Tinkering around
Museum hosts annual Tinkerfest today
Mid-America Science Museum celebrates its fifth annual Tinkerfest today.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the entire museum will be host to expert tinkerers and tinkering stations related to science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, or STEAM.
“Tinkerfest is a huge extravaganza of learning how to do all kinds of things that you’ve never tried before. The museum is trying to get people interested in learning new things and experimenting, and, if they fail, to try again and just keep working at things and learning the whole concept of what science really is, and that’s about exploring and learning with your hands and learning as you go,” said Diane LaFollette, the museum’s executive director.
LaFollette said the festival will feature 50 different booths with activities like taking a real car apart to learning the interior workings of a vehicle and how to weave and make woven fabric.
“The reason we do so many different things is so that everybody can find something that they’re interested in. We get families, since this is on a Saturday right before Father’s Day, and it’s just an opportunity to learn together, because we know that when kids are working with their parents, the kids actually do better when the parents are involved,” LaFollette said.
Tinkering areas will be led by museum educators, National Park College, Hot Springs National Park Service, EAST Initiative, Faye Jones School of Architecture and Design, Henderson State University Physics Department and a host of other community members and organizations. Science museums from all over the country have adopted the maker movement and pursuit of tinkering to help engage interest about science.
This year’s presenting sponsor for Tinkerfest is KYE-YAC International, a nonprofit group of youths who believe that all children deserve a chance to thrive. Each year, KYE-YAC chooses child-related charities to support after in-depth research and site visits.
Other sponsors for this year’s Tinkerfest include MedExpress Urgent Care in Hot Springs, MidSouth Engineering, the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, Alliance Insurance Group, and the Arkansas Discovery Network.
Last year’s Tinkerfest drew more than 1,000 guests. “Every year it gets bigger and bigger,” LaFollette said. “I think last year we did 1,200 and I think the year before that we did 1,300, so it’s kind of hovering right around
1,200-1,300 people and that’s a nice crowd because we have things inside and outside the museum throughout the day. It’s a nice flow.”
Tinkerfest is free to museum members and their guests. General admission is $10 plus tax for adults and $8 plus tax for children. Arvest Bank will be grilling hamburgers and hot dogs outside of the museum snack bar that will be available for purchase.
There will also be raffle items and other fun surprises for individuals showing up throughout the day. Some of the raffle items include a five-piece outdoor dining set, a sun screen, two halfday jet ski rentals and a large cooler. Raffle tickets are $1.
For more information regarding sponsorships, volunteering, or tinker stations that will be participating at this year’s Tinkerfest, visit http://www.midamericamuseum.org or call 501767-3461.