Science Camp: Roller Coaster Science

Over the summer we ran three different Science Camp programs for kids entering grades 3-5.  Each program began with a short Prezi covering the science concepts needed for the activity and detailing what they were to work on.  Our first was Roller Coaster Science.

I purchased 14 pipe insulation tubes from Lowe's and cut them in half.  Each person got two halves, although they could pool theirs together to create a longer run.  Each roller coaster needed to have one loop.  The kids could work in groups or individually.

This was a fun, easy program to do.  The kids spent 45 minutes building and would have gone on for longer if we'd let them.  I was amazed at their perseverance.  We did have two teen volunteers at each session to help the kids and one dad even stayed to enjoy the fun.  We let parents/caregivers come in five minutes before the program ended so they could see what their kids accomplished.

Here are pictures of the fun.

Build It

This is always a fun, easy program to do.  We had five different stations for the kids to do.

A view of the chaos!

Station 1: Household Challenge
We challenged the kids to build a house using nothing except two sheets of paper, two pieces of tape, two band-aids and two paperclips.  The original challenge we found online called for two pieces of gum, but we thought that might be a bit too messy and gross.

Getting creative

Station 2: Toothpick and Marshmallow Building

Station 3: Lego and Lego Challenge

I put together three different groups of bags, each group contained the exact same selection of bricks.  Kids could choose A, B, or C and see what they could build with the Lego bricks within.  Each child came up with a completely different construction.  It was fun to see what they could come up with.

Station 4: Cup Building
We purchased 4 80 count 3 oz cups from Target and let the kids build whatever they wanted with them.

10 across on the bottom.

Station 5: Marble Roller Coasters
This was by far the favorite station and it was awesome to see the kids working together to make the roller coasters work.  The pipe insulation was left over from a Science Camp program we did during the summer.  I purchased 14 tubes from Lowe's and cut them in half.  The kids used masking tape to adhere them to walls, tables, chairs, garbage cans, the floor and each other to create coasters.

Thumbs up and ready to go.  Notice the crossover with the cups!

Yay!  It worked!  Love seeing their enthusiasm.

Brothers working together.

This was a huge group effort as the coaster went into the next room.

Evaluation: This program is super easy and fun to do and definitely is an unprogram!  I think it will become part of our regular rotation.  We'll need to purchase more pipe insulation to accommodate all the kids we have in our first sessions.  Luckily, it is inexpensive!  The Lego Challenge was fun, but I forgot to get a picture of all the completed objects.  Next time I might also make each challenge color coded so that all the A bags contain the exact same red Lego bricks, B bags green and so on.  The Household Object challenge was neat, but I don't know if we'll repeat it.  They didn't seem to get the concept that they had to use all the objects.  Some only used a few.  Toothpick and marshmallow building is always a hit, although the marshmallows were not stale enough making building more sticky and challenging.

Attendance: 34, 17

Minecraft

To give everyone a brief overview of Minecraft, especially for those younger kids who might not have played before, we showed a few brief YouTube videos.  We showed:
Don't Mine at Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS4Xs_2s-8s
Flying Machine Contest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQvC-1Qu72w&safe=active
Revenge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPJUBQd-PNM&safe=active

Our evening group suggested:
Spider Encounter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG6zpJMF1eM
Crafting Recipes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0PmjkCiWt0
Never Ever Going to the Nether: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWL0UwFbkL8

Of the three, Spider Encounter brought the most laughs and was most age appropriate.


Game: Minecraft Nerf Arrow Targets

We had two bows and arrows so two kids could go at a time.  Ground rules stated that if any of the arrows or bows were aimed at a person, the child would be immediately sent out of the program.  It worked!

Game: Slime Knockdown

The kids used rolled up balls of socks to knock down these foam slimes.  I luckily had a number of foam squares at home leftover from a failed project from six years ago.  I was happy to give them a new life!

Game: Creeper Toss

The plastic bag snowballs were too light and really made the game challenging.  The kids didn't care.  They had a blast.

Craft: Pixel Art

Our sample

Some kids really got into this.  We offered large grids and smaller grids.  Most of them preferred the larger squares (more reminiscent of Minecraft).

Craft: Minecraft Masks

We put out sample character templates for the kids to use, but many created their own thing.  Cutting all the one inch squares was very labor intensive, but well worth the time!  I only wish I'd gotten a picture of a completed mask.

Craft: Bookmarks

We had blank bookmarks and the kids could create anything on them.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them!

Craft: Swords

Our sample

We only had enough cardboard sheets for the evening group so didn't bring them out as an option for our first group.  These ended up being much harder for the kids to do and many created their own thing rather than carefully draw out a sword, or other tool.

Evaluation:

This was by far our most successful program yet if you go by our attendance numbers and the buzz of excited kids.  The games, as always, were a huge hit and allowed those non-crafty kids to burn their energy.  The crafts were easily open ended and it was fun to hear all the conversations going on about what they were making.

Attendance: 54, 25

This is by far the largest attendance ever in the history of Monday Madness!

Picasso

For this program I put together a power point containing a brief overview of Picasso's life and work.  We used the SlideShark app to show this using our iPad.  The presentation ended with the image of Cadavre Exquis (Exquisite Corpse, 1938) by Andre Breton, Yves Tanguy and Jacqueline Lamba.

We used the image as a jumping off point for an expressionist/surrealist art game.  The kids formed groups of three and each one was given a pencil and a piece of paper folded in thirds.  Each person started with the top fold, drew something (head), then folded it over and passed it to the person on their left (who drew a torso without looking at what was drawn before).  This person folded their contribution over and passed it to the person on their left, who drew legs/feet.  When they were finished everyone opened the finish products to see their new creations.

 Afterwards the kids were able to go to three stations.

iPad app: MOMA Art Studio
This app is free and lots of fun for a wide range of ages.

Craft: Paper Bag Picasso Faces

 We gave the kids brown paper lunch bags, oil pastels and a worksheet detailing how to draw a Cubist portrait.

Our sample

Some of the kids were very talented!

Our set up

Craft: Cubism Still Life Collage
From the book Hands-On: Art Projects by Sue Lacey

We explained how Picasso created the concept of collage, but took the images, cut them apart in straight lines, and re-positioned them in a cubist way.

Our sample

Hard at work

Unfortunately the kids didn't quite get the concept and their creations weren't exactly cubist, although they definitely represented modern art.

Evaluation:

Overall this program worked well, even though the collage project was better suited to older kids.  It was something completely different for us and our second group really got into the art depicted in the power point.  They especially liked the Equisite Corpse, discussing the various different objects they saw in the picture.  Originally we were going to use brown grocery bags for the Picasso portraits but didn't get enough in time for the program.  The lunch sacks worked better as the kids were able to complete it during the program.  If we had used the larger sacks, they might only have had a chance to do the one craft instead of also trying their hand at collage.

Attendance: 31, 16

Ancient Egypt

Video: Introduction to Ancient Egypt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdtgX9ORiW4&safe=active
This is a fun, brief introduction to Ancient Egypt and was the perfect way to set the tone of our program.

STATIONS

iPad App: Archie Potts Egyptian Adventure (Muddy Boots Media)
We locked our 5 iPads to this app.  The kids took turns playing around with it.  We had to limit them to 5-10 minutes each in order for everyone to have a turn.

Craft: Mummy and Sarcophagus
From: https://blogs.princeton.edu/popgoesthepage/2014/03/11/pyramid-party/

Completed product--image from above blog

Wrapped their mummy with white paper strips.

 

Decorating their sarcophagus lid.

Craft: Cartouche and Hieroglyphics
Kids tried writing their names in hieroglyphics on paper cartouches.

Craft: Egyptian Masks
We created Tutkanhamen-like masks on poster board, which the kids then decorated with oil pastels.

Idea from: http://imagineexplorecreate.blogspot.com/2011_11_01_archive.html#8386823379393999525

Evaluation:

This program took a lot of prep time due to the two crafts.  However, the kids had a blast making their masks.  Each one turned out unique and allowed for lots of creativity.  This was the first program in which we allowed the kids to use the iPads.  It went surprisingly well.  Our first group was so large it was hard to keep track of who had the iPad for how long.  In the future, we'll write down the time each child took the iPad from us so they each got the same amount of time to play with the app.

Attendance: 36, 14