Finding Minnesota

• Mar 30, 2008 11:28 pm US/Central
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  Finding Minnesota: Creative Kids Get 'The Works'

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Finding Minnesota: Creative Kids Get 'The Works'

EDINA, Minn. (WCCO) ― In Edina you will find one solution to the problem any number of parents have: children who complain about being bored.

Inside the non-descript edifice of the Edina Community Center, there is a wonderland to be discovered, a perfect environment for creative exploration where little ones can unleash their creative potential.

"They pour in and their eyes open up and they go, 'Whoa!'" said Rebecca Schatz, who opened The Works 13 years ago.

When children come up the stairs and walk through the front door, they come upon the main playroom, which is part science museum, part playground. The rules there are simple. Have fun, don't run, but let your imagination wander as far and as fast as it's inclined.

Schatz, a computer engineer, worries American children aren't getting enough opportunity to explore what comes naturally to them.

"Every 5-year-old is an engineer, a good engineer. Every 10-year-old isn't, so we're trying to keep that excitement of building things, doing things, making things, alive," she said. "If you wait until high school, you've missed out on a lot of the girls, you've missed out on a lot of the kids of color."

In a fun and entertaining way, children can explore the basics of mechanical, electrical, civil and chemical engineering. From exploring the tradeoff of torque and speed, to the reaction of chemical components and their impact on the structure of things, visitors have fun while also finding out how things work.

Schatz's brainchild is to give kids a hands-on opportunity to explore the natural curiosity they already have in engineering. If they can see how fun it is, she said, they just might be inspired to study it later in life.

Schatz and her staff explain that everything the kids play with at The Works is engineering, so if they like what they're doing, they could study it and do it all day and perhaps someday get paid for it.

"If you like putting together circuits, you can become an electrical engineer. You like making things with gears, you can be a mechanical engineer. You like building and designing stuff, hey there's your architecture, your civil engineer," said Schatz.

The Works is a non-profit, supported primarily through admission fees and donations. Schatz would like to see places like this in all public schools.

"Every school's got a library. Every school's got a gymnasium," she said. "Why shouldn't every school have a hands-on engineering and science museum, too?"

The Works is open on Saturdays, for special events and by appointment. There are also various summer camps scheduled. For more information, visit their Web site.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)