Last week I took the kids to Toolfest, a Construction Career Exposure Event, located at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery in downtown, DC.
Niara is our resident Tinkerbell, and when I saw an ad for this free event I knew I had to take her.
But she wasn’t the only Grant girl out their having fun, her sisters also enjoyed handling all the tools.
The event was brought to us by Wise Young Builders. Their mission is to:
help underserved youth learn practical skills through hands on workshops and small group math focused instruction during out of school time. WYB fosters social responsibility and character building by encouraging civic engagement, academic achievement, and work ethic.
The event was sponsored by local construction companies including Pepco and Annie’s Hardware.
The girls also thought it was pretty cool that a women was in charge of a hardware store. Annie is awesome!
We learned a lot about the different fields that make up construction. They learned they could be a lawyer, an architect, engineer, inspector, plan reviewer or even a trades(wo)man. They also did a great job explaining how one area works with another area to complete a building project and ensure it is safe.
They stressed safety a lot. In fact, the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs‘ (DCRA) Chief Building Official, Mr. Lynn Underwood, lead the kids in a great discussion about what makes them feel safe in a building and showed them impressive buildings all over the world.
The best part for my girls was the hands-on action. They truly loved drilling nails into the wood. All Niara wants for her birthday now is a power drill!
The miter saw‘s sound scared them a bit, but once they got the hang of it they were sawing away.
They also enjoyed the math challenge which had them working with a tape measure to determine different lengths.
All in all it was a great day! I am so thankful that we weathered the rainy weather and pressed our way.
If you find out that Toolfest is coming near you, check it out, it is so worth it!
Now It’s Your Time To Shine!
Do you have builders in your household? Any little engineers running around? If so, how to do let them explore their natural interest? I would love to know, so please share your wisdom in the comment section below.
And as always, until next time…Stay Encouraged & Be Blessed!
What a neat opportunity! How fun to work with power tools! I’ve always let my kids play with construction sets like K’nex and Legos. Right now my boys are remodeling the den into my craft room. They are designing it, laying vinyl floor, things like that.
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Oh my goodness that sounds so awesome! I love that you are allowing them to design and build it. They will learn so much like teamwork, compromise and what to do when things don’t go as planned. Brillant way to esteem to boys! Thanks also for mentioning K’nex I haven’t heard about it so I will check it out. Thanks so much for all the great ideas Camie, if possible would love pictures!
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