YORK, Maine — For the next five weeks, the York Parks and Recreation Department is hosting a Hot Wheels Garage program for kids ages 5-8.
The kids will be building a variety of tracks, talking about car models, and just having fun with their creativity and imagination.
Andy Kaherl, who used to be a race car driver, is leading the program. He said Hot Wheels cars and related toys are an opportunity for interactive play and the development of social skills like communication and turn-taking.
"York Parks and Rec offers a lot of different programs outside of your traditional youth sports, and that's one of the reasons why we wanted to do it," Kaherl explained. "Not everyone wants to play soccer or football or do those traditional youth sports, so we wanted to provide an opportunity for those kids to do something different, and this is one of those opportunities."
"I just enjoy how they built the motors, and I just like the design," Everett Connell, 7, told NEWS CENTER Maine.
"Cause they are fun to play and drive," Will Milburn, 6, added.
"I want to learn about like cars, the designs, like the motors, and like the tires. How to pump them up," Grant Traquair, 7, said.
"I wanted to just do something where kids could learn about cars, and so this is an opportunity for kids to do that, and they get a chance to use their imagination," Kaherl explained. "It's open-ended play, so they can get creative. It's similar to Legos. You can have the same set but build something totally different every time you use them."
The program is capped for this month, but Kaherl said he has another one coming up in the spring of next year. Kerhel said the size of the program is small, just eight kids, because it's only him in charge of the kids for the duration of the program and he wants to make sure he can work closely with every kid in the program.
For more information about the program, you can email Andy Kaherl at akaherl@yorkmaine.org