Week 2’s theme was Robots Rule!

Week 2 was all about robots with our weekly theme of “Robots Rule!”. createMPLS, who has partnered with LYL for several seasons, spent some time with the Explorers (grades 1-3) and Investigators (grades 4-8) throughout the week.

Explorers doing an activity with createMPLS

With the Explorers, we put our engineering caps on to build windmills out of Lego Education sets and model how wind power provides electricity to cities.

Students working together to build a windmill

Investigators explored robotics with createMPLS. We built our own Lego cars and coded them to race each other and navigate obstacle courses.

Investigator coding his Lego robot car

Investigators navigating an obstacle course they built

GMCC staff member Len did robot-themed art projects with both groups. For the Explorers, we designed our own robots by cutting out tinfoil shapes and engraving them with various tools. We decorated our robots with sequins and paint markers to make them colorful and unique.

We have a very talented & creative bunch in our camp!

Explorers working on their robot crafts

Len did a three-day claymation robot project with the Investigators. The first day, we designed our own clay robot characters. Then, we learned how to do stop motion animation and used cameras to shoot our own short animations with the characters we made.

We had so much fun and were really proud of what we created!

Investigator Joseph’s animation

“My animation is so good! Can I see it again?”

On Friday, we went to the Gene Kelly Playfield to play soccer and Ships Across the Ocean, before eating lunch and going on our field trip to the Works Museum.

Investigator building a car at the Works Museum

The Works Museum had so many different stations for us to explore! We played, built, problem solved, and practiced teamwork with the various interactive toys & puzzles available.

Campers at different stations at the museum

A fan favorite was the ball rollercoaster – some of our campers were so mesmerized they sat and watched it almost the entire time we were there!

Campers watching the ball rollercoaster

Museum staff also taught us about different kinds of Indigenous dwellings (including Somali, Ojibwe, and Hmong) and helped us build models of them.

Camper and Camp Guide posing with their Ojibwe tipis

Investigator’s model of a Somali nomadic hut

Thank you to our partners for this week!

And thank you so much to our youth funders for supporting our program!