Racetrack Engineer

My jaw hit the ground - or at least what remained of the carpeted floor that still showed amidst her engineering marvel. I gazed at orange racetrack strips elaborately joined in various paths around her room. The more I gazed the more amazed I was. She didn't just set up a racetrack, she had created a masterpiece with interwoven tracks. Some were triggered by a car passing on another track. She had incorporated a loop-de-loop, a jumping ramp, and a banking turn UNDER her bed. Utilizing the space under her bed was not her only strategy for creating more space, she had also put a track through the door of her doll house. I was stunned by all the details. My seven year old had shown her depth of thinking and creativity in the past hour of alone time and didn't want to come down for dinner because she was enthralled. I tried to take a picture, but the scene before me was too vast - I had to utilize an app to piece it all together.

"Mommy, can you help by pressing this button over here? I can't reach to start both cars at the same time, and that is how it is supposed to go."

"Sure!" I responded, carefully making my way to the designated station.

"3, 2, 1, GO!" Came the launch command. I pressed my button and my jaw dropped again.

"Daddy!" I hollered. "Will you please come take a video?!" There was NO WAY I could capture this solely with a photo, no matter how many shots I took or put together.

Parts didn't work the way she had envisioned and as she tinkered my husband and I smiled at one another across this glorious mess of creating wonderment. After a couple more trials we brainstormed a bit, tried a few things, and before it was time for lights out there was success. 

Pulling her soft purple blanket up around my daughter I mentioned her being a racetrack engineer.

"No, Mommy, I created her own makerspace!" she proudly told me.