§ PROGRAMS · 2027 WINTER CAMP
Five days, six projects. Children open up real machines to see how they work, then build working devices with their own hands.
Used every day. Never once opened.
So that is what is inside.
Once it makes sense, they start building their own.
Six projects, six different principles.
Concept illustration. Actual projects are the ones students complete in class.
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§ 01
AboutWhy Tinker
Of all the things children use every day, not one has ever been opened by them.
Cameras, fans, radios: they are in children’s hands every day, yet never opened. Over time children come to feel that things “just work”, and their curiosity stops there.
Over these five days we do two things: take real machines apart to see the lenses, motors, coils and speakers inside, and then build working devices by hand, putting what they learned from taking things apart back to use. Taking apart shows children “so that is how it works”; building shows them “so I can make one too”.
The parts that come out are not thrown away. At the end of the camp they are arranged by structure in a large clear specimen box, which goes home together with the finished devices: a whole week of understanding, laid out where everyone can see it.
§ 02
ProjectsProjects
Airflow, light, electromagnetism, radio waves, mechanics, fluids: each one tells a different story.
Flip the switch and the barrel fills with visible white mist; tap the elastic membrane at the back and a perfect smoke ring shoots out the front. Children discover something counter-intuitive: the ring does not drift apart like ordinary smoke, but flies straight across most of the classroom. That is because it is not a cloud of smoke at all. It is a self-spinning vortex ring.
Each child receives two vintage twin-lens cameras. There are two lenses, one above the other. The top lens is only for viewing: light enters, bounces off a mirror set at 45 degrees, and the image appears on the screen on top of the camera. The bottom lens takes the picture, sending light onto the film. The two lenses are linked by gears, so turning one moves both together, which is why a sharp view means a sharp photo. The first camera is taken apart completely to trace both light paths; the second is assembled by the child, loaded with film, and used to take real photos.
An ordinary store-bought handheld fan, taken down to its individual parts. For the first time, children see inside a motor: the coils, the magnets, the commutator. They come to understand that electricity itself does not spin. Current turns the coil into a magnet, magnets push against each other, and that is what makes it turn. Every wire between the parts is kept, so once the fan is spread out and powered up, the blades still spin. Then comes a second question: when you press the button to change the speed, what exactly does it change?
The most abstract day of the week, which is why it comes after children have already handled a motor. First they turn the dial and listen as the radio pulls a station out of the static. Then they open it up: how invisible radio waves in the air are picked up by a coil, and how they pass through the speaker’s electromagnet and paper cone to become vibrations the ear can hear. All the wiring stays connected, so the radio still plays while spread across the table. The day before was “electricity becomes motion”; this day is “electricity becomes sound”.
The finale of the week. Children assemble a paper plane launcher shaped like a miniature aircraft carrier: a flat flight deck on top where the plane waits, and two horizontal wheels at the front edge spinning fast in opposite directions. Pull the trigger and the wheel rims grip the plane and fling it off the deck. The motor they understood while taking apart the fan on day three now becomes the power source in their own hands. The rest of the time goes to testing: which wing fold and which launch angle make the plane fly farthest.
A fully sealed clear jar holding a chain of chemical reactions that never runs out. Turn the knob and a colour-changing tornado swirls up inside; stop, and the colour fades; turn it again, and it comes back.
§ 03
EnrollmentEnrollment
Dates
Sat, Jan 30 – Wed, Feb 3, 2027 (5 days)
Five consecutive days, including the weekend of Jan 30–31
Hours
09:00 – 16:00 daily
Includes a one-hour lunch break
Who
Grades 1–6
Where
STARK Lab, Anping, Tainan
417 Guoping Rd., Anping District, Tainan
Fee
NT$12,500 per child
Places are limited and enrollment closes when full. Program content is provisional: if a better-suited topic or device becomes available before the camp, it may be substituted without notice. The number of days, class hours and fees will not change as a result. All product images on this page are concept illustrations; the actual projects are the ones students complete in class.
§ 04
FAQFAQ
Tinker Lab · 2027 Winter
Places are limited. Enrollment and payment can be completed online.
Have a question first? Ask us on LINE · 417 Guoping Rd., Anping District, Tainan
