The Bit of Robotics AI Doesn't Touch
The thing AI is eating and the thing your child is actually learning doing coding and robotics are not the same thing, even though from the outside they look like they might be.
Elena M
How Salt Makes Ice Cream
Isla had checked the freezer three times. There was no ice cream. We made some anyway, with salt, ice, and a freezer bag. Ten minutes of shaking later, the cream gave up and froze. She now explains the fridge to anyone who will listen.
The Penny Bridge
A flat sheet of paper holds one penny before it gives up. Fold the same sheet into a concertina and it holds twelve. Sam was eight, in wet socks, and wanted to know why real bridges don't bend. Twenty minutes at the kitchen table, and he worked it out himself.
The Day We Launched a Marshmallow
It started because Noor wanted to launch a marshmallow. Not eat it. Launch it. Five popsicle sticks, a rubber band, and one very determined child later. She called it "the stick being angry."
Roads for Electricity
He pressed the battery down and the LED lit up. Red, steady, undeniable. "I made that happen," he said. "With tape." Then he built his mum a birthday card with a glowing window and copper tape roads hidden on the back. She asked if he'd made it. "I built a circuit. On paper. With roads.
Should You Sign Them Up for a Robotics Club?
The most valuable thing about a robotics club isn't robotics. It's being in a room with other children who are interested in how things work. For some children, that room is the first place they've felt like their kind of thinking is normal.
The Egg Drop Challenge
It started because Noor had been dropping things all morning. A sock. A rubber ball. A piece of toast she claimed was 'already ruined.' Then she picked up an egg. We needed a helmet. For an egg. She was already holding the cotton wool.