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June 23, 2009

Camp Invention offers fun learning

Participants get to create and destroy in creative environment

By Tanner Kent

MANKATO — slideshowClick here to see a photo gallery of Camp Invention.



The aptly named “take-apart room” is where electronics go to die.

And not a peaceful death, at that.

On Tuesday afternoon, several tables in a Mankato East High School classroom were heaped with the skeletal remains of what once amounted to thousands of dollars of DVD and CD-ROM players, computer processors, hair dryers, typewriters and VCRs. Only partway through the weeklong Camp Invention, these devices already have been hammered, stripped, unscrewed, de-wired, dislodged and otherwise dismantled by more than 60 campers.

But all was not appetite for destruction.

This class is called “I Can Invent” and the goal is to take common electronics and appliances, gut them and use the components to build an unrelated machine. This class must build a machine that can flip, and crack, an egg.

Nate Stockman and his team are scouring their devices for wheels, gears, motors — pretty much anything that looks useful. Their final plan isn’t apparent yet, but they are confident inspiration will come with understanding.

“When you take things apart,” Stockman said, wrist-deep into a late-model VCR player, “it’s kinda cool because you can figure out how it works.”

Connor Byro and his team — the Hard-Drive Heads — were piecing together the beginnings of a catapult. Balance tests and trial runs were held with mixed results, but Byro said he enjoys the trial and error.

“This is my favorite Camp Invention class,” he said. “I like taking things apart and putting things together.”

Now in its sixth year in Mankato, Camp Invention was designed by the National Inventors Hall of Fame and is sponsored locally by Mankato’s Community Education and Recreation Department. Classes are completely hands-on and founded on the principle that creativity is best stimulated through creation.

Becky Brudwick leads the class on comic-book science, one of several Camp Invention classes that also include building floatable boats, creating land sleds and designing effective shields for a water fight.

Brudwick’s lesson Tuesday was all about the superhero ability to morph into different shapes and objects. She helped students create ooze (a mixture of water, borax, glue and cornstarch) and explained how small environmental changes can prompt ooze to morph between solid and liquid.

“I really enjoy Camp Invention,” said Brudwick, who is a third-grade teacher in Mankato schools. “It’s a little less structured and the kids are definitely into it.”



For more information about Community Education programs, call 507-387-5501 or visit mankatocer.com.

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