TBnJ

This past week, T and J were at "Red Hot Robots" by Mad Science Camp. This is the same organization that put on the Spy Academy they went to over spring break. T and J *love* the camps put on by Mad Science. I haven't figured out what their magic formula is, but I think it's just a lot of organized hands-on science stuff that really works for them.

The Mad Science web page describes Robot Camp with the following (edited down):

Mad Science invites you to join us this summer in our Mad Science robot world. Learn about the uses of robots in the world. Spend time playing with our super cool red-hot robots. Use your skills to build your very own working robot to take home to “live” with you. Experiment with different robot designs, as you learn what makes a robot work. Invent your own robot designs using recycled materials. We will play games and experiment with super cool robots such as a soccer robot, a line tracker, a hyper peppy, and a robotic arm. Campers will learn how robots discover the environment they are placed in using sensors like infrared. Working in groups, we will explore how robots work and how they can make our lives easier.

Here is how T and J described it all week long:

Monday- T says that he began building his robot that will take him all week to build. He put a penny inside a ping pong ball with a slit in it which made the ball roll in all sorts of weird ways. They played on Spicewood Elementary’s playground. They watched Tom and Jerry in aftercare. J made a friend named J2.

J says that J2 is almost 10 and going into fifth grade. J said she worked on making her robot. They went to the same boring too small playground as last time. They watched Tom and Jerry, and Jerry is her favorite. She wants to know if we have any Tom and Jerry videos or if we can get some from Netflix. She likes Robot Camp much better than the ACM camp because they are making robots.

Tuesday: T said that he took two parts of his robot and joined them together including the battery pack. J said they made animals out of batteries and light bulbs that light up when you put their arms together. J complained it was the same boring playground. They watched more Tom and Jerry (happily) in aftercare.

Wednesday: T says they put the motherboard in their robots today. He also says that they had an elephant robot which would spin around, locate a black tape line they'd put on the carpet, and then follow the black line. They didn't stay for aftercare to watch movies because J needed to sleep as she is fighting a virus, and T was pretty mad about that. He wanted to watch cartoons. J said they did more work with light bulbs and they worked on their robots.

Thursday: They finished their robots today and will be playing with them tomorrow. They also made “puppetbots” out of a balloon and feet and arms. In aftercare, they played games and played with their puppetbots—no cartoons today.

Friday: T said they “completed and brought home their robots.” J also said she brought home her robot. T said that in aftercare they played games and played with the remote controlled robots. And then he went on for a LONG time talking about the robots. He said that his favorite was “Uh Oh” who is a Lego robot on wheels who looked like a tank. There were also the identical twin robots, Flick and Flatline. They have claws that open and shut, but the claws don’t pick up things. They only help the robots move. Then there was Soccer Robot and if you push a button on him, he blows up a soccer ball. There was another Soccer Robot who spins to get close to a soccer ball and then sucks the ball into a case. T went on about that robot more but I lost his train of thought and description somewhere in there.

Overall, T and J loved Robot Camp. They really look forward to going back to Mad Science Camps in the future.

Labels: at camp