One of our four key values is engagement - we believe that developing any skill requires time and practice! Engagement is about creating an interest in, and providing opportunities for ongoing, lifelong learning.
On 17 August, New Zealand moved back into Alert Level 4 due to COVID-19. Maintaining a sense of normality and productivity at home can be challenging. Without work, school, and our normal routine activities like Imagination Station after-school classes, how can we keep ourselves and dependants engaged? Here are a couple of ways to bring Imagination Station education into your homes. You don’t even need to have LEGO!
Stop Motion Animation
There are so many amazing online resources to learn about stop-motion movie making for kids. This is a type of animation that involves taking a photo of a scene, making a tiny movement, and taking another shot. This process is repeated until you can run the pictures together to create a movie. Incredible films such as Luca, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Flushed Away are all great examples of stop-motion animation. The LEGO Movies are also an excellent source of inspiration for stop motion creation! Older children may also enjoy the works of Tim Burton, who uses lots of wonderful stop-motion animation.
When watching stop-motion movies, try to analyse different aspects of the film like scene changes, sets, and music. Think about how many photos you'd need to take for a whole movie! There are lots of free phone apps for stop-motion creation. Stop Motion Studio is a free app available on both Android and iOS devices. You can use anything to make a stop-motion movie, so get as creative as possible!
Robotics
At Imagination Station, not only do we build robots, we also like to think about what a robot is and different ways robots can be used. Robots of all shapes and sizes are used more and more around the world. Everyday, robots do research, record video, explore aerospace, help in disaster response, do the heavy lifting in industry, and even perform medical procedures! Some of our favourite movies for robot inspiration include WALL-E, Big Hero 6, Meet the Robinsons, Robots, and The Mitchells vs the Machines.
For an extra Lockdown challenge, check out our Robots in Strange Places colouring activity! Make sure to ask yourself lots of questions, like: what could my robot do? Where could my robot be useful? How would it work? What tools or skills will it need?
Below are some great learning resources and helpful articles. We would love to hear about your learning during lockdown through our social media. Stay Safe, the Imagination Station Whanau.
Check out our handy Stop Motion Movie Plan: Lights, Camera, Action!
We also have a new colouring page all about robotics: Robots in Strange Places
Get Stop Motion Studio here.Grab some other free robotics activity sheets here and learn about different types of robot.
While we're at Alert Level 4 or Alert Level 3, we are running weekly challenges with a LEGO prize pack giveaway! Check these out on our Facebook page.