Noggin Builders, Northbrook

A glance at Amy Torf's background will make it clear why she founded Noggin Builders, which enhances kids' creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills through a variety of hands-on activities. She earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering, engaged students with real-world projects as a math and science teacher, and created innovative, interactive curricula as a camp director.

Her Noggin Builders ensure kids aged 2–14 don't get a chance to become bored after school or during the summer and school breaks. Workshops, camps, and parties engage students with topics such as cooking, crafts, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Captivating experiments have included making slime, building working circuits, programming robots, and observing decidedly un-Kafkaesque butterfly metamorphosis.