Tin Tanker, Stretchable Stomach, Coconut Creature and Buckling Basket - alliterations are not the only thing Arvind Gupta is a maestro at. For over 30 years, this Indian science educator working at the Children’s Science Centre in Pune has been revolutionizing the way science is taught to children by making Toys from Trash, and teaching children from around the world to do the same. “The best way to learn science is by doing,” he said in an interview with The Canberra Times, and he believes there’s no better way for children to embrace the subject than by giving them toys that aid in their understanding of the field. Over the years, Gupta has taught the children of 3000 schools in India, both of lower-income as well as high-income backgrounds. The key to the overwhelming response Gupta has been receiving from these children, according to him? “All children like toys which are dynamic – the ones that can spin, fly, jump, make noise and move. And if you can make them from scraps of paper – jumping frog, flapping bird, flying fish – or old matchboxes, plastic bottles then every child can make them, whether they are rich or poor. The children who come to our science center hardly eat their tiffins or go to the washroom – they are so busy making things and playing with them!”

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