Engineering Fun Day

Engineers Know How to Make Fun! A Car that Runs on Breath… A Sneaker-Launching Catapult… A Two-Story Tower Made of Cups… And What's a Flinker?

For Immediate Release - January 23, 2008

Contact:
Rich Bailey, 423-580-2479, rbailey@chattanooga.net or
Carla Campbell, 423-648-6054, cbc@cdmfun.org

Engineers Know How to Make Fun!
A Car that Runs on Breath… A Sneaker-Launching Catapult… A Two-Story Tower Made of Cups… And What's a Flinker?

Engineering Fun Day at Creative Discovery Museum, Feb. 2
Aims to Hook Kids on Inventing and Innovating, Like Engineers Do


Creative Discovery Museum is partnering with the Chattanooga Engineers Club and professional engineers from the Chattanooga area to get kids excited about engineering.

On Feb. 2, professional engineers from organizations like TVA, McKee Foods, Chattanooga State, UTC and others will provide fun hands-on activities that engage kids in the kinds of problem solving and innovative thinking that engineers do all the time. Activities will be in the Museum's Atrium from noon-4 p.m.

"We want to get kids interested in engineering," said Erica Campbell, Museum Experience Manager for Creative Discovery Museum. "When they get engaged in fun activities that use problem solving skills, they can see that engineering is not just about math. It's also about being inventive and innovative. This is a good way to get kids to see what engineers can do in their profession."

Activities include the Cup Tower -- using cups to make a tower as high as the Museum's second story -- and Hoop Gliders -- making gliders out of two paper hoops and a plastic straw.

In the Sneaker Launch, kids get to help build a catapult, choose a target, then try to hit the target by catapulting one of their sneakers through the air.

Kids can also make a Puff Mobile, a car made out of straws, Life Savers, paper clips, a piece of paper and tape. "The trick is to design a car that rolls with a puff of air," said Campbell. She said the Museum does help the kids out a little by giving them mint Life Savers to make the wheels, since they aren't as sticky as the fruity kind.

Then there's the Flinker. A flinker is something that doesn't FLoat or sINK, get it. Kids will use a variety of materials to create something that floats under water, halfway between floating on the surface and sinking to the bottom.

Creative Discovery Museum's Engineering Fun Day is part of a variety of activities during the month of February leading up to Engineering Week, which is sponsored by the Chattanooga Engineers Club.

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Creative Discovery Museum is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to the enrichment of children through interactive, hands-on experiences that foster creative and critical thinking. Creative Discovery Museum is a funded agency of Allied Arts. Call 423-756-2738 for more information.