CATALDO — Students at Canyon Elementary School now have access to a unique classroom and work space that will help them learn more about hands-on work.

Officially revealed on March 18, the new “Tinker Tech Lab” in the school was made available to the public so that parents and family could see just what the exciting new room has to offer.

Principal Jennifer Ferreira explains that the Lab took the place of a computer lab and has been running for about a month now. During that time, all of the students (kindergarten through fifth grade) have enjoyed working on their various projects.

Stocked with tools, computers, a 3D printer, drones, virtual reality gear and various other gadgets — the Tinker Tech Lab can keep any student engaged, regardless of age or interest.

“The main point is that there is a variety of things,” said STEM facilitator Seth Harju. “A couple months from now, every kid will find something that they like working on.”

Visits to the lab are worked into the school’s curriculum, usually having students pop in at least once a week and work on various projects.

“The space is open as a computer ancillary class that they come to once a week that is more focused on computer applications, but the Tinker Tech Lab stuff is more focused on engineering, creating, designing and the process of what that looks like.”

Ferreira and others at Canyon Elementary first got the idea to create the lab back in January by taking a page from Gizmo Makerspace — a nonprofit organization in Coeur d’Alene that provides an environment where kids can get creative with art, design, technology and tools.

“We’ve taken field trips to Gizmo,” she said. “We really liked what they were doing and wanted to recreate that here at Canyon.”

With the idea in mind, the next step was securing the funding. The main sources ended up coming from extra funding in the parent organization, the school’s ham and turkey fundraiser and donations from supporters. In fact, many of the tools, supplies and equipment came through donations.

Even with secured funding though, the actual follow through of the project required a significant amount of volunteer work.

“When you are looking around here, it’s hard to visualize how much work went into just remodeling this room. It’s been hours and hours of time donated by families in this community.”

Canyon Elementary held a community day before the grand opening, where volunteers came in and did the work to transform the room.

With the Tinker Tech Lab set to become a fixture of the school for years to come, perhaps the biggest challenge with it will be getting students to leave once they are already there.

“The first day, a kindergarten girl cried because she had to leave. Nobody wants to leave,” Harju said.