I’m really impressed with our are and all of the low cost camps that are available to my children and our community. Through the YMCA and our city of Bothell we have quite a few camps including LEGO camp. These camps would help prepare you for a program I want to draw your attention to; FIRST.

More than 300,000 students around the globe participate in FIRST-  an educational nonprofit that uses fast-paced robotics tournaments to get kids pumped about engineering and science! FIRST offers four programs; each one gets more complex as students work together to design and build custom robots and solve challenges.  Watch this short informational video on FIRST LEGO League and FIRST as a whole.

You’ll also find a program called Jr. FIRST LEGO League. Students in this program work in teams to design and construct a model using LEGO bricks and moving parts. I received a starter kit from First. While the BuildToExpress kit I received is an optional component of the program, it’s a great “extra” which nicely ties in the core concepts that students will learn as part of the Jr.FLL experience:

· Team building

· Independent brainstorming

· Sharing ideas

· Listening to ideas

· Reflection

· Presentation

The BuildToExpress process builds upon skills that are developed throughout the Jr.FLL program:

· Students are presented with a Challenge;

· students will build and think; and

· students will share and listen.

 

My son wants to be a LEGO master when he grows up so this activity kit is perfect to get him started on challenges. What we do is we sit at the table and he has 10 minutes to come up with something. When he gets a little faster we’ll move to this real challenge.

This Challenge allows Jr.FLL team members to get to know a little bit more about each other, and to improve their skills with using the bricks and models for sharing.

· Build: Think of a time where you were doing something with your friends or family – how did you feel during this activity? Build a model that you can use to tell your teammates about this experience and how it made you feel.

· Building time: 5 minutes.

· Share: Share your model with your team. Explain what the elements in your model mean.

Other challenges:

BuildToExpress Challenge 2: This is a basic, warm-up building Challenge.

· Build: How was your mood when you got up this morning? Build a model that shows your mood when you got up this morning.

· Building time: 3 minutes.

· Share: Share your model with a partner. Explain what the elements in your model mean.

BuildToExpress Challenge 3: In this Challenge, participants are asked to think about the current Jr.FLL Challenge. The 2012/2013 Jr.FLL Challenge is called Super Seniors^SM, and asks students how we can improve the quality of life for seniors.

· Build: Think about the Jr.FLL challenge. In your mind, what is most interesting about the challenge? Build a model that shows what about the challenge you find most interesting.

· Building time: 3 minutes.

· Share: Share you model with your team. Explain what the elements in your model mean.

BuildToExpress Challenge 4: This is a basic, warm-up building Challenge.

· Build: Imagine that you and your team are a team of scientists working on a top secret project. Now, choose 10-15 minutes of your bricks and build something you think you and your top secret scientist team would need in your top secret work.

· Building time: 3 minutes.

· Share: Share the story of your model with your team.

 

We’ve always found LEGOS to be a very creative way for our kids to exercise spacial awareness and imaginative play because once they build it then they have characters and tell stories all about it.