One of the perks of homeschooling last year was seeking out dreamy opportunities. My son happened to notice the 3D printer at the Funhouse one day when he was at Running Club, so he asked if we could stop by sometime and ask if anyone was allowed to use it.
We walked in one quiet morning to inquire. “Have you used a 3D printer before?” Liz Doane asked.
“No, but I’ve watched enough YouTube videos to know exactly how to do it.”
“Oh, great!…Would you like to come use it on Thursdays?”
Wow! It pays to ask! From that day on, Evan had an all-day date each week with it. He built all kinds of gadgets from day one, and loved every minute of it.
I couldn’t believe the boon of living here. In the city, kids would be on year-long wait lists to get to do that. Here, the printer was hibernating until someone came along to play.
When the science fair rolled around, the Funhouse asked my son if he would be a demonstrator to represent them. He wouldn’t be able to bring the 3D printer with him, so as to keep it from bumps and nudges. So he built a construction-paper replica that looked like a pretty darn good mirror image of the real thing. He set all of his printed creations next to it. He spent hours soldering dozens of LED lights to a signboard that blinked and changed colors above his display. He set up his laptop with time-lapse videos of the real thing printing his creations while playing music. And kids flocked to see what was happening.
I loved it.
Somehow our videos of his science fair demonstration got erased. Bummer. If you happen to have a video of it, I’d love to include it here. But here’s a look at what he was doing every Thursday…
These are the remains of his replica, bent, bruised, and headed for the recycling bin after months of having nowhere to go. It’s always hard to part with something that symbolizes gobs of time and work…
Thank you, Funhouse and Liz Doane, for making a dream come true for him. He had been talking about 3D printers nonstop before happening to spot yours sitting there. He will never forget the experience you allowed him to have.
