How to Bring in new kids

[Monkayyyyy]

As an off season project im working on a presentation to bring down and show to my district middle and elentary schools. im trying to keep it interesting with clips from ironman and transformers and stuff but ive kinda hit a road block so i call out to the all knowing chief delphi community- what are some good things to included to try and get younger kids into FIRST and what it has to offer in away that will make them excited and want to get involved but not bore them?
any advice will help greatly thanks to all that contribute

[RMS11]

Bring an old robot and LET THEM DRIVE IT! They will think it is awesome. Make sure the space is open though and somebody has a disable switch...

[Joe G.]

The best way to get younger kids interested in FIRST is to start FLL/FTC teams at their schools. I know I wouldn't be in FRC if I hadn't been in FLL for six years.

At a recruitment presentation:-Demo robots, of all sizes.
-Show video of competitions.
-Don't forget aspects of the program other than the robot, in FLL we had a few kids who were completely uninterested until we casually mentioned the research project.
-Do not make it sound like a rigorously scheduled, you-must-come-five-days-a-week activity.

At the first few meetings of a new FLL/FTC team, to help the kids keep coming back:-Bring food, it helps
-At first, mentors should sit back. Failure with the robot is discouraging, but so is having someone else do it for you. Make it clear that the mentors are there to help when you need it, not to take control of the robot.

Bringing in a robot and letting them have some hands on time is always a fun thing. Also, here's an idea that I've tried: Bring in a simple vex bot, but have it be missing a component, or have something built wrong. Make it simple though. Then the kids can get a fun, hands on example of problem solving, and see how interesting robotics really is.

[Alivia]

Anything hands-on usually works to get kids interested in the program.
Like suggested previously, letting them drive the robot is a great idea.
Bringing lots of past game pieces (i.e. Poof balls, inner-tubes, track balls, etc.) that the kids can simulate robots with is a good idea too.


Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

[Akash Rastogi]

Make sure to show off the 06 robot. Kids love playing with those ones if they shoot well enough

[popnbrown]

Yeah, I think I'm going to try out some of these ideas..I recently did a presentation to start a FLL team, i was excited but saw that the kids easily got bored. Luckily, we're doing a redo, since only three kids came.
Fortunately, those kids are all into computers and building stuff, so it seems they are interested.

Thanks for all the great tips! gotta See if we can get our robot over there.

[Greg Marra]

Originally Posted by CraigHickman

Bringing in a robot and letting them have some hands on time is always a fun thing. Also, here's an idea that I've tried: Bring in a simple vex bot, but have it be missing a component, or have something built wrong. Make it simple though. Then the kids can get a fun, hands on example of problem solving, and see how interesting robotics really is.

I have found that the way the wheels tend to fall out of the default VEX squarebot is a good example of this. The problem doesn't require much engineering know how to solve, but it gives a well deserved sense of accomplishment.

[Akash Rastogi]

if you have an NXT kit, have some of them work in a group to build the basic design that the kit comes with. It takes all of 5 minutes but they will have fun with it and building a simple robot. If you have time, have them make a sort of very simple Rube Goldburg invention with some of the VEX or NXT parts. There doesn't need to be a specific task to accomplish for that but you could have their RG invention do something as simple as use 3-4 simple machines and as an end task, release a marble or something down a slide.

And remember: Kids love to get free little giveaways.

[Andrew141WOBOT]

Take your 06, 07 and 08 bots with you. If the 2006 shoots well, they love to drive and catch the balls. If the 2007 has ramps, then the 2006 (possibly the 2008) can climb on top of it. Kids love to see our 2008 Robot, because it launches the trackballs and goes fast. For example, we are doing a couple of middle school shows to try and bring in new members, and we are going to play a game where the 2008 'bot will be hidden, and the middle school kids will catch the 2006 balls. Then, with the teacher's back's turned while we tell them the instructions for the game, we bring out the 2008, and they have to catch that ball!

[ebarker]

Definitely letting the kids drive is a fun thing to do.

here we have kids lined up to drive - speedpass not accepted.

2008 sitting on top of 2007

Big smiles from the kids all day, our student on the power cord as a safety because we forgot to bring the kill switch

full set of pictures here

900 elementary school students came by our booth here and we collected a bucket of leads for starting new teams.