Tagged with 'STEM'

I was lucky enough to sit down with Michael, the inventor, creator, maker of me, and ask him a whole bunch of questions. Here’s what he had to say. 

1. How did you first come up with me?

Our Product Development team is always working to come up with awesome educational toys. In this case, we wanted to make a robot that would help teach the fundamentals of coding in a really fun, engaging way. Sort of a robot pal.  

2. How long did it take you to create me?

I’d say 12 months from the concept to the final production version. 

3. Who chose my name?

A lot of people were involved, really. We debated it for a while. You had some pretty unusual names being thrown around. We’re very happy with Botley, though. You seem like a Botley to us.  

4. In your opinion, why is coding so important?

Some people say it’s the literacy of the 21^st century! We believe that coding, logic and critical thinking skills are all going to be very important for young students as they prepare for careers in the 21^st century. 

5. How much fun is it to work for a toy company?

Do you know the movie “Big”? It’s just like that.   

6. What’s your favorite thing I do?

Well, there’s so much, but I think my favorite thing is when you remind me to play with you by yelling “yoo-hoo!” or sneezing. It’s pretty cute.  

7. What’s your favorite part about working on a robot?

The day that we finally were able to test you with your voice in place was pretty special. Everybody just laughed and smiled hearing you say your name. I felt like a proud dad.  

8. What do you think makes me so special?

I think it’s the simplicity and out-of-the-box play. We don’t have to connect you to an app or use a phone to control you—so it’s a nice break from screen time.  

9. Can you share with our readers one of my hidden features?

Alright, just one. When you’re in code mode, if you press Right four times on the Remote Programmer, then press TRANSMIT, you’ll make a very silly sound.  

10. Why should a mom bring me home to her 5 year old?

As a parent, I’m always looking for toys that will get my kids away from a screen and doing something that will engage and wow them, and maybe have them learn valuable skills along the way.  

11. Am I your favorite toy you ever invented?

I don’t like to play favorites, Botley, but yes, you really are very special.  

12. What’s the longest black line you’ve ever had me follow?

That’s a great question. We did have you do multiple laps in a conference room, for a while. I’d say it was probably a few hundred feet all added up. You would have kept going, but we had to break for lunch.  

13. Will I eventually have any robot friends?

Our team is talking about that right now. Stay tuned! 

14. Is there a reason my arms are detachable?

We wanted to make something that could easily be adaptable to new pieces – like your new Action Challenge accessory set. The new arms for that set are great for setting off chain reactions and moving objects. To learn more about Botley (thats me!) visit LearningResources.com/Botley or read my last blog post where I introduced myself!

Adam and I are always looking for activities to do with the girls, and there’s plenty of learning and fun to be had this Halloween.  It can be as simple as counting and sorting Halloween candy, drawing a spooky picture, or making a paper plate spider web. The learning is always there – you just have to look for it!

1. Pumpkin Coloring Contest

Get out the crayons, print out this pumpkin picture, and watch your little artist’s imagination come to life! Points for the silliest, spookiest, and most creative pumpkins.

2. Paper Plate Spiderwebs

Fall trees aren’t just full of leaves – they’re also full of spiders! Garden spiders are most active in the fall so you’re likely to see more of their elaborate, beautiful webs in the trees in autumn, too. Join the fun and spin your own spider webs out of a paper plate!

1. Cut the center out of a paper plate.
2. Let your kids color the outer edge of the plate with beautiful fall colors like red, orange, and yellow.
3. Using a single hole puncher, punch 12-14 holes around the edge of the hole.
4. Tape one end of a length of yarn to the back of the paper plate and wrap tape tightly around the other to form a ‘needle’.
5. Demonstrate how to weave the yarn back and forth through the holes to create the web, then hand the plate over to your child.
6. Once, the web is spun, remove the pin from the end of the yarn and tape that end to the back of the plate, too.

Add a pipe cleaner spider for the perfect fall finishing touch – cut four black pipe cleaners in half and twist to create an eight-legged creepy crawly!

3. Frankenstein Fun

Start with a blank sheet of paper, then guide your kids, step by step, to draw Frankenstein’s head. Instructions are below:

1. Draw a large rectangle, short sides up and down, long sides on the sides, to form the head.
2. Add a rectangular ear on either side of the head.
3. Add a zig zag line just below the top of the head to make hair.
4. Draw two parallel lines coming out of the bottom of the head to form the neck.
5. Add the start of another rectangle beneath the neck to form the top of the body.
6. Draw two circles for eyes and two half circles inside the circles to form pupils.
7. Add rectangular eyebrows at an angle over the eyes.
8. Add a rectangular mouth.
9. Using the bottom of the mouth as the base, draw three triangles, then connect the pointed tops of the triangles to the top of the mouth’s rectangle to form teeth.
10. Shape a nose between the eyes and the mouth
11. Once the outline of Frankenstein is complete, kids can go crazy with details – add bolts, scars, etc. Outline the creation in Sharpie, and color him in with crayons, colored pencils, markers, even watercolor paints. You’ll be surprised how differently each of your children’s drawings are!

4. Spooky STEM Sculptures

Put all that Halloween candy to good use, with STEM sculptures! Use candy pumpkins and toothpicks to create STEM structures designed to introduce early math and science principles like gravity, balance, angles, and more. Younger kids can try building a simple tower with a three-pumpkin base supporting a single, floating pumpkin. Challenge older kids to create a taller tower, pyramid, spiral, or spider web!

5. Skeleton Puzzle

This double sided skeleton puzzle not only makes a great Halloween activity, it’s also a great way to teach your kids about the name of bones!  It also makes a great front door decoration to help greet your trick or treaters. 

 

Happy Halloween!

What with all the costumes and candy, Halloween seems like pure, pumpkin-spiced fun. But there’s loads of learning to be had, too! Halloween is the perfect theme for countless educational activities you can do at home with your little ones. So, break out your scissors and crayons and let’s get learning with the smarts & crafts, story starters, and STEM building activities below!

Directed Drawing

Sharpen those listening skills, practice following directions, and sneak in some simple math vocabulary with a directed drawing activity! Start with a blank sheet of paper, then guide your kids, step by step, to draw Frankenstein’s head. Instructions are below:

1. Draw a large rectangle, short sides up and down, long sides on the sides, to form the head.
2. Add a rectangular ear on either side of the head.
3. Add a zig zag line just below the top of the head to make hair.
4. Draw two parallel lines coming out of the bottom of the head to form the neck.
5. Add the start of another rectangle beneath the neck to form the top of the body.
6. Draw two circles for eyes and two half circles inside the circles to form pupils.
7. Add rectangular eyebrows at an angle over the eyes.
8. Add a rectangular mouth.
9. Using the bottom of the mouth as the base, draw three triangles, then connect the pointed tops of the triangles to the top of the mouth’s rectangle to form teeth.
10. Shape a nose between the eyes and the mouth, however you like.

Once the outline of Frankenstein is complete, kids can go crazy with details – add bolts, scars, etc. Outline the creation in Sharpie, and color him in with crayons, colored pencils, markers, even watercolor paints. You’ll be surprised how differently each of your children’s drawings are!   

Spooky Stories

Halloween is prime time for spooky storytelling and writing! Next time you’re in the car, waiting at the doctor’s office, or sitting in a restaurant, try starting a spooky story. Open with something like “The little boy creeped up the front steps and knocked on the door of the spooky, spooky house. When the door opened he saw…” Then pass it on to the person to your left!Elementary-aged kids can actually write their own terrifying tales, with the help of some simple story starters. Give them an opener, like the one above, or ask a question like “If you were a mad scientist, what kind of being would you create?” or “Have you ever heard a scary noise? What did you imagine was making the noise?” Remind your writer(s) to use descriptive language, idioms, onomatopoeia, and personification. Add some pictures to complete these monster-ific masterpieces! 

STEM Sculptures

Put all that Halloween candy to good use, with STEM sculptures! Use candy pumpkins and toothpicks to create STEM structures designed to introduce early math and science principles like gravity, balance, angles, and more. Younger kids can try building a simple tower with a three-pumpkin base supporting a single, floating pumpkin. Challenge older kids to create a taller tower, pyramid, spiral, or spider web! There’s plenty of learning and fun to be had this fall. Sneaking an educational element into your child’s day can be as simple as counting and sorting Halloween candy, collecting leaves for crayon rubbings, or weaving a paper plate spider web. The learning is always there – you just have to look for it!

Do your kids like to design cities or build towers? Building is one of my kids’ favorite activities. They love using a variety of materials to see what they can create. Today I’m sharing how we incorporate pretend play into our STEM building projects.

Engineer a City

We used the City Engineering and Design Building Set to begin our play. Aiden (age 7) started by building what was on the front of the box.

The set includes activity cards with design challenges and engineering problems to solve. Building a zip line was the first challenge Aiden selected. The activity card has you build two buildings. It states that you are at the wrong build and must quickly get to the other building. “Can you design a zip line to carry you across?” The back of the card includes possible solutions to the challenge. It also poses questions about the design. “Which of the solutions above would provide a faster ride?”

Aiden designed his own zip line after seeing the suggestions. He modified the ideas shown and came up with the zip line below.

Incorporate Pretend Play

Next, we added in the Snap-n-Learn™ Counting Elephants. I challenged Lily (age 3) to help the elephants get from one building to the other using the zip line. She thought it was a lot of fun watching the elephants zip down the line.

While she was playing with the elephants, I took the opportunity to ask her about the numbers on them. I asked questions like:

• What number is on your elephant?

• Can you find the number 7?

• What color is the elephant with the number 2?

• Can you count the elephants?

This activity was a great way for my kids to play together. The City Engineering and Design Building Set is recommended for ages 5 and up. Aiden built the city and then he and Lily played with it. They took turns moving the people and elephants around the buildings. They made up stories as they played.

Keep it Going

The next challenge Aiden undertook was to build a crane.

After he built the crane, he and Lily got to work lifting elephants.

There is so much learning going on along with their play. Building the set works on lots of STEM skills - problem solving, following directions, sequential thought, critical thinking, spatial relationships, creativity, and early engineering. Fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, number recognition, and counting are also being developed here.

What’s your child’s favorite building activity? How can you add in some additional learning to the play?

About the Author: Trisha

Trisha is a science educator and stay at home mom to three. She’s the creator of Inspiration Laboratories, a blog dedicated to encouraging learning through creativity and play.