Field Trip
Activity Menu

Thank you for your support and participation, all Makerspace opportunities are currently booked for the 2023-2024 school year.

To receive updates for Makerspace Field Trips and activities, please subscribe to our emails by clicking on the following link and completing the Makerspace Updates form.

This year's menu of activities offers at least 3 options per grade span for you to choose from with your class. There is no prep work required to attend a field trip, just come prepared to have fun!

Kinder-2nd Grade

Colby Coding Robot
Students engage in screen-free programing that promotes critical thinking and problem solving and reinforces the concepts following direction, sequencing and decomposition.
https://youtu.be/O_hRTaHydBg?t=20 

Rosie Revere Paper Fliers
Students learn about the power of perseverance through the story of "Rosie Revere, Engineer". They will practice the engineering design process and observe how changing the design and/or the weight of their paper flier effects its flight. 

Bee Bots
Students engage in screen-free programing that promotes critical thinking and problem solving and reinforces the concepts following direction, sequencing and decomposition.
https://www.youtube.com./watch?v=ZQ9X1AXkPZw 

3rd-5th Grade

LittleBits Engineering
Students develop important STEM skills while having fun with LittleBits. In this activity students tinker with inputs, outputs, sensors, and motors to build tickle machines, prank handshake gadgets, and flashlights!
https://vimeo.com/45276780

Scratch Coding
Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children. This free online program promotes computational thinking and problem solving skills; creative teaching and learning; self-expression and collaboration; and equity in computing.
https://scratch.mit.edu/about

Balloon Drag Racers
Ready, Set, RACE! Using an assortment of materials, students will develop a plan and create a balloon powered car! 

6th-8th Grade

Protect the Cone
Using nothing but tape and newspaper, students are challenged with creating a protective structure to prevent an ice cream cone from being broken. Once the structure has been built learners will test their structures by placing weight on top of the sturcutres frame. The goal is to make a structure that is strong and sturdy!  
Protect the Cone Slides

Stop Motion Animation
Stop motion animation is animation that is captured one frame at time, with physical objects that are moved between frames. When you play back the sequence of images rapidly, it creates the illusion of movement.
https://www.cateater.com/ 

Coding with Cue+
With a library of in-app demos, tutorial, and challenges, Cue supports kids’ self-guided exploration of programming languages, robotic capabilities, and personally meaningful projects.
https://www.makewonder.com/robots/cue/

Catapult Engineering
It’s one of the most iconic simple machine STEM projects for kids. Building the trusty catapult! It is an incredible STEM activity with a strong focus on engineering, but also math and physics all rolled into one amazing learning project.


Want to continue maker-style teaching in your classroom?
Several of the activities offered at the TCDE Makerspace are inspired by the Exploratorium in San Francisco! The Exploratorium has a vast library of kid friendly science activities and excellent resources to continue hands on learning in your classroom!