Easy Art with Khan Academy for the Maker Faire

Hi! this post is about art made by us on Khan Academy.

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Click on a picture to go see the code on Khan Academy!

 spiraling-outward
 ball
hello
rainbow-shading
cool-shading
spin-off-of-ball-4
spin-off-of-ball-3
spin-off-of-ball-2
spin-off-of-ball-1
winston-ball
spinning-flower
spiraling-rays
rainbow

Rubik’s cube solver!

Hi! we are here to tell you about our awesome Rubik’s cube solver:

youtube mindcuber video  The ultrasonic sensor sends out sound waves not light to sense the Rubik’s cube when it is there. The motors turn to hold/flip the cube, turn the base and move the light. The color sensor detects color to interpret how to flip it. the NXT is the brain that controls the parts and stores the info.

So, this is mindstorms! Our Lego robotics kit.  If you are interested, then go to www.mindcuber.com. You can get the code there and there are 112 pages of instructions you can follow to build it! Then you can have your own! but beware! it took a reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy long time. it was a lot of de-bugging and waiting for a piece but it was worth it :P. You can make a lot of other stuff with mindstorms to! like alpha rex and tri-bot. The possibilities are endless!  but the great thing about the Rubik’s cube solver is it solves it on its own! NO human involvement! we did not have to flip it a certain way or stuff like that! It is amazing! bye! see you on our next post!

10 ways to have fun on a vacation

Hi everybody! We are here to tell you how to make your vacation more fun! We have ten ways.

– After your vacation, put a rock you got in a special place. Write your favorite memory on the rock with a permanent marker.

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– Pressed pennies are a good way to remember the vacation. Put it on a post card that you buy.

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-A travel buddy is a great way to keep company on vacation.

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– pictures are a great way to see the past. So, take them!

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– Bringing a laptop is a good idea because you can play fun learning games like Stack The States and Stack The Countries.

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– Movies are fun because you learn. Our favorites are: Bill Nye, Carmen Sandiego, Liberty’s Kids, SciQ, Sci girls, Disney Imagineering, PMK, and Magic School bus

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-Bring games they can entertain you on vacation. In the car on road trips you can play “find it” which is a game where you look at the first letter of something and say is it an A? if it is then go on to B. All the way through the alphabet.

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-You can find things on beaches like sea urchins at low tide then you can find a beach naturalist and they can tell you what it is.

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-We don’t what cranky people in the morning! So get your sleep!

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-And crafts are like games they entertain you!

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These things will help you have a great A.H.style fun vacation!

Hosting a Great Summer Camp

 This article contains how to host an awesome, successful summer camp.

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We did do a summer camp and this is based on real data.

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You will learn about outside options, logistics, and most importantly, how to make it fun!

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Here are some outside options. You can do a scavenger hunt. Make a list for them to find. Make sure that it isn’t too obvious but sort of is. If they find it give them a star! Another good idea is chalk. Chalk is also good because it lets the kids express their mind with drawing. Then there is always the floating bubbles. Let them pretend they are popping machines or a wizard with a floating crystal ball. Lastly, the hopscotch always gives them a challenge.

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The age matters. You don’t want people older than you coming! We recommend ages 4-6 years old. You don’t want it too early or late in the day. So we also recommend 4:00-5:00. If that doesn’t work, then around noon. We would recommend not doing snacks because you don’t know who will come and they might have allergies and it could spoil their dinner and cost you money. We asked our little sister which topics she was interested in and we also used our own judgment on what topics would be easy to understand and fun to learn about. We recommend about $12 for four days or about $3 per day for each kid. We donated half our money to an animal shelter.

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How to make it fun. Acting out a play is always fun because they can see it in action. No squinting their eyes to look at a book. There should be creative games, more games to fit with the topic than other games. Stations give them a chance to move around, not just sit.

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Crafts keep them occupied and can give you time because only one person needs to help the kids with it, unless it is a challenging craft. Choose a craft that is related to the topic. We got our ideas from Pinterest and our grandma. You can ask your relatives for ideas too.

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What you have learned in this article will help you make an awesome A.H. style summer camp!

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