Toddler Time

"Nurturing our kids true potential isn't about making sure they reach some predetermined standards, it's about helping them develop the skills they need so they can create a life that is meaningful and satisfying to them"         

                                                                Eileen Kennedy-Moore, psychologist and author

Our first workshop was a riot of colour, texture and playfulness as we designed toys for babies and toddlers. Out of mounds of material emerged a squid clan, a rotating furry thingamajig, a play dashboard (complete with turnable knobs, steering wheel, ignition knob and clutch!), a kick-mobile, a disco dish, a twistable octo-cone and catching cup and a bouncy fur pet.

These are prototypes -or model designs. The kids have taken this open-ended challenge and invented toys with the senses in mind. In this first class, we let the kids think with their hands. We want them to turn their ideas into something tangible and to get comfortable with a wide range of materials.

In our demo time, everyone did a great job of saying what they liked and what they could improve about their designs. We also talked quite a bit about how these models would have to be adapted in the real manufacturing world, to make them safe for little kids. Some of the boys wanted to know how and when they could start production.

This class introduces the kids to the concept that inventions and designs are for someone: the "user". When we're designing for someone else- it's a good idea to think about who they are and what they need or want. Better still ask them! The students had a lot of enthusiasm for this project because many of them have little sisters and brothers. So in this case empathy and understanding of the user come naturally.

"my brother would love this squid, but he might pull it apart!"

"a toddler would love this because it spins and it's furry"

Move over Lady Gaga

In this week's fashion challenge, we encouraged wild self expression as we created superhero-popstar outfits. Aesthetics is often an important part of design: so we wanted them to upcycle something good looking! We gave the squad a mixture of vintage garments (from the 70's and 80's of course), other textiles and interesting materials (deflated mylar balloons, faux fur pieces, mesh) and asked them to make a new and theatrical outfit. The emphasis for this class was also on fun- can they make something playful and unexpected? You bet they can!

Many of the kids worked in groups, using fast sketches to merge their ideas. Armed with scissors, colourful duct tape, safety pins and elastics this was an exercise in creative destruction. Sometimes we have to take something apart to design something better. In our fashion remixes we support girl and boy power, drama and individualism.

The class ended with the kids strutting their costumes through the studio. Bravo!!

Toy Struck Workshop

Our first challenge in the after-school workshop was to build a prototype toy design for a young child. The kids dived straight into heaps of recycled cardboard plastic and fabric materials to make their toy designs. We set them a challenge to think about the senses-touch, texture, sound and colour- and they made exploratoriums, cars, rattles, snow mixers and sensory books.

image from http://dthsg.com

     

Our aim in this class, was to get the kids comfortable with constructing a prototype. In this session they were given a broad selection of materials to use and these objects themselves suggest ideas to the kids. In other sessions we will try a more deliberative planning approach with draft drawings or team brainstorming. Different methods suit different children, but we want them to experience them all and come up with some cool ideas whilst they do that.                                                          

Fall 2014 Workshop Schedule: Niagara Street

Here's the schedule of events for our Fall workshop at Niagara Street School

Week 1: Toddler alert

Squeeze it, chew it, pull it, shake it.  Using colour and texture, invent a new toy for toddlers. 

Week 2 :Play as you go

Redesign the Niagara Street Playground.  Go ahead- add water features, nature zones, tree houses or crazy play structures.

Week 3: Spooktacular Light Show

Scare your friends by creating a ghostly chandelier, a haunted light sculpture, an illuminated decoration for Halloween.

Week 4: Evil Genius 

Invent a machine to catapult a marshmallow grenade across the playground. 

Week 5: Move over Lady Gaga!

Design an out-of-this-world outfit for a rock star super-hero.

Week 6: Rock-On!

Join the junk band: twanging, tooting, bashing, plucking your own hand-made instruments. 

Week 7: Game on

Designers test a new event or sport for the 2015 Pan-Am games.

Week 8: Structure challenge

Build a bridge that can hold an elephant.

Week 9: DEMO DAY

A showcase of the squad’s inventions and ideas for families and friends to see.

Tech Night Workshop

Thanks to all the participants of Invention Squad's Tech Night. It was great to learn how our teachers at Niagara Street are integrating the use of technological tools into their classes. We saw demonstrations of a Smartboard, Podcasts, Student Blogs and Wikis, iTouches and a pico-projector. Thanks to Principal Angela Marsh (who is a member of the Principals’ Technology Advisory Committee), Teacher-Librarian Kim Delamere and Grade 5/6 teacher Sophy Wong (who is a demonstration teacher for the TDSB for her use of MacBooks). Sephra Khan and the Niagara Eco Club made an excellent environmental display on the pros and cons of technology.

Some of you enjoyed Hands-on Activities provided (for free) by:

Howard Goldbach at our local Music Lesson Centre: the Toronto Institute for the Enjoyment of Music.
The Children’s Technology Workshop who run afterschool programs and summer icamps at the JCC.

Robot-Building was facilitated by Brian Cartwright-who is just a friendly bloke that I recruited to help at the last minute.

John Willis and Jacob Pickup-who presented circuit building.

Mikael and Chloe Sandblom demonstrated the web-based design program SketchUp, Floorplanner and GoogleEarth. You can see what our kids came up with above (check out the grand addition on the School).

Other help was provided by Jalen Patel (who turns out to be a computer whizz), Marcus and Lily Mazzulla, Dianne Smith, Kathleen Pellow-Harris, Shaniq, Betty Stewart and Kimberly Sorokiwsky.

The Parent portion of this event, including the cyberbullyGot2Go talk, was funded by a Pro Grant from the Ontario Covernment. The School Council funded the Mad Science Show.

Design-a-thon (2013)

This year, Invention Squad's all day school design event took place on November 22nd.

With help from a bunch of incredible volunteer designers, kids took part in a series of workshops. We made fantastic spaghetti structures, glittered hand-pots, taped cityscapes, up-cycled CD mobiles and school logos.  The idea of Design-a-thon is to immerse the students in a whole day of hands-on, creative activities. One kid described this as "the best day of the whole school year".