Each year, River Trail Learning Center special education school hosts a themed Carnival Family Fun Night full of hands-on activities for its students, teachers, and their families to enjoy. The theme for 2024 was Mario Kart, with students making their own wooden race cars as the main event.
According to their website, River Trail Learning Center in Anoka, Minnesota “is a full day Special Education Setting Level IV Program for students K-12. […] All students have a disability, have a current Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), and have significant emotional/behavioral needs.”
When Brittney Wells, one of the school’s social workers, realized that the school did not have funding for car-making kits for all 125 students, she reached out to Random Acts Regional Representative Holly Olsen.
Hearing about the school’s event, Holly took action by submitting her own kindness act proposal for Random Acts funding. Holly personally purchased the wooden car-making kits and worked its activity booth at the carnival.
How Hands-On Activities Benefit School Children
As the school’s biggest family event, the carnival allows for stress-free interactions between the school, its students, and their families. Fostering such a school/family connection is especially essential for students receiving special education services. For example, seeing adults in their lives working together and trusting each other can show children that they can do the same.
When the car-making kits arrived, the included glue was not really strong. So staff and volunteers came together to pre-assemble some cars using hot glue guns. Many students decided to paint a pre-assembled car, but a few chose to build their own cars instead. The car-making booth also included a ramp where the families could test drive their cars.
Fostering creativity is important for both adults and kids, but it is especially important for childhood development. Creativity can help children develop awareness of spatial relationships, improve hand-eye coordination, strengthen fine motor skills, and more.
Holly particularly enjoyed seeing the students playing the games and interacting with the other families. From the toy car booth, she had an unobstructed view of the “How Fast Can You Eat the Fruit By the Foot” game booth, which she described as hilarious to watch.
Other activities at the event included a photo booth, a cup stacking contest stable, a cakewalk game with cookie prizes, other Mario Kart-themed games, and a screening of the Mario Kart movie with fruit punch and pizza.
