Fun Projects
Brick-a-Book Activity from Intention
One of my favorite books ever! So many phenomenal ideas are in this book with one using LEGO!
Goal: Take a passage, chapter, or article and build a metaphorical model of the contents of the reading.
Launch:
1. Hand out notecard and label side A and side B
2. Give students 3 minutes on side A to doodle their day so far.
3. Give students 4-5 minutes to build a model of one element of their day so far.
4. Gallery Walk the room to allow students to see models and discuss their ideas.
5. Hand out text for the standards you are covering
6. Have them doodle and take notes on the text on side B of the notecard.
7. Challenge them to build a model of the summary of the text.
8. Present and share
Adapted from the book. Please purchase this book as it should be required reading for every educator!
What’s the tallest Lego building you can make with these 4 pieces?
Give everyone the same 4 pieces. Challenge them to build the tallest building they can make using only those four pieces.
While this might seem simple, there are some serious thought that goes into it. Check out the post here that inspired this idea.
Launch a Wheel
Here is a fun idea that I have not done(yet), but hope to do with LEGO WeDo 2.0 and EV3
Ideas to Inspire
Wind Instrument
We developed a build that captured the wind speed on one brick and via bluetooth would communicate to the other bricks to sound the alarm in the home.
Watch the video demo here
LEGO EV3 Fish Feeder
One year we built a mechanism that would feed fish in our classroom using Mindstorms. It was triggered by a timer in the code. The challenge was to release the proper amount of food.
Fidget Spinners!
Design 1
Loved this one, but always fell apart in my pocket.
Design 2
Still use this one many years later especially when traveling and bored on airplanes.
Desk Display
A fun little project for yourself and/or your students. Have them build a desktop organizer that is personalized. The possibilities are endless.
Model Display of Learning
We used LEGO along with some electronics to showcase to judges how our GPS tracker device we created worked. This particular model explains how GPS works in general. Think of how you can use LEGO to present learning to people who need to understand.
Combining Elements
LEGO Nametag
LEGO EV3 Waterwheel
This was one of many aquaducts/water mechanism projects for a 7th grade PBL Unit. Learn more here
LEGO EV3 Door Lock
Take Home Kit Idea
Moving To Middle Lego Challenge #1: Eye Slide https://wp.me/p4covo-cn
Where is Minifig?
Where is Squidward the Lego figurine? https://wp.me/p4covo-Dt
Here are some pieces I published on my blog
- LEGO Education SPIKE Prime Kit Can Change STEM Mindset https://wp.me/p4covo-2oB
LEGO SPIKE PRIME Global Launch
Yes, I was able to fly to New York and attend the global launch event. Even more awesome was my interview showing up on ABC News!
ISTE 2017
At ISTE 2017 I was able to interview 18 educators(including Mitch Resnick about hands on learning!)