On Oct. 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., The New Children’s Museum (NCM) will host a free block party for the grand opening of “Trash” — a kid-friendly, participatory exhibit showcasing the works of 12 international artists who have transformed trash to an entirely new realm. The action-packed street fair will feature food-truck fare, interactive demonstrations, environmental information booths, a flash mob and the opportunity to view the new exhibit. Entertainment will be provided by Junior Crew Stomp, The Platt Brothers’ comedic dance and acrobat trio, and Ozokidz — a family-friendly adaptation of the renowned ten-piece Latin, hip-hop and rock fusion band Ozomatli. The exhibit itself is just as action-packed as the block party, with educational information for parents and kids, as well as inventive ways for children to participate or interact with each exhibit. “For kids to really understand something, they’ve got to be able to manipulate it, do it themselves and really dig in,” said NCM executive director and chief curator Rachel Teagle. Participatory activities include the opportunity for kids to craft their own plastic pieces of art for the “Midden” installation, play in a futuristic fortress made of Styrofoam and create plays within the “Three Horned Beast (and Baby Beast)” using props and costumes that change every six weeks. Teagle said the inspiration for the “Trash” exhibit was multi-faceted. “There are a lot of different roads that led us to ‘Trash.’ One is that it’s a really interesting and important current issue,” she said. “We’re having trash facts related to each artist’s installation, and one of the lead trash facts is that the average American produces four and a half pounds of trash each day.” On the ground floor, the museum will feature a wall telling the story of where trash goes after it is thrown out on the curb, a process Teagle said many kids — and even adults — do not know much about. The “Midden” by the Institute for Figuring, was a true eye-opening endeavor for its creators — sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim — who collected their plastic trash for just one week and were shocked to discover the amount they had collected. In the installation, a variety of plastics are crocheted and transformed into an artistic rendition of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or “Pacific Trash Vortex” — a gyre of 3.5 million tons of marine litter roughly the size of Texas floating in the North Pacific Ocean. “It is an issue that is really important to contemporary artists,” said Teagle. “All of the artists who are in this exhibition have a passionate environmental issue they want to draw attention to.” Materials used by the artists include everything from recycled electronics to discarded clothing to repurposed metals which the artists manipulate into unimaginable works of art that will not only awe and entertain children at the museum, but also teach them the meaning of recycling and consequences of littering and wasteful actions on a deeper level. “Every child knows we need to recycle, but that’s where it ends. ‘Trash’ empowers kids with knowledge behind the issues to better appreciate and understand the complexity of waste, to act as agents of change in their households and educate their families,” she said. “It’s going beyond the five ‘R’s’ and going a little deeper.” The “Trash” exhibit will be on display until October 2013. The block party will take place outside of the New Children’s Museum, located at 200 W. Island Ave.