December/January Makerspace projects
December/January Makerspace projects
Check out these fun challenges for December and January!
Check out these fun challenges for December and January!
Embedded Files
Sledding
Sledding
This week's Makerspace challenge:
Winter is a season for many fun outdoor activities in the snow, including sledding. Your challenge is to use materials around your home to build a sled that can slide down a “hill” quickly and without falling over. Your design can be as simple as something flat like a toboggan or as complex as a snowmobile. Use your imagination!
For your hill, use the longest piece of cardboard you can find, such as from a leftover box. If all you have are smaller pieces, try taping two together end-to-end to create a longer piece. Prop one end of your hill on a chair, table, or stairs to create a slope. You may need help from an adult to cut the cardboard to fit your needs.
Materials
Materials
Try using:
cardboard
craft sticks
small boxes
plastic bottles
paper/plastic cups
paper plates
paper towel rolls
egg carton
aluminum foil
tape
glue
Video, Longest Sledding / Sledging Run in the World
Video, Funny Sled Fails (America’s Funniest Home Videos)
Crystals
Crystals
A snowflake can be thought of as an individual snow crystal, a few snow crystals stuck together, or a large group of snow crystals. But what are crystals and what makes them so interesting? Learn about the science of crystals, an amazing giant crystal cave in Mexico, and then grow your own salt crystals at home!
Article, Crystal Facts (Cool Kid Facts)
Video, How do crystals work? (TED-Ed)
Video, Cave of Crystals (Atlas Obscura)
Growing Salt Crystals
Many experiments for growing crystals involve a mineral called borax, which is often used for washing clothes. But since many households nowadays do not have borax, we searched for a Makerspace activity that uses materials commonly found at home. So open the directions to the right and grow your own crystals!
Grow Your Own Salt Crystals
Snowballs
Snowballs
One of the best things about snow is making and throwing snowballs! But even if we’re missing snow here in Los Angeles, we don’t have to miss out on the fun! That’s right – try this Makerspace project and build a “snowball” launcher that uses cotton balls instead of snowballs. With some common materials you probably have at home, you can create a device to launch cotton balls through the air. See how far you can fling them… and how good your aim is!
Snowball launcher project
Snowball launcher project
Easier version (need a balloon) – can also be made using a plastic, disposable cup
How do these snowball launchers work? The answer is something called elastic potential energy. Learn what it is with this informative article and a video made by astronauts on the International Space Station:
Potential Energy (Cool Kid Facts)
Snowflakes
Snowflakes
Although snow is visible in the nearby mountains and occasionally falls in areas of Greater Los Angeles, downtown Los Angeles has only experienced snow a few times in the last 100 years. But even if snow is not in the forecast here, you can go ahead and make your own snowflake crafts and create a Makerspace winter!
Los Angeles skyline and San Gabriel mountains.
Image credit: Wikipedia Commons
Los Angeles City Hall, Feb. 21, 1944.
Image credit: UCLA Library – Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive.
Snow on the UCLA campus, January 1932.
Image credit: Los Angeles Public Library – Security Pacific National Bank Collection
Skiing on the UCLA campus during a snowstorm, 1949.
Image credit: USC Libraries – Los Angeles Examiner Collection
The Science Behind Snow
Video (PBS), Science of Snowflakes
Article, How Do Snowflakes Form? (NOAA)
Who is "Snowflake Bentley"? Check out these books:
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Snowflakes in Photographs by W.A. Bentley
Santa Zip Line Challenge
Santa Zip Line Challenge
Santa needs to land his sleigh safely using a zip line! What is a zip line? At its simplest, a zip line is a rope or wire that starts at a higher point and ends at a lower one. Using the natural decline and gravity, a person or cargo can travel down the zip line. Set up a zip line, then use a variety of materials to build a sleigh and design a way for Santa to make it all the way down!
Materials
Materials
smooth line (fishing line, unwaxed dental floss, ribbon, string)
Sleigh:
o tea box
o light cardboard (like from a cereal box)
o tape
o glue
o paper cup
o construction paper
o craft sticks
o Lego figure (or other small figure that can fit inside the sleigh)
paper clips
binder clip
chenille stems (pipe cleaners)
straws
scissors
single-hole punch
coins
tape
Directions
Directions
1) Set up your zip line. Run a length of line at least 6 feet long between two objects of different heights, such as a bookcase and the floor or the refrigerator and the back of a chair. Tape or tie the line securely. Be sure the zip line is about 2 feet higher at one end than the other.
2) Build a sleigh for Santa using any of the materials listed above. Get creative! Decorate, add seats inside, attach runners (the ski-like things that a sleigh slides on), etc. Then place the Lego figure or some type of small figure to sit inside the sleigh and be Santa.
3) Look at the remaining materials. Use these questions to help you plan and design how your sleigh will travel down the zip line.
How will you attach your sleigh to the zip line so it’s easy to put on and take off?
What materials will you use to be in contact with the zip line so the sleigh slides quickly? Choose materials that will allow it to slide smoothly on the line.
How will the sleigh stay on the line and not fall off as it goes from top to bottom?
What can you use to weigh your sleigh down? Weight can help the sleigh stay balanced – you don’t want Santa to fall out! The sleigh could also stall on its way down, so weight can help it keep sliding along the line.
4) Attach the carrier to the zip line and… let it zip!
5) An extra challenge is to time how long it takes for your sleigh to go from the top of the zip line to the bottom and keep modifying your sleigh to go faster.
Computer Science
Computer Science
Computers are an essential part of all our lives, from the laptop we use for school to the phone we use for… well, everything! But computers also play a role in designing and running everything: our street lights, the vehicles we drive, the medicine we take, getting the food we eat to the store, etc. And computer science is about learning how computers and the programs they follow work. Coding, or writing the instructions that tell computers what to do, is a fun and important thing to learn.
Computer Science Education Week,
December 7-13
Computer Science Education Week is held annually in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906).
Hour of Code is a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science that includes hundreds of 1-hour coding activities. Some of the things you can do are create a video game, make a mobile app, and learn how programming can solve problems that the world faces.
Hour of Code activities – a small sample of the fun things you can do
Want to try more?
Crunchzilla has interactive tutorials where kids and adults can play with code, experiment, build, and learn.
Head over to the Chemical Engineering Club page for some fun chemistry experiments – including a few tasty ones you’ll definitely want to do.
One of our earliest projects was to make a marble run. If you want to watch some of the most incredible marble runs you’ll ever see, go to the YouTube page for Jelle’s Marble Runs. There’s even a marble racing league that starts on November 7!
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