Celebrating Our Imaginations and Our Pilot Year!!!!

This was our cake for our end of the year celebration! 

We made it!!! The Hornung Imagination Chapter had a year full of creative experiences!  During the last month, we worked on games. From field day games to board games and even Kahoot Review Games, students created a wide assortment of fun games!  Some of the games were displayed and utilized during the Hornung Field Day, which gave the students at Hornung an opportunity to see the creative designs and enjoy the fun!

Students drew faces on water balloons for the baby carrier water balloon obstacle course!

We also had a putt putt golf hole that was used for Field Day! 

We even were able to take over the Imagination Foundation's Instagram Feed.

During our last meeting we had a pizza party and creativity showcase.  Family members joined us for the food, games, and short celebration.  Unfortunately, technology wasn't on our side when the video needed to be played.  Here is the short video I created with some of the highlights from our pilot year!

There are great activities to do with common household items.  I tried to give each child a baggie with the materials cards, but I know some kids snuck out before I was able to give it to them.  If you were one of the families that did not get one, or if you would like to see more, check out Destination Imagination Free Printables. 

It has been a wonderful year of developing imaginations through creative play!  I am so thankful for the help and support of the parents of the Hornung Imagination Chapter, especially Mr. Sroufe and Mrs. Gates!  

The Hornung Imagination Chapter will be having a few events in the summer!  One of the events will include some of our members running a Maker Faire Detroit Booth with the MichEd Maker Connection July 25-26 at the Henry Ford Museum!  Another exciting thing will be adding 100 new chapters across the globe for the 2015-16 school year!!!  If you are interested in learning more about bringing an Imagination Chapter to your area, click here! 

Cheers to creativity, developing future innovators, and allowing kids to do what they do best...play! 

AR, Circuits, Upcyling, and Games...Pure Spring Creativity!

We have had a busy last few months with the Hornung Imagination Chapter!  Here are some of the highlights!

We kicked off March with a Creativity in Our Community field trip to downtown Brighton.  Chapter members and adults explored the streets, parks, and businesses in Brighton to celebrate the creativity that was discovered! Check out all of the things that we found!

Click here to check out our slideshow! 

We also had fun learning more about circuitry.  During the March/April meetings we had a mix of activities including BYOD Days, Circuitry Fun with Makey Makeys and Little Bits, and Instant Challenges!

On April 24 we were honored to have Drew Minock attend one of our meetings to showcase the joys of augmented reality!  The kids loved playing the boxing games, creating games on TinkerCad, viewing the solar system, and using the Color Alive and ColAR coloring sheets!  We are lucky to have him here in Brighton, and I hope that he will be able to visit us more regularly next year!

To celebrate Earth Day, we had a day of upcycling fun!  There were many awesome things that were created! Mrs. Giannandrea, a third grade teacher and Imagination Chapter helper, was graced with an original apron.

The month of May has had a game based theme!  We have spent each meeting working on creating games.  It has been awesome to see some of the games evolve week to week!  In addition, we have taken time to play outside on recess!  We are going to have a game showcase on June 4 to celebrate our final meeting and share our games with our families.  We are also hoping to have 1-2 games available for the Hornung Elementary kids to play during their Field Day! 

As you can see there are many wonderful activities that can engage children in creative play!  If you are interested in learning more about the Imagination Foundation and bringing an Imagination Chapter to your area, check out their webpage!  They are looking to add 100 new chapters for the 2015-16 school year.  It is a FABULOUS opportunity to connect with creative people from all over the world and impact the creative lives of children in your own community!  

Rube Goldberg Highlights

I have so enjoyed engaging in Rube Goldberg themed play over the last 3 meetings!  What a great experience! As you may or may not know, I am a third grade teacher, and I was able to see so many connections to my curriculum!  My favorite experiences were hearing kids debate the possible reasons the marble's lost momentum.  "I think we have to increase the pitch!" one boy said.  The other said, "No, I think we have to change the angle of the blocks."  To see them playing with a bunch of random materials and applying concepts they have learned in school is a teacher's dream!

Here are some highlight videos from this past week!  Enjoy!

Top video courtesy of Mary Putra.

Rube Goldberg Themed Play!

                                Photo from www.rubegoldberg.com

We are celebrating Rube Goldberg this month, with Rube Goldberg themed play!  This is my first time ever doing a Rube Goldberg project with kids, so it should be interesting.  I spent the last month collecting online resources and finding many examples of Rube Goldberg machines, as well as tips from other educators.  Still with all the background knowledge, I wasn't sure how it would all play out.


Last week I had allowed the kids to play the PBS Goldburger To Go Game in the computer lab, and then they researched some of the simple machines that could be made.  Afterwards we watched some of the Rube Goldberg Machine videos.  There is an AWESOME video that has served as the main Rube Goldberg Music Video.  It will blow your minds...and it gave my kids a ton of motivation!

Today we had Day 1 of our Rube Goldberg play!  I asked the children to bring random household items, trinkets, and whatever they could think of to use.  Fortunately, many of the students brought a bunch of cool things.  I had found many lids that were lacking containers in my cupboards, as well as random things around my house to add to the materials.   I also raided my Destination Imagination materials for things like cups, paper clips, straws, etc. 

To begin, we had a warm-up.  I used one of my Destination Imagination challenges...create a device that can make a ping pong ball travel farther than 6 inches without the ball touching the floor,  using 4 index cards, 10 paper clips, 4 straws, 2 labels, 1 clothespin, and 2 rubber bands.  It was neat to see all the different ways kids tackled this challenge, and it gave them a way to explore creating a path for a ball. We then went right into our Rube Goldberg exploration.  Many students teamed up, but there were some that worked individually.  Some are still at the beginning stages of their machine, while others were able to move a bit further.  Check out all the fun that was had on Day 1!  

I can only imagine it will get more and more awesome each meeting!  

Take Apart Fun and Learning About Electronics

(Logo created by Heidi Gates of Blue Platypus)

Years ago I was getting rid of some small electronics, and instead of throwing them away, I decided to turn it into a learning station in my third grade classroom.  My students LOVED opening the things up to find out what was inside!  Last year we had a take apart station for Sunday School and the kids turned the guts of the electronics into wall art. Take Apart stations are an awesome way to expose children to electronics, circuitry, and give them insight to what products are made of!

The Hornung Imagination Chapter had 2 weeks of take apart action, and they had a wonderful time!  Fortunately, I also had the help of extra parents too! Last week the kids took apart their small electronics, and today they turned the dissembled parts into imaginative creations.  From games to robots...the chapter members collaborated and created some cool things.  Here are some photos from the past 2 weeks!

TAKE APART DAY 1

 As the kids discovered the circuits, I walked around with the SparkFun Inventors Kit to show them what the parts looked like before they were soldered into the electronic.  It was neat to have them make the connection with the resistors. We are going to focus on circuitry later on this spring, so this was a great pre-teaching experience for them!

 Kids were super pumped to manipulate the parts and make things move! Gears were a favorite!

TAKE APART DAY 2

Each child put their electronic guts into 1-2 gallon ziplock bags, and they were able to take their bags today and get to work on making something from the pieces.  Creativity was flowing as the little bits and pieces turned into many cool things.

 The students above collaborated to create one large, awesome robot for their classroom.  I am sure Mrs. Giannandrea is going to love it!  I was very proud of how well they worked together as a team!

 Even the students that were not here last week were welcomed into new groups! There were plenty of spare parts to share!

 The CD Player above was combined with a dissembled computer mouse, and a super cool carnival game was created!

 This student did bring her small parts back this week, but that didn't stop her from creating!  She went to the odds and ends that I had out for the kids and created this creature! Toothpicks for teeth, a gear for an eye, a goggly eye for the other eye, and a clothespin!  We may just use this type of an idea for a cute Valentine activity.

 Safety glasses were a hit!  Perhaps we should invest in a chapter set!  The above alarm clock pieces were turned into a house with the addition of a cereal box and glue! Thankfully his mom was rocking the hot glue gun station!

One of the best parts of Imagination Chapter creations is the home sharing.  My daughter couldn't wait to share her game with her brother and her dad right when she walked through the door...she didn't even wait to take her coat off!

Once again...give the kids time, some odds and ends, and they will let their imagination take over!  (And I bet they were able to learn a thing or two about engineering, circuits, motion, etc. along the way!)

Here are some video highlights as well!  Enjoy!

1/23/2015 Update: Look at the wonderful tweet that was sent this morning!  

Again...the sharing and celebrating is an important part of developing creativity!

Imagination Survey

Here is the link to the survey for the Imagination Foundation!  Please click on the link to start the survey!

Creative Holiday Fun

I love seeing the ways kids take things and run with it! Today for Imagination Chapter, I went through some of the options for holiday themed crafts, but I also gave them the freedom to create whatever they wanted with the materials.  Looking around the room, they appreciated the choice of freedom.  Q-Tip snowflakes turned into Q-Tip animals, houses, race tracks, and people.  Random scraps from The Scrap Box turned into foam shooters, villages, scarves, and more.  Paper intended for snowflake cutting became the canvas for illustrations.  They took the supplies and made it their own!  Creative Play at its best!

The Q-Tip Station was fun!

The random material station was utilized a lot...and it also got pretty messy.  

Sometimes just the simple act of drawing can be the most gratifying!

Here is an example of the one craft that shown and completed as shown...a wonderful crystal wreath made from fold-top baggies and floral wire! 

To end our meeting, we did an instant challenge to group up and create a carol about creativity.  Here are some of the highlights: