Zoom Honk Smash is bringing huge rigs and massive messy enjoyable to Santa Cruz on October 4

This October, the Santa Cruz Children’s Museum of Discovery (MOD) is taking its mission past the museum partitions and into the car parking zone.

On Saturday, October 4, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., MOD will debut Zoom Honk Smash: Touch a Truck, a free, family-friendly competition that transforms the Capitola Mall car parking zone into a large hands-on playground crammed with the vans, tractors, and heavy tools that hold our neighborhood shifting.

Children can climb behind the wheel of a fireplace engine, discover the cab of a concrete mixer, drive an actual tractor, and even take a look at the within of a SWAT van. Throughout the day, native first responders, development crews, and automobile operators will probably be readily available to reply questions and share their work with curious youngsters and households.

“We hope to spark curiosity and inspire the next generation of essential workers,” says Program Manager Jamie Lafollette.

One of the occasion highlights is the Pumpkin Smash, the place huge pumpkins will probably be hoisted excessive into the air and dropped onto a marked zone beneath, exploding in a dramatic and messy spectacle. Families could have the chance to assist the museum by taking part on this crowd-pleasing exercise, with enjoyable prizes awarded after every drop.

Thanks to Kaiser Permanente, MOD can be bringing their standard Teddy Bear Clinic to the occasion, the place Cabrillo College nursing college students will information youngsters via faux checkups for his or her stuffed animals. This play based mostly program reduces concern and nervousness, making youngsters extra comfy in medical settings.  This yr’s clinic can even embrace an actual ambulance for teenagers to discover, serving to demystify emergency medical care via the ability of play.

In conserving with its mission to make studying accessible for all households, MOD is providing a particular present for Medi-Cal eligible households. Thanks to a grant from Central California Alliance for Health, households with at the very least one grownup enrolled in Medi-Cal will obtain a free stuffed otter and a one-year museum membership, extending the impression of the occasion lengthy after the day ends.

Zoom Honk Smash can even function customized slime-making with a development theme, glitter tattoos, and interactive play zones for teenagers of all ages. Real tractors from the Agricultural History Project will probably be out there for teenagers to drive. Food vans will probably be serving up meals all through the day, and adults can chill out with a chilly drink within the on-site beer backyard whereas the children discover.

To guarantee all households really feel welcome, the occasion will start with a sensory-friendly hour from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., that includes lowered noise ranges and a no-honking coverage to create a extra comfy setting for kids with sensory sensitivities.

Though that is the competition’s first yr, MOD hopes Zoom Honk Smash will grow to be a beloved Santa Cruz custom. Since opening in 2014, the museum has been a neighborhood hub for interactive science, artwork, and play-based studying, serving over 50,000 guests yearly. More than 1 / 4 of these households profit from discounted admission packages.

Zoom Honk Smash is greater than only a day of enjoyable. It is a part of MOD’s broader effort to carry playful, hands-on studying experiences into the neighborhood. Donations and sponsorships raised via this occasion straight assist the museum’s displays, instructional programming, and entry initiatives, serving to be sure that all kids in Santa Cruz County can expertise the enjoyment of discovery, no matter background.

“We want this to be something every family in Santa Cruz looks forward to,” Jamie Lafollette says. “It’s free, it’s accessible, it’s joyful, it’s exactly what Santa Cruz needs.”

Zoom Honk Smash takes place Saturday, October 4, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Capitola Mall car parking zone, subsequent to the Target parking storage. Admission is free. A sensory-friendly hour will probably be held from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. For extra data, go to www.sccmod.org/zhs or name (831) 316-5200.