This blog post is written by one of our Co-founders, Hari Adnani

We’ve all been there, whether you’ve been making longer than you’ve been able to walk or if you’re fresh in the field, you know the feeling of not have anything to make, or more accurately, not being inspired. From experience, I know that there’s always something to make-you just have to be inspired. How do you find inspiration? I’m glad I asked! Here are three ways to be inspired when making.

#1 An exceptional way to find inspiration is by looking around your community to see what needs fixing or what would help you or others. It could be a birdhouse (to help the birds), a custom table centrepiece (this would help make your table more aesthetically pleasing), or even a wooden chest to store toys in at your  local park.

#2 Take your hobby (or find a hobby) and contribute to its community. You can write a piece of sheet music and share it with the world, make and sell picture frames for artists or you could even make a cabinet or a series of shelves, anything to organize your making materials. This could include glue, markers, extra wood, motors, batteries, and anything else you can think of.

#3 If you honestly, truly, no way, no can do, think of something to make, there’s always a solution! On this website there’s so much to do, and so much to learn. As a matter of fact that website is the one you’re reading this on. Maker Junior! Maker Junior  is awesome! On the Maker Junior YouTube channel  there’s a ton of awesome ideas and tutorials for kits that we sell on the website. Check it out, you won’t regret it!

Thank you for reading my blogpost, now that you have inspiration, go make!

‘Till next time!

Hari

La Machine is a production company based out of Nantes, France and is famous for it’s spectacular and captivating machines. La Machine is coming to Ottawa between the 27th and 30th of July to begin their North American tour.

On Sunday the 23rd, Maker Junior visited the Space and Aviation museum where La Machine set up their massive animatronic puppets to roam the streets. With three week build time and an even longer amount of time to be shipped from France to Canada, you can tell it’s going to be amazing.

The puppets that will be performing will be Long Ma, a dragon horse and Kumo, a massive spider. The story premise is that Kumo, the massive spider, once snuck into the home of Long Ma, a cosmic entity and guardian of humans, and not only robbed his temple, but also burned his wings. After this, Long Ma spends his days roaming the seven seas in hopes of finding his temple and destroying Kumo. The recent construction work in Ottawa has aroused Kumo and in her weakened state (she lost control of the temple), Long Ma sets out on the journey to restore his temple with the power that he alone possesses.(La Machine, 2017)

That sounds crazily cool and to make it even more amazing, Maker Junior managed to interview with Antoine Piffaut, the director of movement for Kumo and he gave us some spectacular info on La Machine and what’s to come. Check it out:

Thank you for reading my blog post today, it was so much fun to go and see the puppets before they were sent out on the street, I sincerely hope that you will consider going to see La Machine in action between the 27th and the 30th of July.

We had lots of fun making light up valentines over the past week. The goal was to make a valentine that could be turned off and on. Lots of great, innovative switches!

Maker Junior is thrilled to be partnering again with Dr. Audrey Girouard and her team of researchers from the Creative Interactions Lab at the School of Information Technology, Carleton University. We will be hosting a fun, free, Inventors Workshop for 9-14 year olds to explore programming in Snap with the Arduino, bendable sensors and electronics. Participants must have some exposure to programming in Snap or Scratch to participate in these workshops. During this workshop we’ll be building cardboard games and increasing the interactivity of these games with programming. All participants will have a chance to build their own inventions and share with everyone what they have created.

This workshop is funded by the Ministry of Ontario through an Early Research Award.

Workshop Dates:

Saturday, February 4, 2pm - 4pm

Pre-registration is required. 

Registration will be held at 50% male/ 50% female participation.

For more information, or if you are interested in participating in this free workshop please contact Alison at alison@makerjunior.com or 613-710-9427.

We’ve met Randy and his crew at Surreality Labs at Maker Faire in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Randy makes a variety of different things, ranging from awesome pinball machines to equally as awesome Maker Faire badges. Randy is a really cool guy and I hope that you enjoy learning a little bit more about him.

What/Who inspired you to start making?

“I think that would be my parents - I don't exactly remember when I started messing around with making stuff, but my parents both supported me tinkering and taking things apart (and not often putting them back together, at first!). My dad works with computers and knows a fair bit about electronics, so that's where I got that from - he would always help me on science projects, and showed me what he was doing when fixing things. My parents also did a lot of home renovations and repairs themselves, so I had a lot of exposure through that.”

What is your favourite project that you've ever made?

“That keeps changing, but right now I'd say it's a tie between the DIYPinball pinball machines, and the Maker Faire Ottawa badges from 2015. The badges were a lot of work to put together, and even though they didn't work as well as I'd hoped, people had a lot of fun with them, and it's a really amazing feeling to see a bunch of people walking around, wearing and using something you built and designed.

The pinball machines are a favourite because there are so many different parts that we had to design and build, or fix from the original machine - and getting them all working together to the point where you can actually play pinball is something we're really proud of. We learned a lot, and had a lot of fun, just getting them to the point where we can play them. Actually playing pinball on them is tons of fun, too!”

Did you like school? What was your favourite subject?

“I did like school, though I think I liked it more as I went up through it. Up until about grade 8, I think my favourite subjects were Math, Science, Computers, and Design Technology - basically shop class.

Once I got to high school, those subjects got a fair bit harder, but waaaaay more interesting. Because I had some really great teachers, subjects like English - which I hadn't enjoyed before - were a lot more fun. I also got to take a bunch of courses that were interesting, but just not offered in lower grades - Accounting was one I really enjoyed. I think because the classes in high school were more interesting, I had an easier time concentrating on them - my grades improved a fair bit in high school. My favourite subjects here were Math, Physics, and Computer Programming.

University was different altogether. At least in my program (Computer Engineering at McMaster University), it felt like the first 2.5-3 years were just preparing you for the last 1-1.5 years, when stuff got REALLY interesting. I had classes in how things like computer processors and networks actually work, which they were a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. The best part about University, though, was that I made a ton of friends who were also interested in similar things to me - and who also wanted to build stuff. We all helped each other learn and try new projects, and had access to a lab with electronics gear and space to build things. Some of the people I do the Pinball stuff with - Mike, Danny, and Alan - I met through student activities in University. So I'd say my favourite subject in University was Making.” 

Did you like to make stuff when you were a kid?

“I definitely did. I did a lot of stuff with Lego and Meccano, and did a fair bit of programming in BASIC. I took apart a whole bunch of broken stuff, and always meant to build it into something new, but frequently never quite got that far. It wasn't until I was in high school that I got more experience actually building things and fixing things - one year I got to take the school's digital camera home for Christmas break, because I was fixing the power adapter for it. I think this was around 1998, so they were very new and incredibly expensive. I did manage to fix it - without breaking anything else! :)”

I hope you guys enjoyed this blog post, and let me know what you think of this series so far.

Signing off for now,

Hari

We will be hosting a fun, free, Inventors Workshop for 7-9 year olds to celebrate our first Vancouver Mini Maker Faire! During this workshop we’ll be playing games and exploring the properties of different materials alongside electronics. All participants will have a chance to build their own inventions and share with everyone what they have created.

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED.

The workshop will be held in the evening on Monday, June 13 in Mount Pleasant, Vancouver. Details will be forwarded once you have registered!

For more information, or if you are interested in participating in this free workshop, please contact Alison at alison@makerjunior.com.

I often start my workshops with a book. I like books where the characters make stuff. I like books about the process of making and the challenges that are faced. Some of the books I use have a lesson. Some of the books are great at sparking creativity. "If I Built a House" by Chris Van Dusen is one of these. The boy in the story is thinking about what kind of rooms he would build in his house. He starts off with rooms we're familiar with, like livingrooms with trampolines and ball pits. Or kitchens with robot arms to cook and cleanup. (Ok, that's my favorite!) But then the rooms start becoming more creative. A Flying Room, a Racetrack Room, a Fish Tank Room where you swim with the fishes. The kids love this.

After we read the book, it's fun to build our own rooms. I supply cardboard boxes and found objects, paper, glue, scissors. I keep a hot glue gun going in the corner of the room for some of the harder pieces.

Some kids enjoy making blueprints (the inside cover of the book is filled with great blueprints of imaginary houses).

Other kids go all out building their rooms. I like this one - it's got a football field, a basketball net, a GIANT flat screen TV and a rocket ship. It's also got a dinosaur museum, but you can't see it in this shot. A lot of work went into this room!


This one is great too! It's got a swimming pool and multiple slides. One slide goes right down into the swimming pool so you can swim with the fishes. It's also got another feature that took me a while to figure out. Do you see that googly eye in the swimming pool? Those were stuck on every side of the house, too. Can you guess what it is? A home monitoring system, so you could see what was going on all around the house. Love it!




Keep Making!
Alison

Maker Junior is thrilled to be partnering with researchers from the School of Information Technology at Carleton University. We will be hosting a fun, free, Inventors Workshop for 7-9 year olds to explore bendable materials and electronics. Young 7-9 yrs makers must have participated in past Maker Junior Workshops in order to attend the first phase of these workshops. During this workshop we’ll be playing games and exploring the properties of different materials alongside electronics. All participants will have a chance to build their own inventions and share with everyone what they have created.

At a later date, after the Inventors Workshop, we’ll be hosting sessions with our littlest inventors, 2-5 years of age, to see how they engage and interact with refined prototypes. During this session, participants will be able to play and interact with various prototypes to see what is the most fun! For this second phase siblings of past participants are welcome as well as friends.

Participants will be compensated with refreshments, materials and bus tickets with their parent to and from the location. This research has been cleared by Carleton University Research Ethics Board-B (16-083).

Workshop Dates:

The workshop dates are:
Phase One:
April 17th, 2016
1-3 pm
Room 1B, Nepean Centrepointe Library
May 7th, 2016
1-3 pm
Qualicum-Graham Park Community Centre

Phase Two:
May 28th, 2016
Group A 10:30- 11
Group B 11-11:30
Location to be announced

For more information, or if you are interested in participating in this free workshop please contact Alison at alison@makerjunior.com or 613-710-9427.

Researchers/Collaborators:

Dr Audrey Girouard
Supervisor, School of Information Technology, Carleton University
audrey.girouard@carleton.ca

Alison Evans Adnani
alison@makerjunior.com
Business Partner, Maker Junior

Layda Gongora
hybridmedium@gmail.com
Lead Researcher, Carleton University

We first met Andrew at the Canada Science and Technology Museum's Biotechnology Days in May 2013. Nanik and I played hooky for the day specifically so we could see his talk, BioHacking: Using Apples, Lego and Twitter to Learn About Cell Physiology and Pathology. We were curious about BioHacking. We know a lot about computers in our house, but not a lot about biology. We were familiar with some of the technology he talked about but the application blew us away. Growing mouse muscle on apple cells? I wasn't sure what to think about that.  We also know Pelling Lab from the Ottawa Maker Faires. They were part of the the Mini Maker Faire in 2012, and have exhibited every year since.

Fast forward to this time last year. I had the great opportunity to visit with Andrew and tour his lab. As a member of the Global Young Academy, Andrew was organizing their annual meeting in Ottawa for May 2015. As part of this meeting, he arranged a Science Fair Hack where local makers, including youth, could show their work. We were invited to participate with many of the different groups I work with around the city. 

There's no doubt that the work Pelling Lab does is extraordinary. But I am even more impressed with how they do the work. Not only is he a professor and TED Fellow, Andrew Pelling is a maker and a huge supporter of the maker movement here in Ottawa and around the world. That means that some of his lab equipment is home grown.

This set up is for time lapse microscopy. The plywood box is an incubator that controls the temperature and humidity to keep the cells alive. This represents a substantial savings over buying a entire system from a supplier.

That's not only good for Pelling Lab, it's good for everybody. Pelling Lab shares their projects as open source labware hacks. This information is shared around the world through organizations like GYA. It is important that science be accessible for all countries, not only those that can pay for expensive lab equipment. This work has evolved into Spiderwort, "dedicated to developing and providing low cost, open source, DIY kits for the key equipment needed to provoke and enable Science in all economies and environments across the globe". This is fantastic work. I love how Pelling Lab demonstrates the benefits of the maker mindset in an academic setting. I can't wait to see what happens next.

I'm going to close this post with one of my favorite videos. This is a video taken at the GYA Science Hack I mentioned earlier. This was a great event. Part of making is sharing. It is so important for kids to be able to share what they have made. The GYA scientists who attended were an engaged and attentive audience. I am so proud of all of the kids who presented their projects that day!

Highlights of the Science Fair Hack at 5th International Conference for Young Scientists and GYA Annual General Meeting from GYA on Vimeo.

We've created an Ottawa #makered Facebook group for educators in Ottawa, Ontario to communicate and learn from each other. Our first task is planning a meetup. You are always welcome to join us. Follow this link to sign up!

Project of the Month - Bubble Maker Challenge

We are going to be featuring a new project idea every month that uses some of the parts and pieces that we sell in our kits. This month it's the Bubble Maker Challenge! One of the first projects we start our makers off with is the Doodlebot. Also known as a scribble bot or an art bot, this is a fun project that uses the wobbly motion created from offsetting a motor to create fun doodles. But what else can you do with an Educators Pack of Doodlebots? This summer at camp I presented the 9-12 yr old kids with the Bubble Maker Challenge. The challenge is straightforward. Use the same motors, wires, batteries, cork and cup you would use to make a Doodlebot. I provided a pie plate filled with bubble solution. How could you make a machine that blows bubbles? 

We had lots of different designs. The most successful designs used the size and angle of the fan blades to successfully push the air that was required to make a bubble. Remember, if the fan starts to pull the bubble in, you need to change polarity of the batteries to change the direction of the fan. Just switch the wires around! 



This little fan actually made the best bubbles!

This is my favourite space to work in. It's the art room at a local church. I love the counters. I love the tables - I especially love that they don't show marks. I only wish the supplies on the shelves were mine! There's not space for reading books - but I usually perch on a filing cabinet so everyone can see.

We can make any space work. But some spaces I like better than others. Over time I've definitely come up with a list of things that work. If I ever have my own space, this is what I would like:

• Counters. I like counters, with electrical outlets. Great for working and setting out the supplies that are being used.
• Tables. Chairs are nice, but when you're working with little kids, sometimes they are not necessary. Sometimes it is easier to stand at a table and work then sit in a chair that is too big for you at a table that is too high for you.
• Carpet space. Carpets are a pain for working on because they collect the bits and pieces. But carpets are great for sharing or instructions or telling a story.
• Shelving. Lots and lots of shelving for supplies. There are so many supplies in a maker space.
• Display space. For photos or objects. For inspiration.
• Screens, wifi, charging stations. For charging computers. For showing photos or videos. Lots of times we're crowded around my laptop, tablet or phone screen loading glitchy videos. 
• Garbage and recycling bins. Not every space has these. Crazy, I know.
• Windows. For light and ventilation.
• Sink. Really? Yup. For cleaning up and experiments. It's great to have a water source in the room.
• Coat rack/hooks for coats, backpacks and boots. I might not have thought of that one in the summer.

This banner is so much fun!

Creatron has been our favorite go-to store for electronics for years. When we visit Toronto we always try to make a trip to the downtown location. The last time I was there I was excited to find all sizes of LEDs displayed in a rainbow of colors! It's so great to have a store that gets how we work. 

We were excited to meet with the Creatron folks at Maker Festival this year in Toronto and at Ottawa at Maker Faire! We thrilled to announce that Maker Junior kits are now available at Creatron.

We've even turned them into moving pictures.

I've discovered a couple of tricks to help make this activity successful:

• I don't use broom straws for the tails, I use cable ties. (Associate link.) The cool think about cable ties is the slight bend at the end. If you line two up the right way, they make a triangle perfect for a wagging tail.
• Mounting the finished tail on a piece of foam core, or cardboard, helps create context and keep the tail wagging in two dimensions. 
• Thin paper for weaving the tail helps! Your average print or copy paper works well, newsprint does too.
• Thick paper, like cardstock, for the bodies of the animals helps!

We stopped with this project for the 6-8 yr olds. With the 9-12 yr olds, we kept going over the next couple of weeks building automata.

Automata are toys that move using mechanical energy. Cranks, gears, springs, pulleys. A really simple automata, like this project from the NY Hall of Science, uses smooth gears friction to spin an object around. 

We had a great time with this activity. I also brought the 3Doodler and the kids had a good time incorporating plastic doodles into their creations.

What I've learned from our automata project:

• Some of the kids used boxes to make their automata, some of them used two litre pop bottles. The boxes were sturdy and easy to make holes and set things up. But it was really hard to troubleshoot. The bottles were harder to get setup, but because they were transparent, it was really easy to troubleshoot.
• Leave time for troubleshooting. It's worth it to spend the time you need to get things moving.

Our contest is open to all residents of Canada (except Quebec) and the US over the age of 18.

To enter, leave a comment on our blog telling us what kind of monster you will make with the Talking Stuffie kit. The winner will be chosen at random and must be able to correctly answer the following skill-testing question:

How many seconds does the voice recorder save in our Talking Stuffie kit?

Contest closes October 31, 2015 at midnight.

For more chances to win, share this post on social media and email me the link!

Early in the week, the 9-12 yr olds watched the Caine's Arcade video. This is a great video. Out of 4 camps worth of kids, only one of them had seen it before!

We spent the next couple of days working on various projects with motors and LEDs. I encouraged the kids to work on their plans for the games. Our camp was two 1/2 day sessions. One group was 9-12 years old, the other 6-8 years old. While I spent a 1/2 day making with one group, the others were out doing recreation activities with two awesome GNAG counselors. For the cardboard arcade challenge, the idea was for the older kids, the 9-12 year olds, to make the arcade games and host an arcade for the younger kids. 

I was totally and completely blown away by the complexity of the games and how much care they took setting everything up.

I was primarily focused on making the games. And the games were impressive. We had water games, pinball games, ball throws, basketball games. Even spinning games of chance! The kids worked with rubber bands and angles and levers to get the movement they wanted. Some of them started introducing the tech we were working with earlier in the week.

The games were awesome. But so was the prize table! The kids who were done their games first made prizes to give away to the little kids. They set up a structure and some rules about prizes, and even made tickets. (The second week I brought tickets in - mistake! It's more fun to make your tickets.)

The younger kids made games too. We watched Caine's Arcade and they spent a shorter amount of time working on their games. Some games were simple - a cup, a spoon, and a ball. Some games got really complex. Motors were very popular!

What I didn't expect was how long after camp the activity would stick with them. My first hint was this tweet: 

Today's viewing of @CainesArcade at @GNAG_Ottawa's @maker_junior camp inspired boys to make our dog a new doghouse! Stay tuned.. #makered

— Allison Burnett (@OrgChaos_allibu) August 21, 2015

Which was followed by: 

@maker_junior @CainesArcade @GNAG_Ottawa Our dog quite likes his new digs! #maker pic.twitter.com/Ed0pACbS3u

— Allison Burnett (@OrgChaos_allibu) August 22, 2015

And then I started hearing about Will's Arcade. Will was one of the older kids in the 6-8 year old camp. He's attended a few workshops with me before and exhibited his work at the GYA Science Hack we took part in. When Will's mom started emailing me a couple of weeks ago with pictures of Will's Arcade, I wasn't that surprised.

But the cool thing was, he kept going! Will's has now been working on his arcade since camp, six weeks. He has it open on the weekend for customers. And he's made enough money to refill his prize wall - twice!

 The only problem is - it's getting colder. And soon Will's Mom and Dad are going to need to use their garage for their car.

Awesome job, Will! 

The 2015 Global Cardboard Challenge is October 10. You can find out more about the challenge, the Imagination Foundation, and what's going on in Ottawa that day at their website.

When school ends they always choose a couple of projects to work on during the summer. This summer one of the projects they chose was to work together on starting a YouTube channel for Maker Junior. I was more than happy to have them take this on. They obviously know more about this medium than I do. 

Through their involvement with Youth Ottawa, they discovered Youth Active Media. YAM runs multi-week programs during the school year. This summer they started one-week programs at various libraries and community centres around the city. Nanik took the program early in the summer. (You can see his video The Book Quest on YouTube.) Hari's just finished his week. (Hari's video is Searching for Sasquatch.) They spent several weeks researching camera equipment. Maker Junior provided the budget.

[Note on summer projects: I discovered, this summer, that if you ask your kids to do something, and you agree with what they're doing, you gotta provide a budget to go with it. ]

They worked hard to get the equipment ready for Maker Festival in Toronto. They wanted to interview people and ask them some questions they've been thinking about: "What is a maker?" and "Do makers have to use tech?" I am thrilled with the end result.

 Working on the video at the Maker Festival helped them meet new people and explore more of the event. Asking the questions started some great conversations! From my perspective, Mom's perspective, I thought this project helped them:

• discover their strengths (So, um, Hari is a natural in front of the camera. Nanik loves research and equipment. Video editing software has been a challenge for both of them but Nanik is doing a great job of it so far!)
• continue to build their research skills, with real world results 
• gain confidence in their abilities to learn something new and apply it
• reach out and meet a community of people

And they've only just begun! It's been a pretty fantastic beginning though. On their first day of filming, ever, they managed to get an interview with John Tory, Mayor of Toronto. What a scoop! And John Tory has my gratitude for gracefully sharing his tips for conducting a professional interview and providing thoughtful answers to their questions. And for signing their release form agreeing to appear in the video.

Our Educators Packs come with enough material for 10 BlinkyBots, including felt, googly eyes, batteries, conductive thread and LEDs. Also included are our easy to follow instructions (in English and in French) and our Workshop Tips. Our Workshop Tips have been developed after hours of hands-on testing with multiple age groups. They include practical logistics and great workarounds for younger students. We want everyone to be successful with their first projects!

Our contest is open to all residents of Canada (except Quebec) and the US over the age of 18.

To enter, leave a comment on our blog telling us how you will use the Educators Pack. The winner will be chosen at random and must be able to correctly answer the following skill-testing question:

What does the L in LED stand for?

Contest closes September 30th, 2015 at midnight.

For more chances to win, share this post on social media and email me the link!

We weren't starting completely from scratch, the Grade 7 Science classes were also building solar ovens. Most of the kids appreciated the extra time to work on their science projects.

We used all recycled materials. One of the groups even used the empty case from a desktop computer we took apart. See if you can see it in the picture up above.

From my brief introduction to solar ovens, it looks like you need to you:

1. reflect light (foil!)
2. absorb light (black paper)
3. keep the heat in (I found some foam that worked well)

Testing, as always, was my favourite. The chocolate melted quickly. After 20 minutes the marshmallows were definitely soft, but not runny. Need to keep working on my design... yum!

I know intuitively just how important it is. I've seen my own sons learn and grow with the projects they've been working on. Agency by Design is a multi-year research project that is specifically looking at maker-centered learning practices. They released a whitepaper of their initial findings in January 2015. Their big takeaway articulated what I've been seeing since I've started. While kids who are making are definitely learning about the science and technologies behind their projects, "... the most salient benefits of maker-centered learning for young people have to do with developing a sense of self and a sense of community that empower them to engage with and shape the designed dimension of their world." That's pretty powerful stuff! Follow our blog this summer to see more information on what "making" is, why it's important to make with kids, and how to get started.

This is one cool invention. The inventor has taken the GNAG Inventors Workshop for several sessions. This session, instead of following along with the usual projects, this young inventor took the materials from each project and added on to this creation. Here's a breakdown of the features and what projects they come from:

• Storage compartment access flap (around the back) has a circuit "puzzle" on the back that both lights and buzzes when successfully completed. This is from two projects, Quiz Cards and Design Your Own Game.
• Voice recorder that captures and records instructions is hidden under the nose. This is from the Talking Stuffie project. As is the design and decoration of the head!
• Jointed elbows and shoulders come from the Articulated Hand project (and yes, one hand is fully articulated).
• Treads. That was the tough part. We tried several different ideas using wheels and bicycle inner tubes during the weeks we use for Inventions. During the last week we came up with using pool noodles and dowels. The inventor was very satisfied with this solution!

Myself, I'm thrilled with this invention! I completely respect the amount of focus and dedication required to put this together. Not to mention the attention to detail!

This year we started an afterschool class for the  6-8 year olds. It has been very popular! It is a very different class from the 9-12 year olds. More spontaneous. Some of the kids are really interested in the inventors notebook we keep and fill it up with ideas. I explain that we're creating prototypes. I bring in the tech we've worked with (motors/LEDs/etc), materials I've found, and pieces we've discovered during a Make and Break.

One of my youngest inventors wanted to make a tablet computer and kept their focus on that all year. This is the result (it's currently running a Minecraft "app"):

Other creations are more spontaneous. This one combines an LED and battery with some of the found parts.

Other inventions solve problems. This is a money hat, you can carry your money with you in a concealed pocket and look fashionable too!

And some are just following artistic expression and the joy of working with your hands. With this creation he wasn't sure what it was until the very end, he was just enjoying creating a pattern and working with the materials. It wasn't until the very last minute he decided it was a picture frame!

There's a section on magnets in the book and I thought it looked like fun. So I found a reasonably priced bag of magnets and took it in to my primary inventors workshop with a bunch of craft supplies. We had a lot fun! And so, I'd like to introduce, Attractigator and Repelligator.

I liked Repelligator the best. I like the way his jaws hovered open. But the kids were way more interested in Attractigator. They found it much more satisfying to have his jaws snap shut! 

I first introduced them to a group of 9-12 year olds. They had a blast! They quickly figured out how to change the correct answer and had a great time making what they called "troll" questions. I was thrilled. By changing the circuit to change the answer, they were demonstrating a great working knowledge of circuits.

Then they wanted to add a red light. This consistently comes up in every group I work with. Now that they have the green light working, how can they add a red light for a wrong answer. No problem - I always have red LEDs on hand so the kids who finish first can give this a try. It's a bit tricky. And I don't hand out extra batteries to make it work. That's always the first request that comes up. (BTW I've tried conductive tape with this - I like conductive thread better. It's easier for the kids to change their answers.)

When I started introducing this project to the younger kids, ages 6-8, again I was surprised. Yes, it was harder to knot the conductive thread on the battery. (HINT: Practice tying knots first. I usually bring a ball of yarn and we practice tying knots before we start working.) But I almost never had to help with the circuit itself. They figured how to get it working themselves. For this age group, the circuit is a lot easier than writing the question. 

We started off the latest session of the GNAG Inventors Workshop for 9-12 yr olds making Quiz Cards. But a couple of weeks later, I put in two weeks for Game Design. I gave them a few weeks notice that it was coming and a few of them started working on designs. For the games, they could use batteries, red or green LEDs, and buzzers. A few of them started working on Operation-style games. And I also had a few really cool light up games.

This first one is called Help Me. The original idea was to have a person behind the board lighting up the different LEDs. Depending on which LED was lit, the player needed to come up with a cure for an ailment.

But we wanted to automate it. We didn't want to have someone hiding behind the board. So we came up with this. We made a circle of connections to the LEDs with paper fasteners. Then we cut out a circle of cardboard and made one slice of it conductive. (Yay, tin foil!) Then we connected the battery to the conductive "slice". Now when you spin the wheel, different LEDs light up.

This next game blew me away. This was one of the kids who started planning early. There are 12 green LEDs and 4 wire leads. One 3V battery. Not to mention imagination, dedication and focus. It all works exactly as expected.

 Yes - the tinfoil is part of the circuit too! Pretty impressive. 

All of this was inspired by one simple project. Want to get started? You can pick up a Quiz Card kit in our online store. They're also part of the Makers Workshop. Contact me directly if you need enough for a class - I have bulk pricing for educators.