Mid-America hosts Tinkerfest
Mid-America Science Museum is gearing up for the sixth annual Tinkerfest on Saturday.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the museum will host expert tinkerers and tinkering stations. According to the event’s Facebook page, makers, artisans, businesses and educators from around the state will be on hand to provide a hands-on experience.
“It’s a daylong (event) of just hands-on tinkering activities that explore to science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. We will have a car to take apart, courtesy of National Park College’s automotive department, drone piloting with Bob Nagy, and we will actually have a tinker going on for preschool-aged children at the KYEYAC clubhouse,” said Jim Miller, the museum’s marketing director.
The goal of the festival is to expose children to as many different tinkering opportunities as possible. Booths will be set up throughout the museum featuring hands-on activities that not only engage little fingers but little minds, as well.
“With everything being hands-on at the science museum, the more activities that kids have that are hands-on where they can either like, build something, create something, or take it apart and see how it works, the better. It’s our mission at work,” Miller said.
This year’s Tinkerfest sponsors include the Discovery Network, Arvest Bank, EAST Initiative and the Arkansas School For Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts.
Local community organizations and businesses like Emergent Arts and Alliance Rubber will also be present at the festival. Miller said several organizations have volunteered time, resources, and manpower to ensure the festival is a success.
Alliance Rubber will assist in increasing the size of the museum’s rubber band ball. Miller said they hope to add enough rubber bands so that the ball weighs 300 pounds by the end of Tinkerfest.
Other museums have also joined in the mix this year as the festival is a part of a much larger cooperative effort between children’s science museums throughout the state on behalf of the Discovery Network.
The Discovery Network includes 20 different members focused on providing the highest quality educational experience to the children, families, and teachers of Arkansas, according to the Museum of Discovery’s website. Because of this partnership, museums across the state often collaborate with one another to consistently improve the material they present to the public.
In addition to Tinkerfest, the museum’s new exhibit, “How People Make Things” also ties into the spirit of tinkering. Each station of the exhibits focuses on how everyday items are made. It was designed by the Children’s Museum in Pittsburgh.
Miller said the exhibit was inspired by the Mr. Rogers Factory Tours and will be at the museum until September thanks to the Discovery Network. In the exhibit, children have the opportunity to put on their hard hats and learn about different manufacturing jobs.
“The one that I think people will relate to immediately is the area where kids can assemble a train car. So they assemble an entire train and can take it apart again. The parts are interchangeable and it’s a lot about shapes and repetition,” he said.
Tinkerfest is free to museum members and their guests. General admission is $10 plus tax for adults and $8 plus tax for children.
Call 501-767-3461 for more information.