It was a bright April morning when the school bus pulled up in front of the enormous glass building that housed the Taramundi Museum of Science and Technology.
Twenty-five fourth-graders bounded off excitedly: they were finally going to see the practical side of everything their teacher had been teaching them over the past few months.
But inside, an almost reverent silence awaited them. Every display case bore a white sign with rigid letters: “DO NOT TOUCH.” There were darkened buttons, motionless levers, and models that seemed to have been sleeping for centuries. The smell of old varnish and stale air filled the hall.
— Is this it? — Diego grumbled, scratching his head.
To make up for the disappointment, Sara peeled off a loose sign and stuck it to her shirt. — Look, I’m a display case! — she joked, drawing a few weak laughs and the first collective yawn.
Hope, the teacher with copper-colored curls, tried to smile.
— Be patient, I’m sure we’ll find something interesting… — she replied, though inside she feared the field trip would end in naptime.
What no one saw was the tiny being slipping beneath the exhibit tables. Wonderkin, a Magikito with curious eyes and clothes made from electronic scraps, was worried.
— This place is deader than an engine without spark — he muttered, raising the magic spoon he’d crafted himself — Time to ignite some curiosity.
And he gave the first tap.
A burst of brilliance swept through the optics hall. The central lamp exploded into a fan of colors that floated like kites.
— A rainbow that breathes! — exclaimed Alice, trying to catch a violet strand.
— That’s called refraction — Hope seized the moment, amazed — White light separates into all its colors when it passes through glass.
The colors danced between fingers, leaving sparkles in pupils and a hum of wonder suspended in the air.
In the Electromagnetism gallery, a dusty antenna came to life. Wonderkin drew invisible circles and suddenly, the waves began to glow in turquoise spirals.
— Look how they move! — said Luis, clapping his hands. Each clap shifted the waves, which responded by changing shape like choreography to the rhythm of music.
— Those are electromagnetic waves, the ones we studied yesterday — the teacher explained — vibrations that travel through space carrying music, videos, photos…
— And pizza? — Sara chimed in, sparking laughter.
Further ahead stood a gleaming Stirling engine behind thick glass. It was a brass cylinder with a polished flywheel. Wonderkin planted himself on the flywheel, waved his little spoon, and the cylinder became transparent as water.
With a gentle crackling, the engine began to slow until everything could be seen perfectly in slow motion: the piston pushed the air, which expanded in a reddish flash of heat and slowly turned blue as it cooled.
— It looks like steam jelly! — said Marcus, approaching in amazement.
— Here thermal energy becomes motion — Hope explained, pointing — Heat that pushes and cold that pulls.
— Well, I’m going to make a bike that runs on this system — said Diego, now caught up in the enthusiasm.
Wonderkin, hidden among the students, chuckled to himself. — What an engineering boost! —
Suddenly the magic reached its climax. Glowing equations rose from the floor and spun overhead. Newton’s laws drew themselves exactly where they occurred: a luminous apple fell, slowed by an opposing force; blue integrals snaked like ink dragons showing areas under dancing curves.
— Look, math rocks! — shouted Irene, jumping.
Hope, her voice trembling with excitement, wrote in the air with her finger: the invisible chalk left traces of light that joined the spectacle.
— Science is a language — she said — And we can all speak it.
Gabriel raised his hand but spoke without waiting his turn:
— I want to build a pool where I can swim without getting wet!
— I’ll invent living batteries that recharge themselves by eating the trash in my room — added Martina.
Ideas popped like popcorn until the hall filled with engineering dreams.
When the guard returned, the lights had gone back to normal and the signs remained intact, though nobody cared anymore.
The students headed to the bus loaded with sketches, hypotheses, and smiles.
Hope glanced back for a moment and saw something strange in the air conditioning vent.
Wonderkin had left a tiny question mark made of light suspended in the air.
She whispered, almost voiceless:
— May the question never fade…
The Magikito waved his little spoon and slipped through the ducts, certain that museum would never be a boring place again.
And so, with a pinch of magic and tons of curiosity, a field trip that promised naptime had become the dawn of many future inventors.
