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STEM: Spin Art with Tinker Crates

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Spin Art with Tinker Crates

The other day my son had a lot of fun putting together the spin art machine from Tinker Crates.   He made a simple spinning machine using the motor and disc, and then was able to create some different art effects. 

Watching my son drop paint in to the Spin Art Machine

My son explained why the camera didn’t pick up the spin from the Spin Art Machine.

I really wish I could have shown you the spin, as it made some really interesting colour patterns as it whirled around.   But Alas was not meant to be.  The art looks way better spinning than being still art. 

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The concept was fairly simple.  Make a machine that spins, in this case it has three different speeds.  Insert the paper you want to design on, then drop paint on it quickly or in single drops.  My son also experimented with some markers held lightly on the paper (just barely touching) which had a really neat affect as well, but I never managed to get that in video or photo. 

It’s one of the things that I like most about Tinker Crates is the questions it opens up for him.  The What if I try this?  Or I wonder what will happen if…  I love how I can just see his brain working away.   And reading the tinkerzine?  Ah.. it’s a good thing that.  And then when he takes what he’s learning and turns to his favourite learning mechanism.. YOUTUBE and does more research.. even better!

Spin Art by Tinker Crates, reading the magazineIt is such a gratifying thing to hear when  a lad expresses an interest in physics and how motors work and what causes different things to happen.   I love it!  And this to me is the biggest benefit of Tinker Crates and their lovely TinkerZine.   The broadening of horizons and the questions it poses in a lads mind.  It’s a grand grand thing.

If you want to see questions posed in the minds of your children, check out Tinker Crates.

Other Tinker Crates you might be interested in as well: 3D viewer.   Spy case. 

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STEM: Ground hog Day

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I recognize that it’s a bit beyond Ground Hog Day but you know… life gets busy eh?  I figure it’s better late than never right?

Learning about Groundhog day while doing a STEM challenge.

Anyways, for groundhog day we watched the movie GroundHog Day.  This movie is from 1993, and stars comedian Bill Murray.  It also stared the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania. 

 

As part of the day’s focus I gave the lad a challenge.  Told him he needed to use up some of our stale marshmallows and ANYTHING ELSE he wanted to use.   His goal.. make a groundhog den.   However he defined that was entirely up to him.   I know I had a thought in mind of what he would come up with …but he admittedly went in a completely different direction than I thought he would. 

We also looked up the various groundhogs that are named around Canada and the USA.

In Canada we have the following groundhogs:

Wiarton Willie… Wiarton, Ontario
OilSprings Ollie…near Sarnia, Ontario
Shubenacadie Sam…Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia
Balzac Billy… Balzac, Alberta
Gaspésie Fred… from Quebec

This year they all had different predictions, which makes sense given their geographical distance from each other.

 

Anyways, on to my son’s definition of my instructions.

He took the marshmallows and his spray bottle that we have for the new cat to help her learn some manners. Grabbed a plate from the kitchen and started to spray the marshmallows so he could stick them together and form a basic shape. 

“It’s winter mom, we won’t be able to see the den”.  

He then stuck that in the freezer.

A STEM project for Groundhog day

Every time it froze solid he’d bring it out and add more marshmallows until he had a solid mound of marshmallows with an opening so Wiarton Willie could come out and look for his shadow. 

I have to admit I never got a final picture of the project.  Apparently there was a collusion between Dad and boy and well…. “Mom, It was a mess”.  In the picture above this was step two, the opening is on the side facing away.   It was in and out of the freezer three times with some marshmallows added in different places in each stage.  It would melt and fall apart quickly. 

The end result “this was fun to do mom!”

If I had been inclined to I could have given him a unit study or worksheets to fill out, but meh…when he did this we were still recovering from the effects of a VERY nasty flu that hit our household.   Therefore this was just enough knowledge and activity for the day for him. 

 

If you are so inclined to do a unit study on GroundHog Day, these are some that I found that are free:

Life of a homeschool mom. 
Meet Penny. 
Homeschool Share. 
DIY Homeschooler.

My Son’s Favourite STEM Crates

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My son and I have been doing KiwiCrates for a while now, and last year finally upgraded to doing the TinkerCrates. Tinker Crates are for kids 9-16.  They are a bit more involved and have a fair number of projects available to them in the TinkerZine

I thought today I would talk with you about some of my lad’s favourite crates that have come to us via kiwi/tinker crates.  He’s done a lot of crates so it’s a tiny bit hard to choose. 🙂  Suffice it to say, he’s had lots of opportunity to do STEM projects.

Tinker crates are so much fun. Here are my son's favourites

First up: DaVinci’s Clock.  You know a good crate when it’s still being used long after it was made. 

 

There’s the planetarium, which he uses to light starts up on his ceiling at night.   I still remember his joy when he got it all put together. 

I haven’t written about this one yet, but the lad still plays games with the Tinker Crate Arcade game.  And some how unbelievably I can’t find a good picture of it to share with you!  GAH!!!   Sometimes.. oh sometimes I just want a different camera.  🙂   But hey… trust me.. he plays with it.  It’s like the toss the ball to get it into a hole…. except he’s made all kinds of interesting rules to go along with it.  🙂

What else does he still do stuff with?

There’s the claw and the fuzzy minions.  🙂  (at least that’s what I call them).  This made up a carnival type game where you have a claw and try to grab a stuffie.  These fuzzy minions have been a lot of fun in our household. 

The Fibre-optic Constellation he was quite pleased to have managed to figure out. It was quite complicated to build.   Took him much longer than most build.  You probably can’t see how the stars light up, but it looks very neat in a dark room. It’s another light he puts on while reading before bed. 

Ah before I forget, I must not neglect to mention the Spy Case.  This provided a lot of fun for the lad, sneaking around corners and peering into things.  🙂   And how doesn’t like writing in invisible ink?   

Anyways, Tinker Crates have been a boon to our household, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this peak into some of the favourites of my lad.   

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Review: Whoosh, Boom, Splat

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STEM is all the rage right now eh?   How can we encourage the learning of engineering, science, math and technology?   Whoosh, Boom, Splat takes the love of launchers of all different sorts, to encourage hands-on experimentation in your middle school and up youth.   11 different types of launchers, with variations for several of them.   It’s a rather neat book!

whoosh boom splat, an excellent hands-on STEM experiments book

Whoosh, Boom, Splat is a revised and expanded second edition.  In it you can learn to build jam jar jets, elastic Zip Cannons, clothespin Snap Shooters and more.   These aren’t your average experiments.  Things CAN go wrong and you might get hurt IF you don’t pay attention and follow the instructions.   Lots of pictures and text accompany the instructions so if you take your time and follow the directions well, you can make a good variety of launchers to amaze and delight each other.   This book is meant to be done with adult supervision (often as a safety measure) but also because some of the builds are harder to do.

Each of the 11 chapters has a good introductory section where they give you a real life application.. for instance with the jam jar jet we learn about the V1, a Nazi built cruise missile, that used a pulse jet.  These jets are still used in cruise missiles today.  With the mechanical toe we learn a bit about football and talk about Newton’s Second Law of Motion.   We get to learn about a famous engineer Gianibelli with the clothespin snap shooter. 

A complete tools and a separate materials list, plus step by step instructions walk you through each build.   Numerous pictures accompany each set of instructions helping to make each step easy to follow.

I have to admit how much I appreciate the attention to safety and the clear instructions.  It makes this book easy to use.  We were able to build this explosive device!  I also want to make the vortex launcher and clothespin snap shooter. 

 

The lad had a lot of fun helping me make this, and if we could have gone longer we would have but what with having a new cat in the house whose a tad bit skittish, we thought this length worked and proved the lesson works.  It also gave us a chance to talk about chain reactions and the atomic bomb. 

My thoughts: 

The strong emphasis on safety, along with the troubleshooting tips, and the historical origins of each machine made this a fascinating book.   The experiments range in experience needed, but all can be accomplished by any teenager and up as long as they take their time to read and understand the instruction.   The good images just add great instruction. This DIY projects will help teach STEM to your students. 

Whoosh, Boom, Splat
    Build Jam Jar Jets, Elastic Cannons, Clothespins
Snap Shooters, and more Legendary Launchers. 
Revised and Expanded Second Edition
William Gurstelle
Chicago Review Press, 154 pages, softcover
STEM, engineering, technology, science, math, 
Middle school, high school
Reviewed for: Chicago Review Press.

Where to buy: Amazon Link.

STEM: 3D viewer by Tinker Crates

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My son and I have been doing KiwiCrates for a while now, and last year finally upgraded to doing the TinkerCrates. Tinker Crates are for kids 9-16.  They are a bit more involved and have a fair number of projects available to them in the TinkerZine.

When we first started doing the crates, the lad needed a lot of support from me in order to finish them, so I think it is just superb watching his confidence blossom.  It admittedly took a while for my sensitive minded boy to realize that as much as mom LIKES building these crates with him, I also LOVED watching him branch out on his own with Tinker Crates.  Now of course, there is no stopping him.

Recently he took on this project “3D Viewer”

It was great to watch him work through the stages to building it, step by step.  He played close attention to the instructions. The instructions are so clear, and the images show the pieces exactly, so properly making the3D viewer is pretty easy to do “as long as you pay attention, make sure you tell them that part okay mom?”.   So pay attention, don’t miss steps, and you can make your own 3D Viewer.

Slowly but surely it came together.   Piece upon piece, fitting together just perfectly.

It hardly seemed like anytime had passed and he was calling me “come see mom, come see”.  And low and behold we had a 3D viewer.

Once he finished this big build he turned his attention to the smaller activities found in the tinker zine.   Here he learned about perspective by looking at some art, and playing with 3D mirrors.

My son really likes the tinkerzines because “they tell you stuff, like more about what you just built, and teach you new ways to look at stuff”.   “They give you good small projects to try too”.

After seeing how perspective was influenced by a 3d mirror he had a chance to try his hand at drawing within that knowledge.  It worked!   I’m glad he figured it out because I struggled with this one.  He’s got a better grasp on the spatial aspect of things I guess.

  To see this viewer being built, check out this video.

Anyways, Tinker Crates are a great monthly addition to our home.  I hope you will consider them for your home as well.  They are a great way to involve your children in a monthly STEM project and have fun learning.  Foster that independence, learn some good science, you never know where it will take you.

In case you are curious, Kiwi Crates also makes crates for children of all ages and interests.  Cricket, Koala, Kiwi, Doodle and Tinker.  I am tempted to get the doodle crate as well….just to see what type of activities they put in them for artists to do.   But so far, the Tinker Crates are a hit.

Now if you want to round our your experiences with Tinker Crates, NotebookingPages.com will be on sale January 24-26. Here you can find all sorts of notebookingpages to help round our your studies with the Tinker Crate.  It’s worth your time to check out their lifetime membership.

Review: Ellie, Engineer

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Ellie, Engineer.  What can I tell you about a young girl who likes to build and create?  This lovely little easy read chapter book contains: One Ellie, one toolbelt, one skirt, one sketchpad and one very active mind along with one friend with a birthday coming up.  Then a mishap happens….

… and then another…. and then… well you know what.. I can’t tell you the WHOLE story. 🙂

Friendship and engineering fill the pages.   Truthfulness and dishonesty place close seconds.  Will Ellie and Kits’ friendship handle the tests put to it?   Will new friendships become needful? Will Ellie lose it all in the end or will more be gained than could be even dreamed of?

An easy read chapter book with decently developed characters.  It was a fun read with a handy “these are an engineers tools” section at the close of the book.   Ellie’s sketches filled several pages throughout the book.

My Thoughts:

I laughed more than once.  🙂  I think it’s geared more 8-10 years. It was a good story filled with all sorts of engineering tasks and explanations about how a youth could engage in engineering tasks.   I love the list of tools at the close of the book. A fun read with short chapters and sketches that add well to the story. 

Ellie, Engineer
Jackson Pearce
Bloomsbury Kids
Softcover, trade paperback, fiction
ages 8-12
Engineering, girls, creativity, 

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where to purchase: Amazon Link.

Art Book: Duct Tape Engineer

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I know you have already gotten a bit of a preview of the fact that my boy likes to build with duct tape. I KNOW I have shown you pictures of his knight’s outfit.  He is my duct tape engineer!   So when the chance came to review “Duct Tape Engineer” I thought WOW…this is a book made for me and my lad.

The Duct Tape Engineer: The Book of Big, Bigger and Epic Duct Tape Projects is filled with things that the lad and I want to build, even dad poked his head in and said “neat idea”.  We haven’t, at this point, actually built any of the items in the book to their full size, but we did build some mini versions of them.  🙂

 What can you build?   Included are plans for: 

14 different builds to delight you, inspire your creativity, and.. save you money.  Why spend 1000’s on a kayak, when you can build your own using plastic sheeting, duct tape and pvc pipe?  

Alternatively, you could do the math and downsize them and make doll furniture or child-sized seating.   All plans are for the adult person, so just doing the math and downsizing gets you inexpensive furniture that you can grow as your children do, or that can delight your offspring with doll furniture that they can pretty up to suit their tastes (or the preferences of their doll).  

 
Each project includes a set of clear ingredients.  I love that not only do you receive a written set, but are given a visual as well.

 Instructions are as well done as the needed supplies. Text along with pictures. Everything is so clearly spelled out it makes each project a dream to build.

 What did we make with it?
Nothing full sized….but we did make doll furniture using the plans just downsizing. 

 As you can see they also make excellent small polymer pet furniture as well!  🙂

My thoughts:
This is a fantastic book.  If you have a duct tape builder in your house, get this book.  If you have a creative child, who is also good at doing math (or needs to practice it) and likes to build with duct tape…get this book.  It’s fun and helps you see things that you too could create with duct tape.   This a goodly thing to do!  🙂 

 Duct Tape Engineer: The book of big, bigger, and epic duct tape projects
Lance Akiyama
Rockport
160 pages
softcover with built in fly
Crafting, duct tape, create, resource, math, engineering

Reviewed for: Quarto Group

Where can you find it?

Amazon.com: Duct Tape Engineer.
Amazon.ca: Duct Tape Engineer. 

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