Hands-on experience
TChildren learn by playing at first local Tinkerfest he arts of creating and disassembling each were fully tested at the hands of toddlers and children during the first Tinkerfest Saturday at Discovery Place.
For about six hours, these young explorers literally tried their hands and their luck at such endeavors as car engine disassembly, pasta-making, ice cream-making, police fingerprinting and mock crime-solving.
The early morning rain let up just in time for the fest’s opening. The break in the weather inspired dozens upon dozens of local parents to bring their children to the event—such as Ariel Hall, with her four children, Annalyse, 6; Layne, 4; and 2-year-old twin boys Christian and Asher.
“This will be the first time for all of them to be literally up on top of a car engine,” Hall said. “This is going to be as much of an adventure for me as for all of them.”
Hall and her kids were some of the first festival patrons on site—mainly because Hall’s mother, Velvet Cool, who serves as Texarkana Museums System board president, was one of the event’s hosts.
Cool said that hundreds of little ones from 3 months to 12 years old flocked to the Discovery Place’s first and second floors to take in the multifaceted, hands-on experience as soon as the weather permitted.
Cool said the idea to bring this new fest to Texarkana came from the Little Rockbased Museum of Discovery, which has been involved for years in children’s science, history and prehistoric education. Other Arkansas cities that hold this fest annually include Hot Springs, Bentonville and Jonesboro.
“This year, we decided to hold this event here, since it is also held in places all throughout Arkansas,” Cool said.
One of the more fascinating experiences some of the children took part in included the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department instruction on fingerprinting and its continued usefulness for crime suspect identification, said Texas-side Public Information Officer Shawn Vaughn.
“The kids also learn about fingerprint dusting, while some of the older kids are given clues to look at for mock crime-solving,” Vaughn said. “Fingerprinting goes at least as far back as the turn of the (20th) century, and today, a lot of it is conducted on computer. We even teach the kids about the various different types and patterns of fingerprints.”
Children also learned that bananas hold natural energy and, along with play dough and graphite from pencil lead, are conductive enough to be used to activate piano keys.
Cool said TMS will be looking at holding the event outside Discovery Place Children’s Museum next year to have room for more tinkering stations.
“We will also make sure we have good weather for it,” she said.