As educators, we are always seeking subjects that are robust enough to allow children to have choices and are gender neutral to maximize engagement. The Exploratory specializes in developing projects that incorporate several learning opportunities into one project. This week, we introduced circuits and robotics and continued woodworking skills all connected by the love of bugs.
Our first session of the Maker Scouts Los Angeles featured sneak peeks at different making materials to show young children what some possibilities are. We have many scouts who have not had any real hands on project-making before and it was very important for us to show them how capable they could be.
With some help from her dad Scott, second grader Emma made this Raspberry Pi-controlled interactive trifold poster about the state of Vermont, for a school project. Pushing a button cycles through the different agricultural industries of the state, complete with lights and animal sound effects. Other buttons play recordings of the state bird singing and the state song. There is also a “quiz mode,” which tests the viewer on what they’ve learned.
Alice Taylor is CEO of Makielab, a London-based startup that 3D prints customised action dolls called Makies. Customers design their doll on the Makie website, choosing facial features, hairstyles, eye and skin colour, and selecting outfits and accessories. The dolls – fully-poseable, and about 10 inches tall are then printed in London and shipped out. For the Makie and Alice, that’s the beginning of a long adventure.
I spoke to Alice about the adventure that she and Makielab have been on, playing with toys, working with geeks, and bringing 3D printing to the masses.
Anyone who has kids will, at one time or another, point a video camera (or smartphone) at them and make a little home movie. But how about getting kids involved in making movies? Bianca Giaever doesn’t have kids, but the young filmmaker has created a great short film called “The Scared is Scared,” based on a story invented by a six-year-old boy named Asa. Bianca’s questions and Asa’s often flip-flopping, cute-as-can-be answers form the narration of the movie. Bianca takes Asa’s imaginative story and brings it to life as he tells it. It’s clever, funny, and poignant. She offers advice on how to go about making a movie with kids.
Big Dog’s learned how to throw cinder blocks. While this could make for a fun game of catch, I think this would be pretty useful if you needed to move some supplies to the top of a hill or building quickly.
I had twenty-four kids to walk through a detailed robot kit build. I thought we’d get through the physical build in one or two classes, and have two classes to play with the circuit and make the robot do different things. Boy, did I mis-judge things. By the end of the first class, we had barely managed to finish the first two steps of the build. I went home and collapsed for a bit. I was exhausted and not a little bit panicked.
