Camp Invention filled with fun, learning
—Photo by MARLISA KEYES Park DeWitt discovers that forcing water through a plastic fish can move a ball during Recess Remix at Camp Invention held at the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center. The module combines physical activity with creative problem solving and encourages children to work in teams. The games include wet and dry activities and encourage children to invent and play different games.
SANDPOINT — Today’s Camp Invention lesson: You can make a smoothie using a blender powered by a bicycle.
“This is going to be neat,” said. Dr. Forrest Bird. “They’ll learn all about electricity.”
While Bird was lecturing in Hawaii this past winter, he and wife Pam were touring a part of the island without electricity when they saw a sign advertising smoothies for sale.
Being the insatiably curious person that he is, Bird wanted to find out how one can make smoothies without electricity. What the couple discovered were some intrepid people riding a bicycle mounted on a trainer and connected to portable power packs to generate power to operate a blender.
Mike Reed, an employee of the Birds, spent about two weeks preparing the project and gathering four bicycles, four batteries, four portable power packs the size of the batteries and four blenders, said Bird.
The power packs generate the same amount of electricity as a house current, he said.
“They’ll have fun with that,” Bird said.
Camp director Rachel Riddle said making a smoothie while riding a bicycle is not easy. She tried out the project on Sunday and after 15 minutes, it wore her out.
The camp is fulfilling the he and his wife’s reason for opening the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center, which is encouraging children’s interest in math and science.
“That’s all I can leave behind — to get the children interested in science,” he said.
Bird demonstrated how to take a part a computer and put it back together, said one camper. “And it worked (after he put it back together),” she said.
Curriculum for this particular camp includes five modules: “Problem Solving on Planet Zak,” which focuses on creative and critical thinking skills to keep themselves safe after crash landing on a strange planet; “Spills and Chills,” using skateboards to teach vehicle safety design; “Imagination Point: Ride Physics,” which teaches motion through hands-on activities related to amusement rides; “I Can Invent,” in which students tear apart objects like telephones, printers and stereos; and “Recess Remix,” which teaches traditional games at first, then focuses on children coming up with their own games.
The camp also has captured the interest of parents, said Chris Uzabel, who is a camp volunteer and the mother of two attendees.
The Uzabels moved to Bonner County a year ago and are thrilled with the museum, she said.
Her sons were so excited about the camp that they were up and dressed at 6 a.m. to prepare for it, Uzabel said.
Camp Invention is about so much more than getting children to explore science, said Michael Schwabe, national public information director for the organization. It really is about inspiring the next generation of children to take part in not only math and science, but the arts and technology, he said.
The camp modules are divided into age appropriate activities. For example, while younger students tear apart telephones and drills to create a fantasy invention like a device to keep a sibling from entering their bedroom, the older children will use parts from their gadgets for a water balloon launcher.
Usually, one group at each camp is successful at making the device work, Schwabe said.
But the camp’s focus is not about success or failure, said Schwabe and Pam Bird. Instead, it is about learning how something does or does not work through trying. “That’s what it’s all about here,” said Forrest Bird. “That’s what I want to leave behind.”