Explorit’s new Challenge Center is packed with opportunities to turn everyday items into inventions and fun. Wire coat hangers, old newspapers, paper towel tubes – you may think of them as recyclables, but to Explorit, they’re the materials of science and invention.

Just how tall a tower can be made with newspaper dowels? What is the best way to build a rubber-band-powered car from nothing but recycled materials and “found” objects? How can you slow down a falling marble?

Visitors to the Challenge Center have the opportunity to answer these questions and more, taking Explorit’s signature “hands-on” approach to science to a new level as they become responsible for project invention, creation and completion.

Each week, a new challenge will be posted; a set of 10 or 12 will be rotated through, says Jonathan Bell, Explorit exhibit developer.

“There are no instructions or limits – within reason – on what creative people can do in this space,” Bell says. “Their ingenuity amazes me. Right now we have a tower someone built that touches the ceiling – it’s about 12 feet tall.”

The Challenge Center is set up in a former meeting room upstairs at Explorit’s main site, 2801 Second St. in Davis. It opened last weekend along with the most of rest of Explorit’s second floor. The Changing Exhibition “Go With the Flow… From Delta to Sea” can be explored in the new Gumerlock Gallery, a spacious upstairs area with windows overlooking both Interstate 80 and the DISC indoor skating rink.

“The opening of the Gumerlock Gallery and Challenge Center represent a milestone for Explorit,” says Lou Ziskind, executive director. “Since moving into the site in September 2006, we’ve looked forward to the day we can offer two full floors of exhibition space and activities. We’re thrilled that that day has arrived.”

The idea for a Challenge Center was born just last fall when two Explorit staff members attended a national convention of science museum personnel. They sampled the challenge-style activities and immediately wanted to bring the idea home.

“We had so much fun ‘playing’ with the Challenge materials that it was hard to stop,” says Anna Grace, Explorit’s exhibit coordinator. “Also, the idea fits perfectly with Explorit’s longtime approach of using everyday items in low-tech, open-ended exploration.”

Explorit tested some of the Challenge activities during its Winter Workshops, held during the recent school holidays. On some days, families spent up to an hour or more on the projects, with children scampering back and forth to grab additional building materials from bins.

Grace was not surprised at their popularity.

“Everybody likes to build stuff,” she says. “We’re very happy to make constructing things a permanent part of our Explorit offerings.”

Admission to the museum ($4 general, free for age 3 and under) includes free entry to the Challenge Center. Visitors who want to take their Challenge Center creation home may do so for a $1 materials charge.

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Explorit Science Center is open from 2-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Admission is $4 general, free for teachers and ages 3 and under. Explorit is at 2801 Second Street, Davis. For more information: (530) 756-0191 or www.explorit.org.