering and physics principals along the way.

Two new pieces have recently gone on display for visitors to enjoy. The first, designed by Artist David Williams, demonstrates how magnetic fields work. The exhibit is technically two sculptures which produce different geometric shapes. The inner workings of the sculptures consist of Meccano mechanisms. Using a planetary motion, the rotation movement moves the magnets, which in turn, trigger a reaction on the surface. The magnets force the iron fillings to travel through the sand making interesting geometric patterns.

The second exhibit, known as The Sextus Wooden Clock, was built by Clive Stewart and designed by David Atkinson. Clive was challenged to follow over 30 pages of instructions to put together hundreds of varying parts. The construction took around a week to complete. The clock is 'high geared' so it runs for a long time without winding, but the force driving the cogs is very small.

Following the success of their Gift Shop, the MAD Museum has launched an online shop and added over 30 of their bestselling items to buy. There is a fantastic range of gifts ranging from the latest STEM kits to sensory, musical, time-telling and science toys, not to mention the MAD marble machines. There are four unique marble machines to choose from which are designed and produced by the Museum. The simple kit, priced at £7.99, is great for beginners and easy to assemble. The Marble Machine #1 Hand Cranked kit, priced at £14.99, has a stairs-type lifting mechanism. The Marble Machine #1 Motorised, priced at £19.99 is the Museum's number 1 best seller and uses a small gear motor to power the stairs-type lifting mechanism. The Marble Machine #2, priced at £39.99, is the "Daddy" of the range and features dual tracks with a track switch and a ball accumulator.

If you're looking to engrave a children's bedroom door sign or want to add a touch of class to a champagne box, the Museum also offers bespoke laser cutting services. The state-of-the-art machine can cut or engrave wood, paper, card, plastic, leather and slate plus engrave glasses, bottles or other cylindrical objects. Prices start from just £10!
Another reason to visit this Christmas is to take advantage of an extra-special Family Super Saver ticket which combines visits to The MAD Museum, Shakespeare's Schoolroom & Guildhall and Stratford Butterfly Farm. Visitors can see all three attractions and save over 15%. Family tickets cost £57 (2 adults & 2 children) and a ticket for an extra child is £9.60. Visitors have 1 month to visit the venues and tickets can be purchased from each attraction.
Katie Wilson, Head of Marketing said "If you're after something unique or quirky then we have the perfect range of Christmas gifts and something for all ages. We're also delighted to have two new exhibits on display this Christmas which are both fascinating to watch and interact with!"

The Museum is open Monday - Friday from 10:30am - 4:30pm and at weekends/holidays from 10am - 5:30pm. To find out more information about The MAD Museum please visit http://www.themadmuseum.co.uk. Please visit the online shop http://www.madfactory.co.uk

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