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The Course is Plotted

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Meg's and my convoluted cross-country cavalcade to Connecticut is plotted via Google Maps.

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3D Printed TurtleArt Stamps for Clay Tiles

If you are interested in step-by-step instructions on programming and 3D printing your own tiles, consider purchasing my book, The Invent to Learn Guide to Fun , which leads you through the process step by step! When I saw the MakerHome post on using a Sharpie to create the basis for a 3D printed object I knew I wanted to try a similar project with the lower school art teacher and fourth grade students. We would use TurtleArt to program a design then turn the design into a 3D printed stamp that we could use to create intricate patterns on clay tiles. This is an example of a 3D printed tool that creates other works of art. The tile stamps were printed on a MakerBot Replicator 2 printer in PLA plastic. I used MakerWare to print them. I was able to print two tiles at a time on the Replicator 2. Once everybody's stamps were printed the students practiced stamping Play-Doh in anticipation of stamping clay. Students learned how much (or little) pr

LEGO Tinkering Gearing

LEGO Tinkering is the playful exploration of gears, linkages, beams, and connectors to make art, music, dance, and more. LEGO Tinkering encourages learning through trial and error, hands-on exploration, and iteration. This post runs somewhat contrary to the tinkering aspect of LEGO Tinkering in that it provides some concrete tools to help understand one of the fundamentals of LEGO Tinkering. Obviously such knowledge is unnecessary for most people but useful to a few. The LEGO Power Functions Battery Box is much less expensive than the LEGO Power Functions Rechargeable Battery Box . However, the AA Battery Box does not have an adjustable speed setting like the rechargeable one. Motors connected to the AA Battery Box run at full speed. Sometimes slower speeds are desired. Making music with a full powered LEGO motor is difficult because the tempo is so fast, for example. Using the LEGO Power Functions motors with the LEGO WeDo USB Hub and Scratch automatically runs the motors

Cardboard Pinball Game

Inspired by a build at CMK16 , I decided to build my own cardboard pinball game. It took me only a few hours, with a few improvements added in the following days. The flippers are build around pencils, a piece of balsa wood, tongue depressors, and rubber bands. The balsa is glued to the inside of the box (I managed to give myself a second degree burn with the hot glue attaching this piece). This piece helps keep the pencils properly aligned. The tongue depressors are attached to the pencils with rubber bands. An additional rubber band pulls the flipped toward the player, so there is a return to the flipper when they are flipped. The marble launcher is built around a chopstick, a spring, and another piece of balsa. It is super powerful! My boss suggested adding a flap since the marble had the tendency to end up back in the chute. A small flap of cardboard catches the marbles that the player misses as they roll off the platform. This was a fun and easy bu

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