MythBusters host Adam Savage has a thing or two to say about the importance of tinkering — even if that means it gets messy.

“If you don’t get a chance to fail, if you don’t get a chance to try things and not get them right the first time, and you keep on doing it until you do get that specific kind of success, then you become so risk-averse that you in fact get an allergy to trying new things. And that is the worst thing we can do to kids.”

At Maker Faire last weekend, Savage spoke about how the “maker culture” is the engine that will fuel kids’ love for — and excelling in — math and science.

Here’s to that maker spirit!

[Produced by Joanne Elgart Jennings and Matthew Williams. Photos in the video by Patrick Giblin.]