Ever wanted to get your hands on what it is that engineers do on the job?

In honor of National Engineers Week (Feb. 17-to-23, 2013), the Discovery Science Center (Santa Ana, CA) is hosting a variety of special activities and events focused around different engineering skill sets for its members and guests of all-ages!

From the DSC member email I received:

Happy National Engineers Week, RMT’ers!

• Build a block tower and Catenary Arch
• Explore the engineering behind gears and how they work in our everyday lives
• Get a FREE water rocket building kit to take home (first 500 kids)

C builds blocks at the Discovery Science Center’s Engineers Week activities and events for kids and their families.

We went on Monday (Presidents’ Day), so we missed out on the free water rocket kit. Well, I just assumed we missed out as the crowd Monday morning alone was so heavy I think 500 people had already been in during the first two hours before our arrival (ah, school holidays!). However, despite missing out on the takeaways, it really was a great – albeit simple – event. It also helps that we’re already members of DSC (the Engineer Week events are free with admission or membership) and that C’s an engineer, meaning both those things make it pretty easy for us to get excited about science and especially anything engineering-related.

T helps to build an arch at DSC’s Engineers Week events Monday.

T and his friends tearing down the arch at DSC’s Engineers Week. And dog-piling one another. Ah, boys.

The Catenary Arch area allowed kids to build an arch out of padded bricks… and then tear it down and do it all over again. I so wanted to get a shot of T under his constructed arch with his two buddies, but this was the best I could get on this visit: A destruction photo.

The top-five list of tower builders as of Monday mid-day grace the white board in the Engineers Week activity room at DSC.

C the engineer helping apprentices T and a buddy build a tall-ish tower.

T and his buddy building a tower together.

All three boys cooperating very well together on a block project. This Engineers Week special event room was like magic. While the museum was quite busy (read: crazy-nuts crowded) because of the school holiday, this room – while populated – was a lovely escape from the louder hustle and bustle elsewhere.

The block-building area was fantastic. This center challenged kids and parents (or just parents) to build the tallest structure they could from a specific set of wooden blocks. There are about four block stations where groups can build, and staff members go around from group-to-group to measure the towers to see if they are eligible for the top five list. The list is ongoing for the week and recorded in real-time; at our time Monday, the tallest tower thus far was 65.5 inches!

The happiest engineers on the “block” at “The Cube,” AKA, Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana (CA).

Discovery Science Center will wrap up their version of National Engineers Week this Saturday February 23 with an egg drop competition. All entrants are to register online beforehand and should build their EPDs (that’s Egg Protection Devices, y’all) off-site and before arriving at the competition. While contestants are responsible for bringing their EPDs, eggs will be provided by DSC staff. For more information, including rules and registration, please go here.

Hope you are having a structurally sound week so far, RMT’ers!