I mentioned earlier this summer that my daughter attended her first LEGO®-Inspired Engineering Camp with Play-Well TEKnologies. She was the only girl in the class and as much as I worried about her feeling comfortable through the program, she came out with flying colors. The purpose of the camp is to develop and enhance students’ problem solving and critical thinking skills with a focus on building techniques.
Leila’s camp was a Minecraft themed camp and I’ll admit, I had no idea of what that was prior to her instructor literally showing me. Just a brief overview, here’s how it works:
Step 1 – the kids roll dice to determine how many of each resource they are allowed to have.
Step 2 – Based on the resources they were allotted, the kids choose between several blueprints they can build.
Step 3 – They build the architecture with LEGOs.
I was totally impressed by the amount of critical thinking involved in the process. She actually learned a lot, but was having too much fun to even really know it.
The Play Well Summer Camp programs are week-long from 9am-12 and the students typically work on 2 different engineering and architectural projects per day. Projects typically start with an introduction and short presentation by the instructor followed by a design/building assignment. Students have access to approximately 100,000 pieces of LEGO materials to use in creating their engineering projects.
Students are introduced to engineering terminology that they are encourage to use throughout the class when identifying pieces, posing questions, or assisting each other. Instructors circulate and assist the children in realizing their project goals.
When the participants have satisfied basic requirements of a project, they are encouraged to further explore engineering applications of the principles and construction methods by inspecting, testing, modifying, and rebuilding. At the end of each class session, students are expected to dismantle their projects and put away their materials.
Here are some of the concepts covered in Play Well Engineering Camp:
[ezcol_1third]
1st, 2nd, 3rd Class Levers
Motors, batteries, leads
Compound gear trains
Overlapping
Crown gears / bevel gears
Pneumatics and pumps
Beam bridges
Cams and clutch gears[/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third]Skid steering
Connected systems
Steering mechanisms
Eccentric motion
Differentials
Gear drives, torque, speed
Timing Mechanisms
[/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third_end]Load & stress testing
Rack and pinion steering
Belt drive transmissions
Rack gears
Worm gear drives
Moment of inertia
Friction and Gravity[/ezcol_1third_end]
Play-Well is now in over 2000 locations nationwide in 27 states. Visit the website for more information or to find a location near you.
Read more: Full list of STEM Based Science Summer Camps in Atlanta
More Stem Learning Resources:
13 BEST STEM LEARNING RESOURCES FOR KIDS
WHAT IS THE NEW STEM LEARNING? AND HOW CAN I INCORPORATE STEM AT HOME?
STEM LEARNING: MY REAL DEAL REVIEW OF LITTLEBITS PREMIUM INVENTION KIT
When my nephew was young I gave him Legos and he loved them. They were his favorite toys. At that age he would’ve loved this.
Who doesn’t love to play with legos? My nephew would love this so much
My boys love Legos. I love that we can use them for STEM.
My son loves legos and I love when I play with him.
It sounds amazing and it’s a great place for learning especially this summer. I think engineering camps will make kids fall in love with science which is awesome. The activities are pretty cool as well!
Who knew Legos could be so educational! I had never considered it before, but that could be the place where some of the next generation of engineers and architects come from!
This is a super cool concept. My son would love to attend but I am sure he is way to young. I’ll keep it in mind for when he is older.
This sounds like a lot of fun. My girls would have a blast there. They love playing with Legos.
What an incredible way for kids to learn. I think these camps will help kids with their STEM subjects immensely.
oh wow i love how much creativity this stimulates and looks like such fun. I enjoy legos so much heck I would still play with them lol
Wow..what an awesome camp. My grandsons would love it. It’s neat how they use something the kids already love and use it for learning.
Wow, nice experienced! I would like to bring my kids here when they grew up a lil bit older!
LEGO Engineering is so awesome! I love interactive STEAM activities and LEGO is a great way to do that! I bet my son would love a camp like this!
I love this lego camps! My nephews would love to go here, I heard they love lego so much!
Legos are my forever favorite. I wish I can still play legos all of my time.
i knew that lego was educational but this is taking it to the next level and it is epic. Lego camp sounds good.
Ooooo how fun!!!! My daughter just loves Legos so this would be a hit with her!
This is an awesome idea! My daughter would flip for something like this!
wow, what a fun way to get creative! Sounds like an awesome camp activity this summer.