Make, play, tinker, and explore with regional experts, mechanics, craftspeople and artists at Tinkerfest!
Watch the recap video for Tinkerfest 2023 at the Scott Family Amazeum below:
2023 Tinkerfests
September 9th
September 16th
September 23rd
September 30th
What is Tinkering?
Tinkering is all about hands-on experiences, learning from failures, and spending unstructured time exploring and inventing. It's an open-ended creative process where the focus is on personal meaning, not just the product. Tinkering is about the journey, not just the destination.
What is Tinkerfest?
Tinkerfest is a one-day festival celebrating creativity, curiosity, and innovation.
At Tinkerfest, makers, artists, and tinkerers come together to showcase their work, inviting you to join in the DIY fun. Experience hands-on, open-ended discovery celebrating science, technology, engineering, art, and creativity. Reclaim, reuse, and reconstruct cast-off materials, learn new skills, and explore innovative making.
Each Tinkerfest features a special passport that connects all the regional Oklahoma and Arkansas Tinkerfest experiences. Guests can collect unique stamps by attending multiple Tinkerfests, adding a layer of flair and individuality to their passports. The cost of Tinkerfest is included in the admission to each museum.
About the Museums
Tinkerfest is a uniquely collaborative effort between four different museums in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Read below to learn more about each of these museums and explore their websites.
Discovery Lab in Tulsa, Oklahoma has been igniting the curiosity of children since 2007, initially as a museum without walls. In May 2013, Discovery Lab opened their first walls in the Owen Park Recreation Center--seeing over 130,000 children and families each year including nearly 30,000 through outreach. In early 2022, the Museum opened a 57,000-square-foot world-class facility in Gathering Place park that will be transformative for Tulsa’s children and families, and will respond to a compelling educational need in the community. The museum projects to impact more than 300,000 children and families each year at the new site.
The Museum of Discovery, formerly the Arkansas Museum of Natural History and Antiquities, is located in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. The museum moved to the River Market on the Arkansas River in 1998, when it was renamed Museum of Discovery. The museum closed in April 2011, and after a $9.2 million complete renovation funded by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the museum reopened in its current format in January 2012. The museum has a focus on STEM education, and all of the exhibits are interactive. It features a record-breaking musical bi-polar tesla coil.
The Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville, Arkansas opened its doors in 2015 and continues to serve as a destination for the curious and creative in all of us. The Amazeum features approximately 50,000 square feet of exhibit and learning spaces inside the museum to bring learning to life and enhance family involvement, while evoking a sense of curiosity and discovery through hands-on activities. In addition, approximately one acre of outdoor space accommodates year-round learning and provides a backdrop for experiments and experiences inspired by the seasons. The Amazeum offers a variety of educational programs for a range of audiences.
Science Museum Oklahoma in Oklahoma City enriches lives by revealing the wonder and relevance of science. The museum is home to the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame and a number of specialized galleries. The facility covers over 390,000 square feet, making it one of the largest science museums in the nation. This premier destination for family fun houses more than eight acres of hands-on science experiences. Travel beyond the Milky Way in the Kirkpatrick Planetarium, experience the explosive fun of Science Live, discover where the familiar meets the fantastical in CurioCity and beyond — the museum allows your inner-child to run wild!