We had some of the girls we work with over to experiment with some new "toys" I have. They always enjoy an outing and it was nice having them during our Spring Break with all of us home. We spun a wheel (Classroom Roulette app) to determine which station they would start at. We had 5 stations, one for each girl so they didn't need to share -- it was a great team effort!
1) Osmo
I have heard about Osmo for a few years but have only recently tried it. I love it, much more than I expected to! Using an iPad, base, and small reflector piece, it turns the tabletop into an interactive surface to use in a variety of activities. The girls tried their hand at drawing, math, spelling, and tangrams. We also love the Coding Jam game. The activities grow and adjust with each child and so far it is a WIN.
2) Sphero
I've seen the Sphero used well in classroom settings and wanted to try it with these girls. It's an awesome extension of coding practice we've done online. The Sphero is cute, fun to drive around, easy to code, and is WAY better than a remote control car or whatever else. We taped a maze on the ground and tried to drive through it. Then I challenged the girls to code Sphero through the maze. I was happy to see they caught on to the coding really quickly, though some got frustrated having to try, fail, adjust, and try again. I loved seeing them persevere and eventually succeed!
3) Lincoln Logs
When was the last time you played with Lincoln Logs? They were invented just over 100 years ago in 1916 and are still as solid as ever. Each girl created a log cabin from a diagram and practiced spatial reasoning skills.
4) Gears
This was our maiden voyage with this garden set of gears. It took a few tries but once they got going, they really enjoyed it. Cool set!
5) Bloxels
Bloxels might be the coolest concept of all. I'm not a huge fan of video games, specifically the time spent on them, but this one is all about creation and less about consumption. Using a 13x13 grid, you build each part of the game, take a photo of it, and within seconds your creation becomes an interactive game on the iPad. It's super cool! Different colors become different elements in the game. It becomes an incredibly creative process.
We enjoyed some daal, rice, and chipatis for lunch and got everyone fed and happy.
We had some friendly competition for Pictureka
...and ended with 'Pass the Parcel' for some small prizes.
Here's a short snapshot of our fun day!
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