Celebrating Robots

To wrap up mini-maker week at The Children’s Museum in Easton, innovator and designer Steve Norris was our special guest maker who helped us celebrate robots! 

 Steve brought three robots for the kids to interact with; Huey, Frank, and Butler-Bot.

Huey: Color chasing robot

Butler-Bot: robot made from a trashcan

Frank: Face-detecting robot

• Huey is a color chasing robot, which is attracted to the color orange.  Kids got to hold up an orange piece of paper as Huey followed them wherever they went. 
• Frank is a face detecting robot, who recognizes the kid’s faces as they stand in front of it.  
• Lastly, Butler-Bot is the robot made from a trashcan who was roaming the floor for almost two hours straight.  Butler-Bot was also featured in the latest Transformers Movie!  Steve spent a week on the set and had an amazing experience, he said that he never thought his hobby would take him this far.            

Steve Norris is a software programmer and a writer for Robot Magazine.  Writing for the magazine is Steve’s favorite hobby, where he gets to write every two months about the robots he builds.  He has built 44 in total, one every two months, and has written in the magazine for just about all of them. 

Scribble-Bots

Kids making their scribble-bots

The children also got the opportunity to make their own scribble-bots!  These scribble-bots were made out of simple household items including the motor from the inside of an electrical toothbrush. For instrucions on how to make your own, click here to visit the Exploritorium website!  The kids got to watch their robots come to life as they made cool designs scribbling all over the paper.  Steve loves to inspire people into getting involved in science and technology, so watching the kids in awe as they designed their own robots was a great experience for us and him.  To check out more amazing creations from Mini Maker week, look for our blog post about textle artist Rhona Fazio!

Life is a Challenge

Several years ago my children were really into the Fetch with Ruff Ruffman show on PBS.  The host, Ruff, would give the contestants “science challenges” to complete.  It was always entertaining to watch how the contestants went about completing their challenge.  At home we would often complete our own science challenges downloaded from the PBS Kids website http://www.pbs.org/parents/fetch/activities/act/index.html .

One day during that same time period I was pushing my middle child, who was always very particular about the way everything was done, on the swing.  She kept pointing out what I was doing wrong, and giving me very detailed instructions on exactly how she wanted to be pushed.  Finally, exasperated, I said, “If you are going to be difficult I am not going to push you at all.”  She replied, shocked, “But mom, this is your challenge.”

Turns out she was not trying to be difficult, just trying to make up a challenge for me.  Her statement made me do a reality check…I did choose to be a mom and strive to be a good one.  And nothing we strive for is without its challenges.  Quite often now when parenting throws its curveballs I try to put on a Ruff Ruffman smile and remind myself, “This is your challenge.”

MA Local Cultural Councils Support Science for Kids

Students from Easton, Sharon, Stoughton and Taunton were able to enjoy the Children's Museum in Easton's exciting and informative science programs during the last school year thanks to funding from their towns local cultural councils.

The “Science Road Show” program at the Museum is a hands-on activity geared for students K through 3. This fun and energetic program features a fresh, new approach in teaching kids the skills of predicting, estimating, observing, and analyzing. The Museum teaches kids that science is all around them.

Over 500 students from Our Lady of Lourdes in Taunton, South School, Hansen School, West Elementary School in Stoughton, Cottage Street School in Sharon, and Moreau Hall in Easton, took part in activities showcasing various principles of science. During this fun and enjoyable program, students learned about forces and energy, fossils and bones, the strength of paper, health and nutrition, the power of water, engineering and technology, and more.

“It was an amazing opportunity to be able to visit so many new schools”, says Jane Rotondi, Outreach Manager. “We were so well received by both the teachers and the children. They loved the hands on programs we brought them!”

This program was supported in part by a grant from the Easton, Sharon, Stoughton and Taunton Cultural Councils, local agencies, which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.