Hands-on Fun at the DPW

Where can you look down a sewer pipe, use a hand drill, sit in a police car, and see an excavator pick up a two ton log?

At the Department of Public Works! A nearby municipality had an open house today and invited our homeschool group to have a guided tour. It sounded somewhat interesting and it was free, so we went ahead and signed up.

Fascinating would have been a better description! What's better than listening to someone tell you about their job? Actually getting to TRY the same things the workers do! Our kids got to do the following:

• touch a myriad of different tools and utensils
• turn off and on streetlights using photosensitive eyes
• feel a cold copper pipe filled with water (pressure!)
• use a metal detector to find a water pipe
• put toilet paper down a sewer pipe and watch it on camera
• watch a video of an actual sewer pipe
• watch a sewer cleaning truck pick up a bowling ball with suction
• touch hard hats with 2 way radios inside
• peel off the vinyl on a diecut sign sample (and take it home!)
• see where all the road signs are made and stored (and touch them!)
• see an excavator pick up and drop (with an earthshaking THUD) a 2 ton log
• stand next to about 10 different kinds of large machinery or DPW vehicles
• walk under a car up on a lift (to be fixed) and see what the underside looks like
• see where the lights are installed on a police car
• see portable spike strips (for tire deflation in a chase)
• watch a guy climb a tree with gear
• see how a huge oak tree grows from a tiny acorn
• best of all - go up in a cherry picker (boom lift) one by one

This was a SUPERB field trip! One of my Top Ten! So well organized at the DPW! The workers at each station were personable and helpful and spoke at the kids' levels.

I am just amazed at how enjoyable and hands-on this learning day was!

The only downside? I forgot my camera. :-P

[UPDATE - A friend took some pictures and here are two of them.]