Who Knew LEGO Playdates Could Be So Educational??

Homeschooling provides countless ways to turn education into playdates.  We recently found Brendan's favorite activity yet, and just like the "hiding spinach in brownies" trick, I don't think he even realizes how good it is for him!

Every Monday afternoon, approximately 10 children get together for a LEGO Engineering class.  Several homeschooling moms are coming together to create a co-op, and we have a company called Play-Well Teknologies (http://www.play-well.org/) come to a home to teach the class.  A young fun adult named AJ brings about 20 large bins of LEGOS in with him, and the excitement begins! 

Week 1: Belt and Pulley Car
Objective: Learn how to get an electric moto to turn using a battery.  Learn names and sizesing of basic machine parts.  Learn how the belt and pulley mechanism is used to transfer power from the motor.  Learn how to use different size pulleys to speed up or slow down.

The second week, they talked about structural foundations and how to build strong brick structures while building houses:

Week 3: Gear Drive Systems - Gear drive "tractor" that pulls a heavy load.

Objective: Learn how gears work and how they are used to transfer power from a motor.  Learn about torque and review gearing up and gearing down.  Discuss when one would gear up or down.

Outside of this class, we've learned that there is a LEGO engineering non-competitive robotics event  for 6-8 year olds called Jr. First Lego League.  This might be the pefect group of LEGO enthusiasts to make a fun team project come Fall!  http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/jfll/default.aspx?id=818