Tinkertown: Engineering

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I run a monthly program for elementary school students to explore STEAM topics.  We've experimented with squishy circuits, Makey-Makeys, floatation and coding.  This past February, we did engineering.  I did a fair amount of research to find activities that weren't homeworky but were still rooted in SCIENCE.

COLUMNS

We tested the weight that columns could support.  I started and made three columns of various shapes - triangle, circle, and square - and we started loading them up with weight (books, of course, because we're a library!).  I think we managed to get five books before it collapsed.  We noted, via the scientific method, which column failed (the square) and I set them free to try their own experiments.  

These guys tried taping their columns together, which wasn't super effective, but gave us an opportunity to talk about larger bases.  Larger bases spread out the weight of a building over a larger area.  This makes the whole building more stable.  So we tried another experiment.  I stood still with my feet together and asked one of the kids to push me hard.  I was easily moved.  But then I stood with my feet apart (power pose!) and had them try again and I didn't move at all.  It was a really good and effective demonstration.  We also talked about the power of triangles when we did this too.  Triangles don't shift or twist as easily as squares of rectangles do.  This makes triangles useful in structures that need to be strong.

This little lady had the right idea - six circular columns.  She started stacking....

We ran out of materials before she could collapse her columns.

POST AND LINTEL

We talked about the post and lintel system before testing it out too.  When you put a top, or a lintel, on several columns, or posts, the structure can bear much more weight than any of the columns could individually.  To test this out, we used dixie cups and trays.  I gave everyone one dixie cup and asked them to stand on it.  Of course we just ended up crushing the cups.  We put six down and put a tray over top and two boys could stand on top of it without crushing it.  We put multiple layers down - dixie cups, tray, dixie cups, tray, etc and got at least four kids on top of our structure solidly.  I was inspired by this blog post.

FREE BUILD

After that, we did some free building.  I had toothpicks and jelly beans and gum drops, Popsicle sticks and clothespins, and a set of Strawbees.  The kids went to town!

This was definitely a huge success for me and I learned a good deal about how to structure these activities so the kids can get hands-on experience while also learning and experimenting.

Dragonology

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I've been doing a big station-based activity for elementary school students every January since I started.  I started with Spy Academy, then Space Camp, Grossology, Egyptology and this year DRAGONOLOGY!  

I kept it relatively simple this year - 5 stations with mostly self-directed activities.

First station: Translation.  Translate the dragon messages using a dragon script decoder.  All you need: a white board and a copy of Drake's Comprehensive Compendium of Dragonology (or the internet really).

I had 3 messages up - the first two were warnings ("Beware the yellow tongued flame" and "Drink not from this hole. An acid spitting dragon lives within") and the last was a riddle ("The beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end and the end of every place") because dragons LOVE riddles (and tacos).

Second station: Aerodynamics

You can study the dragon's flight by creating dragon paper airplanes!  I used this pattern and had crayons and markers out.  The kids could color their own dragon, cut him out, glue him together and give him a test flight.  NOTE: The dragons fly better with a paper clip on their snout.

Third station: Target Practice

I sewed together a really rudimentary slingshot out of two pieces of felt and two long strips of elastic.  I made some fake rocks from felt and polyfill.  I printed off some dragon pictures and let the kids work together to launch the rocks.  I was surprised that this is one of the least popular stations (but that's okay, less fighting, less getting hit with fake rocks).

Fourth Station: Dragon eggs

This is the project that started the program.  Through the librarian twitter grapevine I found this Fantasy Dragon Egg craft.  I knew that we could do this and it would be easy and super fun.  So my hacks: We definitely used the tinfoil base - get lots of tinfoil because you'll need it.  I bought Model Magic instead of airdry clay because I didn't get my butt in gear early enough to get white air dry clay.  Model magic worked JUST FINE (probably a little better than airdry clay because it's easier for small hands to manipulate).  We colored it with food coloring in advance.  This was a bit of a strenuous process and I'm glad I did it in advance and with gloves.  We used rhinestones, sequins, and glitter to decorate.  WORTH IT!  Everyone loved the egg project, even the boys.  

Here are two samples.  

Fifth Station: SLIME

Alright, I admit, I was riding the trend a little on this one, but it worked.  We made all kinds of dragon slime - clear slime with colors, white slime with colors, all slime with glitter, you name it, we made it.  I did use a traditional recipe with borax ONLY because I was at the table measuring out ingredients and helping them put it all together.  And honestly, I hadn't had good luck getting the non borax recipes to work.

It was messy as hell, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.  

Lovely LEGO Club

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One of the most successful, least time intensive programs that I do at the library is LEGO Club.  I got the idea from some amazingly innovative children's librarian that I can't remember (It was either Amy from The Show Me Librarian or Abbe's School Library Journal article) .  Anyway, I asked our community if they would be willing to donate some LEGOs for an upcoming program thinking that we'd get some and we'd have to buy some.  NOPE.  We got a TON of donated LEGOS.  Even my aunt pitched in - sending me a medium sized tote full of my cousin's LEGOs.  (She told him that when they had kids, she'd buy the kids newer cooler LEGOs.)

I started in the fall and scheduled LEGO club to meet once a month.  The month before we started, I badgered my mom to let me borrow my and my brother's LEGOs that she's been storing in her basement.  I put together all the sets that I could (Thank you so much Mom for keeping all of the LEGO instructions) and put them in our glass display case with a flyer.  I've toyed with the idea of having it twice a month, but I'm not quite ready to throw another program on my schedule.  We meet from 4-5 pm (which I know doesn't allow the kids with working moms and dads to always get here).  As I'm building along side the kids, I think sometimes that an hour isn't long enough, but I don't want to overdo it either.  

Here's how we do it.  Our custodian donated three rugged blankets that I spread on the floor.  I dump half of the LEGOs on one and half on the other and put all the minifigs on the third.  Some of the kids ONLY want to play with "the guys" as they call them, but most like to build. We did purchase ten big green baseplates and I'm hoping to get more as the group grows.  I do keep the baseplates separate from the regular LEGOs so that when the kids come in they can grab a baseplate and go to town building.  I put a challenge or theme up on the board for them, but tell them they don't have to build whatever they're building if they don't want to.  

Here are 25 LEGO club themes that we've done* or are going to do:

  1. Houses
  2. Animals
  3. Evil Villain Lairs
  4. Vehicles
  5. Islands
  6. Space ships
  7. Saving the Day!
  8. Under the Sea
  9. Summer
  10. Bugs
  11. Castles
  12. Towers
  13. Mazes
  14. Brick Cities
  15. Bridges
  16. Planes
  17. Ziplines (this one looks really cool)
  18. Robots
  19. Mad Scientists
  20. Dinosaurs
  21. Candy Land
  22. Monsters
  23. Train
  24. Fantasy
  25. Holiday

I usually build along with the kids unless there are a lot of kids or there are some particularly needy children.  I think it's a good example for the kids and for the adults.  Playing in any fashion is best if it's collaborative, and especially collaborative with an adult who can add to the conversation and help to build knowledge. 

I have several medium height bookshelves on which I display everyone's creation.  The shelves are high enough where adults and elementary aged children can see them, but not easily touch.  I wish I could put them down lower, but I don't want anything to be broken or taken or tampered with.  They stay up until the next time we have LEGO club.  Easy peasy.  

Marketing Design

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I am not by any stretch of the imagination a graphic designer.  I am, however, responsible for all of the posters/flyers/bookmarks/facebook stuff for my events.  I’ve learned more about graphic design as I keep making more and more and more of these so my latest flyers look WAY better than the first ones that I did.  I was working on a bookmark for a Space Camp event we’re doing in a few weeks and just wanted to post this image to give you an idea of my process.

This is a screen shot of the four different versions of this I created.  I started with a Facebook cover image that I created in Canva. I added the event time and some details about the event and went from there.  The cover image template is a little too tall to be a bookmark, so everything had to be scooched up and then cropped.  I didn’t like the library logo on the top of the first one because of the placement of the NASA logo so I moved it to the bottom.  The descriptions were too close to the event time in the second one and made the whole thing look a little cluttered so I rewrote those and moved the astronaut up a bit.  The astronaut was moved a little too much in the third version so I just moved him a tiny tiny tiny bit and VOILA! The fourth image.  The one I will use for my bookmarks.