Brainstorm Activities for Kids / Tabling

General
1

We had to cancel yesterday’s table at the East End Rec Block Party because they moved the event inside and we couldn’t do paper rockets inside. Our fruit keyboard is also getting a little overused, having been an exhibit at multiple booths over the last year. So, what are some activities we could host at booths in the future?

Key things:

  • Activities should take < 5 minutes, or be a demo that is more like 30 seconds to see
  • Appeal to kids
  • Cover a STEM or arts topic (the Farmers Market booths need to be educational for us to receive them for free)
  • Easy to do without power
  • Easy to train a volunteer on

One I was looking up earlier was an aluminum foil boat building activity, where you made a little boat out of foil and see how many pennies you can put inside. I’ve also seen some great solar oven demos that work well outside, where you use reflectors to heat and cook something with just the sun. But what are some others?

1 Like
2

I think a homopolar motor is fairly easy to put together - simple components that some kids are already familiar with (AA battery, magnet), and it takes about 2 minutes to cut and strip and form a piece of copper wire (but it takes a lifetime to master, haha).

3

Interesting idea, @dave_k ! I imagine this could be two different styles of booth: one where students try making one themselves, and one where it’s nearly made and they place the wire and start the motor. Sometimes we need those short demos too, like our piano keyboard (which is just a Makey Makey connected to fruit with a website for the piano buttons)