RECAP: GIANT x CMA One Day STEAM Camp

Last Wednesday, we hosted a STEAM filled day of making, creating, and building at the Children’s Museum of the Arts!

We kicked off the day with a reading of “Robin Boyd: Architect”, a story about a tiny bird who is passionate about building. She lives atop of the National University, and spends her days in the window of the architecture school learning all she can about building. She then sets off to design elaborate nests with the techniques that she learns. 

While reading, we encountered some new architecture words that we didn’t know, like “parapets” and “cantilever”. We stopped and discussed what these words could mean, and then, if we didn’t know, we looked up the definition. We put out paper and markers in case anyone was inspired by the book while we were reading and had an idea of what they wanted to build.

It was then time to get to work. First, we put out art supplies including straws, construction paper, markers, rubberbands, felt, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and more. Everyone worked quietly on building their structures. Some built projects taking direct inspiration from the book, like the Eiffel Tower or a house for a bird, while others were inspired by Robyn’s out of the box thinking, and designed a 7 foot tall rocket. 

After a break for lunch, playtime, and of course, a dance party, we regrouped to begin our afternoon. We started off by reading another book, Andy Webb: Artist. Andy lives in the National Museum and loves to sneak in at night and look at all the colorful artwork in the gallery. He was drawn to all the colors, but no spider had ever worked with color before (Spider webs are white!). And… one night, Andy discovered that he could play around with lights and shades to add color to his artworks! After this discovery, he launched a colorful exhibition of portraits of famous bugs in history in the museum. 

After brainstorming some ideas to add lights and sound to our projects, we introduced electronics. We learned how to turn on LEDs using a battery, and how to make a switch so the light doesn’t need to stay on. We experimented with littleBits, making circuits that used a sensor such as proximity or pressure sensors to trigger the buzzer, and a button or a sliding dimmer to turn on lights. We also introduced computer based electronics including MakeyMakey and Scratch to add our sound. 

After more building and brainstorming, we came back together as a group to share what we had made. We turned the lights off so we could see the illuminating LEDs and create a calm, relaxing environment. We shared our big wins (a break-through creative idea or accomplishment that we’re proud of), epic fails (things we tried but didn’t work out as planned), and good wonders (things we’re curious to try in the future). Some campers had specific names for their projects (like “electro-ball”), while others were electronic art pieces. 

We were impressed by what kids could build in one day! Hope your kids can join our holiday camps, summer camps, or afterschool programs to dream and build with us. Registration for these programs are now open! You can also join our online programs and have your kids make their own creative portfolio with the guidance of our daily creative prompts, and how to videos.