Our FRC and FTC teams have been asked by our school to put on a one week summer robotics camp for 5yrs old -12 yes old. It would be for 3 hrs a day for 5 days. Last year our teams put on a 3 day camp using 12 vex iq kits that were donated.by a community sponsor. We still have those kits and could use them again if need be.
I am looking for suggestions for materials to fit this age range of 5-12 year olds. 9-12 year olds can use the vex iq kits no problem but I’m worried about the younger kids using them. Thoughts or recommendations on possible other kits or supplies.
For the past 3 years, my team has held 2 weeks of summer camp for 3rd to 5th graders. We typically spend part of the day building and programming the Lego Mindstorms which we borrowed from a local 4-H branch. These might work for the younger kids with some extra support from the counselors. We had an ongoing list of 20 challenges for kids to complete throughout the week ranging from “Drive Straight” to “Drive around the table without falling off” using the ultrasonic sensors.
We also spend part of the day doing various maker face-off challenges that use basic ideas of robotics and engineering. We did everything from egg drop to newspaper tables and toothpick marshmallow bridges. At both the camp and other events with little kids, a big hit has been Bristlebots.
Code.org also has some nice resources and activities for younger kids centered around the ideas of code. Some are found here.
Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions!
In past summers, our summer camp has had 1st - 4th graders using Lego kits, 5th - 6th graders using VEX IQ, and 7th - 8th graders using VEX EDR. However, last summer, we decided to switch the 1st - 4th graders over to VEX IQ. While I don’t have the specifics on hand right now, it seemed like the 1st - 4th graders really enjoyed themselves (see our Instagram feed, @3128aluminarwhals, for some pictures) and the challenges and tasks they had at hand and you can definitely adapt IQ to work with younger kids (we even had someone finally build the “croc bot” that’s been featured kinda like how Dozer appeared in game animations in the past).
I’d be happy to go into the different challenges and games we had 1st - 4th vs. 5th - 6th run, as well as how we manage to run the camp for 4 weeks At the end of the day, what it all boils down to is keeping kids, no matter the age, engaged and giving them a good taste and impression of STEM.
1678 is going into our 4th year of running summer “RoboCamps”. We will be running 8 camp sessions, across 6 weeks, with nearly 200 students in attendance.
I’m from team 4557 and we have been running a summer camp for middle school students since 2016. We have a whole guide called “Jumpstart your camp!” and you can most definitely take whatever you need from it! We have everything from lesson plans to powerpoints that you can use.
We mentored team 2168 two years ago, using this book, and now they have their own camp up and running!
You can feel free to DM me and I can get you a copy of it and hopefully it can help out!
During the summer FRC 6328 runs an FLL summer session for 10-13 year olds, and last summer we started developing a custom FLL game based on the current FRC game. The game is designed to be simple enough so the students can build robots to complete the missions either in a 5 day long camp program or during once a week meetings for 5-6 weeks (that is what we do on 6328). It is also a good way to get FLL kids interested in FRC since they get to play a LEGO version of the FRC game!
We usually mix in fun core values challenges to the meetings, as well as mini projects that are related to the upcoming FLL game. For example, during the summer before the Hydrodynamics season, we did a water filter design project as well as coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation experiments to learn about drinking water treatment. Those were a ton of fun and a good way to break up the sessions.
For the younger kids (5-9) the WeDo 2.0 kits can be a ton of fun. When we work with younger kids at demos we always bring one of those kits. They are not too expensive and always a hit!
You should take a look at EV3Lessons.com or if you need FLL specific materials look at FLLTutorials.com. These were written by FRC Team “Not The Droids You Are Looking For” (who were also the FLL World Champions in 2018).
The materials were originally written for a 1-week FLL camp for FRC 3504 Girls of Steel in 2014. They have been developed over time and are now incredibly popular among FLL teams all over the world.
Feel free to reach out to them if you have any questions or want to collaborate.
At the end of the day, what it all boils down to is keeping kids, no matter the age, engaged and giving them a good taste and impression of STEM.