My kids are all grown-up adults now, but when they and I were younger, the company I was working for was discarding a bunch of obsolete computer peripherals. This included a 9" reel-to-reel tape drive with vacuum columns, which allowed the tape to move
really fast between the reels. Like, warp speed! I salvaged the large relay-rack style cabinet the tape drive was mounted in and removed two huge DC reel motors from the tape drive, with the idea of building a go-cart for my two sons. Later, I acquired (for free!) a 24 volt lead-acid battery, brand-new, never had electrolyte (sulfuric acid solution) installed. I thought this battery would be good for powering up the go-cart... and perhaps also good for adding a few hundred pounds close to the ground for stability.
Unfortunately, I never did learn how to weld either steel or aluminum tubing to build a go-cart chassis, although I did purchase a welding helmet, intending to take classes at a local community college, and eventually to purchase a TIG (tungsten inert gas) welder. I still have the helmet in its original box, but the motors and the battery were left in Dayton, Ohio when we moved to Florida. And I never did purchase the welder or sign up for hands-on training, which IMHO is the only way to learn how to weld, or for that matter to learn anything requiring haptic skills and eye-hand coordination. Printed instructions and videos are a big help, but in the end you have to do it yourself and learn mostly by trial and error.
About three-year old tinkerers... that is exactly how I was at that age, eager to examine and learn about everything. Mom taught me the alphabet using
Little Golden Books and flash cards. Then, after that, she taught me how to read before I reached age four. By the time I hit kindergarten I was so far ahead of the other untutored children that it became a struggle to stay attentive. Borrrring! Moral of this story: always be there for your kids, to nurture, to teach, to love and to explore. If you do it right, they will grow up to be exceptional human beings. Well, there will be outliers like me, not exceptional at all, but I still had a lot of fun growing up.