Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites

Join us for the annual Tinkerfest, a daylong celebration of curiosity and creativity for families and children! Explore 30+ hands-on, interactive activity stations – across the museum and outdoors – hosted by the maker community designed to engage and inspire Indiana’s builders, coders, artists, designers, makers and tinkerers of all ages. Meet Team Farhrfunflinger and their giant slingshot that shots pumpkins more than 300 ft. across the front lawn!

EXHIBITORS:

• Corteva – Meet our event sponsor and explore crocheted pollinators, play with a ball color sorter and more.
• Indianapolis Fly Casters – Tie your own fishing flies.
• Ivy Tech & Ed Martin Automotive – Test your skills at changing a tire, spark plugs and more through the Automotive Careers Exploration and Interactive trailer.
• FIRST Robotics Teams – Experience FIRST LEGO robots and Osmo toys, along with the robotic Button Press & Speed Stacking Challenge.
• Deeply Ingrained – Learn how to use woodworking tools and make a simple wood project at the Woodshop on Wheels.
• Uplands Maker Mobile – Explore your creative limits with a variety of building materials, including PVC pipe, LEDs and batteries.
• CIM System Inc. & Kirby Risk Electrical Supply – See an industrial robot pick up and stack small blocks.
• Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana – Tinker with Zoobs, LEGOs and snap circuits.
• AgroRenew – See how melon crop waste is turned into biodegradable plastics.
• Girl Scouts of Central Indiana
• Academy of Model Aeronautics – Using simple parts from home, create an FPG-9 glider that flies and helps us answer questions about the energy needed to overcome the weight of gravity and drag.
• IU Bloomington’s Media School Game Design Program – Meet students in the game design program who will demo the prototypes they’ve created for the capstone projects.
• ArtJack Makerspace – Use craft supplies to decorate large cardboard birthday cakes, creating a piece of community art.
• Ripple Mobile Arts – Have fun with make and take clay projects.
• Herron School of Art and Design – 3D print and place charms in the holes of your favorite pair of Crocs.
• Purdue University Computer Graphics Technology – Design a theme park land or ride through modeling techniques.
• Arts for Learning & Diversity/Innovation Institute – See how students designed tiny houses through 3D modeling, visual arts and augmented reality.
• Grant King Race Shop Museum – Get your photo with a midget race car.
• Tactile Engineering – Experience tactile learning and play for the blind using the Cadence Tactile Tablet.
• Purdue Extension/Indiana 4-H Invention Convention – Design and build a prototype to address challenges with our food systems and hear from student inventors about their creations.
• 22StarvingArtists – Develop your inner musician through drumming and music making.
• MathTrack Institute – Learn about integrating robotics with mathematics.
• IU Indianapolis Music and Arts Technology – Experiment with music technology and coding with MIDI keyboards and simple controllers.
• The Next IT Girl – Discover wearable technology as you customize wearable charms and technologies that fuse fashion, representation and computational thinking.
• Imagi – Learn to create art and animation using computer programming, and upload your projects to the imagiCharm, a programmable accessory.
• iCode Fishers – Experiment with coding, drones and robotics.
• University of Indianapolis – Learn how to rivet pieces of sheet metal together.
• Starbase Indiana – Launch straw rockets into the air and test out other small activities.
• Great Ball Contraption – See a LEGO great ball contraption (GBC) in action! This machine receives soccer balls or basketballs from one module and passes them to another module – like a bucket brigade.
• NearSpaceEducation – Be motivated to explore this STEM Space education group trying to help inspire, equip and impact students.
• The Flow Space Movement Center– Learn how to overcome obstacles and face your fears through parkour challenges!
• Purdue Solar Race Team – Check out Purdue’s solar race car and learn how it uses the sun to operate.
• Team Farhrfunflinger – Be amazed as you watch pumpkins being shot across the museum front lawn more than 300 ft. by a giant slingshot! (10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.)
• National Center for Great Lakes Native American Culture, Inc. – Learn about Native American history, the history of beads and make your own bead necklace.
• Rolls-Royce – Explore jet engine virtual reality and an engine parts petting zoo.

Price: Included with admission, $2/Access Pass members, $5/college student with ID; $7/Scouts BSA, Girl Scouts and their families

Girl Scout Daisies, Brownies and Juniors: Pre-register for Tinkerfest as well as your Craft & Tinker badge!