Tinkerfest helps community create
Youngsters dashed between stations on Saturday, checking out a barred owl, painting, making intricate paper airplanes and creating their own teddy bears as part of this year’s Tinkerfest activities.
This year’s Tinkerfest theme was “learning powered by exploration, creativity and discovery through tinkering.”
The free event was held at the main building of the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 701 S. Main St., in downtown Pine Bluff.
The Tinkerfest idea is that, through hands-on projects and engaging conversations, visitors will learn the tools and techniques necessary to pursue their own creations, said ASC spokeswoman Shannon Frazeur.
Stations invite visitors to discover tinkering by using familiar objects in unfamiliar, innovative ways, she said.
It was sponsored by the Pine Bluff Area Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Arkansas Community Foundation Inc.
IT TAKES A COMMUNITY
ASC partnered with several groups, including Novel T’s, Delta Rivers Nature Center, Kolorful Kreations, the Arkansas Archaeological Survey (AAS) group, the Pine Bluff Jefferson County Library System and The Generator.
AAS offered kids a look at the area’s Native American heritage and technology, the library system set up a Lego station and The Generator gave lessons on the art of origami.
ASC invited kids to “get messy” at their kid-friendly, hands-on art demo station with artist Greta Kresse. Also, they featured an LED tower that was powered by movement.
Novel T’s, owned by Sandra Fisher and her husband Kenneth Scott Fisher, has participated in ASC’s Tinkerfest for the past eight years.
Sandra Fisher is an ASC board member and together, she and Kenneth Fisher organized Tour de Bluff 18 years ago. It’s now an annual event and Sandra Fisher thought they could lend their expertise to Tinkerfest attendees.
“We have the experience and the equipment,” Sandra Fisher said.
This year, they demonstrated bike repairs and maintenance, which could save families money and prevent potential accidents due to bikes in disrepair, Sandra Fisher said.
Repairs done correctly, “Can save families money and (bike) downtime,” she said.
They also explained proper bike and helmet fit to visitors. For example, don’t cheap out on the helmet but buy a new one that fits the rider properly.
Similar to a football helmet, a bike helmet is designed to cushion the brain if a rider is involved in an accident, she said. Too small or too large and the helmet offers little or no protection.
“Make sure the helmet’s fit is a snug fit and strapped under the chin,” Sandra Fisher said.
Tinkerfest, she said, is “a worthwhile program.”
FROM TECHNOLOGY TO BIOLOGY
Staff from the Delta Rivers Nature Center brought several birds of prey and a tarantula to Saturday’s event.
Trent Powell, education program specialist at the Delta Nature Center in Pine Bluff, was holding a quiet barred owl on his arm that was supported by a staff. The owl was hit by a car a decade ago. The accident broke the owl’s wing, which never healed properly. Now, the owl is permanent resident at the nature center, along with eagles, hawks and a vulture — all of which, for one reason or another, cannot be returned to the wild.
“He puts up with me more than he likes me,” Powell said of stately bird, which has a familiar “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all? call.
Asked what the owl’s name was, Powell said the staff doesn’t name the birds because they don’t want people thinking of them as pets.
Powell said this is the first time the nature center has participated.
“We hope to introduce kids to the animals, to biology,” he said.
Their message is also about keeping rural and urban environments free of litter and pollution.
Whether a person lives in the country or the city, they share their space with a variety of animals such as squirrels and birds, so “It’s important for us but it’s also good for the animals,” Powell said.
At the nature center, they have a number of reptiles inside their facility and there are three bald eagles, two red tailed hawks and three species of owls housed outside.
Admission is free and along with the exhibits, visitors are invited to hike the center’s approximately two miles of paved trails.
It’s a safe environment and the paved trails are handicapped, as well as child and senior, accessible, he said.
“We encourage people to visit us. To explore,” Powell said.
ASC STANDS FOR ARTS AND SCIENCES
Tinkerfest and science program offerings aren’t new at ASC.
According to a 2014 article in SEA Life magazine, “Tinkerfest exemplifies the kind of connective science program the Discovery Network hopes to bring to children across the state,” said then-ASC director Lenore Shoults.
To ASC members, the network brings a number of constantly changing handson science exhibitions that are funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.
The whole idea behind their science programs is to bring hands-on experiences to more people, Shoults concluded in the article.