A Rube Goldberg Challenge ~ Turn the Light Off

Looks like we were timely to explore Rube Goldberg as our Thinker of the Month.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Our time spent during "school" has mostly been spent outside of home, so we haven't really scratched the surface of exploring our Thinker yet. Our trip to the library confirmed that yes, Rube Goldberg was someone who is deifintely worth learning more about.

                                                                                   

When I saw this activity set up I was so thankful. This was the most perfect way to get the kids charged up about Rube again, it was so well organized too. I got a lot of ideas of how to pull this type of thing off at home.

                                                                                     

The Rube Goldberg challenge was to turn the light off. The clip is very short, but you can still see that this activity had DJ thinking. DJ and Ken both were successful at accomplishing this challenge, and of course the camera never works when your ready to record that great moment :)

3D Printing Machine

This week is Lansing Maker Week. Today we visited the East Lansing Public Library's Pop up Makerspace.

                                                                             

                                                                               

They were so excited to learn about and make things with the 3D printer and so was I. This Makerspace is available three days a week and on Saturdays for FREE for the next six months. I think this  place is going to be a valuable resource to us. 

Do you have a Makerspace in your area?

At the Library: BrushBots

Our library has offered a lot of Maker activities this summer, unfortunately due to my work schedule we were only able to attend the last one.

                                                               

We had a lot of fun and now they have been experimenting with them. We love our library!

How to Schedule Project Time

Many have asked me in real life or through emails "How do we schedule in our projects?". It just kinda evolved into when they saw me working on my projects they started working on theirs.

 Here are a few of my past projects....

                                                                   

Designing a logo

                                                                   

                                                    Creating a business card.

                                                                     

Hanging up flyers around town.

They know that I am not bothered by them asking any questions while I am working on a project. Often times while I am working on something I ask them their opinion and vice versa.

                                                                          

My latest project is conquering the Arduino! I have falling in love with the world of coding, and plan to teach them more about coding as well.               

I guess my best way of answering this question is just to model project work- just like you would if you were teaching them how to read. They see you reading so they read!                                

Electronics Organization

I really need to get organized! We have slowly been doing school mostly just reading, writing and math has been getting done.  We have been doing a lot of nature walks too. This year Kennede will be studying Biology while DJ is studying...yep Zoology, but our group science work is all about Electronics. Tomorrow we are going to the park to hopefully recruit some children to attend some classes for the non profit organization. We will be sharing some of our electronic tools. I am very pleased with how everything is so organized and how easy it will be to travel with and be housed on the shelves.

                                                               

Lots of things can be created using these different materials creatively. We have a lot more to go along with this, but keeping the tidbits organized will help them stay organized!  Well we shall see :)

                                                                           

Tinkering with circuits is just too much fun! They have been inventing so much goodness lately.

Testing 123

I don't want it to get too quiet over here, so I thought I share DJ's latest obsession.

                                                                         

We are positive that all of our batteries in the house work.

Happy Making Everyone!