NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WIRED today announced National GeekDad Day (www.wired.com/geekdadday), a comprehensive initiative to encourage parents and their children to strengthen family ties and ignite children’s passions for science, technology, engineering, and math. On June 17, 2012, WIRED plans to take over Father’s Day with curated activities, projects, and experiments that families can host themselves or do together at one of a national network of museums and educational centers including:
- Space Center Houston www.spacecenter.org
- California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco www.calacademy.org
- Denver Museum of Nature and Science www.dmns.org
- NY Hall of Science www.nysci.org
- Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland www.omsi.edu
- Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago www.msichicago.org
- The Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley www.lawrencehallofscience.org
- Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland www.chabotspace.org
- Saint Louis Science Center www.slsc.org
In addition, TechShop (www.techshop.ws), a membership-based workshop that provides access to tools, equipment, and instruction, will host Geek Dad events in San Jose, San Francisco, Menlo Park, Raleigh, and Detroit.
Families that want to host their own GeekDad Day event can pledge their participation, find planning guides, tips, and awesome projects for kids of all ages at wired.com/geekdadday. Get up-to-the-minute updates on Twitter @WIREDGeekDad and use #geekdadday.
The “How To Be A GeekDad” cover package in WIRED’s June issue outlines 14 projects designed to jump-start a lifelong love of science and technology. Projects include building a hovercraft, cooking glow worms, molding dinosaur fossils, making electric Play-Doh, and many more. For kids of all ages and levels of expertise, these projects are designed to inspire parents to have fun with their kids while building educational values.
To make projects even easier, WIRED has also teamed up with littleBits, an opensource library of electronic modules that snap together for prototyping and play. The littleBits Starter Kit paired with step-by-step WIRED GeekDad activities developed just for the occasion can be ordered at the GeekDad Day website for $89. The kit includes everything you need to build several Do-It-Yourself gizmos, including a buzzing doorbell and light-up pressure sensor.
About WIRED
WIRED is the first word on how ideas and innovation are changing the world. Each month in the magazine and every day online, our editors deliver a glimpse into the future of business, culture, innovation, and science. AdWeek named WIRED to its 2011 Hot List and made WIRED its first-ever “Magazine of the Decade” in 2010. It was named to Advertising Age’s A-List in 2010, received three National Magazine Awards for general excellence in 2005, 2007, and 2009, and was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Magazine of the Year in 2011. Wired.com was named 2009’s Best Magazine Website by AdWeek, Best News, Business & Finance Website in 2009 by MPA Digital, and was a 2011 National Magazine Award for Digital Media “General Excellence” finalist. WIRED and Wired.com reach more than 14 million readers each month.
About GeekDad
The brainchild of WIRED Editor in Chief Chris Anderson, the GeekDad blog was developed to merge “geek” interests and parenting – a space to bridge the generational gap with products, ideas, and news that was interesting for kids and parents. Today, GeekDad is one of WIRED’s most popular blogs with 2 million views per month and a best-selling book series.
About littleBits
littleBits is an opensource library of electronic modules that snap together with tiny magnets for prototyping and play. At littleBits, we believe we need to create scientific thinkers and problem-solvers, and interventions need to occur early. The time is ripe to create the pipe cleaner and popsicle stick of the 21st century. littleBits consists of tiny circuit boards with simple, unique functions engineered to snap together with magnets. No soldering, no wiring, no programming, just snap and play.