Projects

In our house, you should never EVER take out the recycling without first consulting with Matthew.  At least that is the way he sees it.  He will regularly grab boxes, papers and containers from the recycle bin to do a "project."  These projects are of many types, sometimes he makes tools or vehicles.  Often he makes things that super heroes could use.  We might have a future Tony Stark on our hands.

The last few nights he has been gathering supplies for a big project.  We encourage him to keep his materials out of the way but otherwise let him build with his imagination.

Working with his materials.

The semi-finished prototype.  

He has a blaster hand, rocket boots and a helmet.  The helmet makes it so he can't see when he pulls it down but he is figuring out what to do about it (his words).  He also has storage containers for his secret weapons and tools.  He needs Me's cup from dinner to make another blaster hand.  We are glad to have this great inventor at our house and look forward to seeing what else he'll make.

Let's talk science!

On Saturday, Me was feeling pretty under the weather.  We had planned to go to the Arizona Science Center but she just wasn't up to it.  They decided U would take all the kids.  Sarah opted to stay home and take care of mom.

When we got to the museum, we couldn't get to the parking garage.  Apparently we just happened to be there the same day as the Matasuri Festival so there were Japanese food stands, cos-players and lots of kimonos around.  We eventually figured out how to get through and went in to the science center after watching a little shrine being carried around the festival.

Once we were inside, we found out that it was Engineering week and there were a whole bunch of engineering activities to do.  First we went up to one of our favorite rooms and found we had it completely to ourselves.

Megan on the bed of nails

Matthew building circuits

Taking on Dad in tug-o-war

Matthew wants to try beating dad on his own

Lots of room to build on the ball wall

Next we headed to the body rooms and enjoyed wheelchair races and watching open heart surgery.  We also put together a person's internal organs and only had one extra part.  Med school here we come!  As we were heading to the planetarium for a show, we stopped at tables for some engineering crafts.  The first one had us rolling papers to show how they could then hold textbooks.  The next table was making bridges out of straws, paperclips, ribbon and tape.  The kids and I were having a lot of fun but we had to stop to go see our show.  As soon as we came out, everyone wanted to finish their bridges.

Matthew with an arch, U with a cable bridge and Megan with a truss.

We then went and ate some lunch before  doing some more demonstrations.  The kids made bracelets with UV and glow-in-the-dark beads.  We then made structures out of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows.

M&M with their constructions

Why not combine the two?

We visited a couple more rooms before heading home.  We had a great time.

Matthew and his contraption