The Austin Children's Museum always provides many interactions: gears, pulleys, wheels, blocks, bricks, pipes, sorting games, agility tests, a simulated dairy, a restaurant playset, and more. A special area is set aside for toddlers.
The ASCE brought hands-on challenges to build a tower out of newspaper, a paper airplane and a paper helicopter, a balloon-powered car, building a bridge from spaghetti and marshmellows, and more. Kids were given a hard hat and an agenda. As they completed each challenge, they got a sticker on their agenda. A full set of completed projects earned each of them a special t-shirt for their work.
Most of the volunteers were professional civil engineers across the spectrum in seniority and specialty. Many were members of the ASCE student section from UT. Working engineers earned "Professional Development Hours" credits.
Having worked at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum (2005-2006) and having served as vice president in the Daniel B. Jett student chapter of the ASCE at New Mexico State University (1978-1979), I was stationed at the Paper Helicopters for the afternoon. They twist when they fall because the forces are unbalanced. You can fold the body long or short, and give it long or short wings. You can make the two wings different sizes. For ballast, choose a large or small paperclip. The best results usually come from symmetry in the middle ranges. But you can spend an hour making them all different ways and dropping them off a staircase.
