Lego Club Challenge–Weightless Building

This is another one that might be kinda out there, but I’m really excited about this one.  I came up with this idea while researching a “Space Camp” I did over the summer.  Wonder Kids Activity Blog came up with an activity where kids tried to use tools underwater, since astronauts train underwater as it mimics the low gravity of space.  I thought it would be a great idea to try and actually build in this environment!! It’s a little bit like when we built upside down, this just adds a whole new element to your building experience.  All you need is a bunch of small tubs and a bunch of the small baseplates.  I filled each bucket up about halfway and then dumped a couple cups of Legos into each one.  I figured if it was too crowded in the tub, it would be too hard to build. After we went over rules, I talked to my kids about astronauts for a bit and how hard they train.  I told my kids that we would be building space stations and spaceships, BUT they had to build it all in the tub!  I prepped by having a bunch of different medium sized buckets, dish pans, whatever was available, and filled them up about half way–because I knew it was going to get messy! Only about half the kids wanted to do the challenge, for those that want to, I would recommend giving them the smaller base plates, since they will fit better in the water bucket.  Then I would recommend they dump in a few Legos at a time so you don’t spill all over the place.  Make sure that you do this over the summer, so your Legos can air out and dry. Overall, I feel results were mixed.  Half of the kids that did the challenge either gave up on the bucket or only partially used it as intended.  They would put Legos in the bucket and then build on their table, which I think still is fine, but it’s clearly a lot harder to do all of your building in the bucket.  But my older kiddos seemed to really like it and loved how hard it got.  Some of my normally great builders turned in things that were a little smaller because they ran into some unexpected problems.  Overall, an interesting exercise! All blog entries are for educational or personal use.  Please credit the original author if reblogging or posting ideas originally found on this site.  LEGO^® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site.