Hi everyone, it’s been a bit since I’ve shared what our boys LEGO Education co-op is doing, so I thought I’d give you all an update.
This week’s assignment was to create a “land yacht” using the gear skills they’ve learned mixed with some of the wind mill creations they’ve made recently to create a wind powered vehicle that can cross on land.
With this assignment the boys created a few variations of propellers and then discussed which worked out the best and why.
there were a couple of boys missing so Strawberry Shortcake and Tinker Bell were able to fill in for them. They had a great time and enjoyed participating.
Here is a close up of Strawberry Shortcake’s machine…she had a sail type wind powered car.
tinker Bell was the “wind source” for the group that day. Each one got to run their machine using a hair dryer to create some wind. They all discussed which ones went farthest, fastest, and smoothest and why.
I’ll share more of their group as we go. So far they’ve had a great time participating in this group and as a mama, I absolutely love the critical thinking skills and concepts taught in the LEGO Education products! I couldn’t recommend these more!
Want more information on LEGO Education? Click any of the links below! They have products for all different grade and skill levels!
- LEGO Education Facebook
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- LEGO Education YouTube Channel
- LEGO Education Blog
We’re using the Simple and Motorized Mechanisms Base Set with our boys LEGO co-op group. You can use the kit alone, or purchase the Simple & Motorized Mechanisms Activity Pack separately which has all of the lesson plans written out for you. It’s literally a whole curriculum if you’d like to make this program into a more formal unit which we will do for next year. Here is how LEGO Education describes this kit:
“Using the activity pack, students will investigate the principles of simple machines, mechanisms, and structures; experiment with balanced and unbalanced forces and friction; measure distance, time, speed, and weight; and much more. The activity pack comes in a three-ring binder and provides 30 lessons featuring 37 principle model activities; 14 main activities, each with extension activities; and six problem-solving activities. Also included is a CD-ROM with teacher’s notes, student worksheets, and glossary.”
Disclosure: I received this product free for review on my website. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and were not influenced by the free product provided. We absolutely LOVE LEGO Education and can’t say enough about how cool this program is!
Hi Erica,
What age did you start the Lego education? I have an upcoming first grader who I think would love it, but not sure if he is too young.
Thanks!
First grade would be fine! As long as their pretty good at following LEGO instructions they’ll do great.
Hi Erica
I am wondering about the Lego education co-op that your kids are a part of. You mentioned the set that you use The simple and motorized mechanisms base set and I am wondering if that is what each child needed or if the the whole group used the one set?
Hi Rebecca,
the sets are meant to be used with a pair of students so 2 students to 1 set. You obviously only need 1 teacher’s manual/activity pack. But the box of actual LEGO pieces come with two books for each activity. Each student builds their half of the project, then they bring their individual projects together to create the final project.
Hi Erica,
I really enjoy your blog:) How did you find a lego co-op?
Thanks!
I would love to know more about this co-op. How did you start it or find it? How does it work? Does your family do any other co-ops? I think we actually go to the same church and I am homeschooling my son this year. I would love some resources on co-ops in the area to supplement our learning and work on our social skills.
Hi Sarah,
I have a friend who started the group and I supplied the LEGO materials because they sent it to me for review for our group. But you can start up your own. We just meet once a month with about 6 boys. We’ve met for a few years and before using the LEGO Education materials we just did a theme. So everyone brought a creation to go with our theme for the month. They also bring a loose bag of LEGOs with them. Then after presenting their themed item, we have a 5 minute challenge where we give them something specific and they have 5 min. to create it, then they present that.
We do a weekly co-op as well.