• What is it? Bloxels is a “hands-on platform for kids to build, collaborate, and tell stories through video game creation.”
• What’s in the Box?  a black gameboard (13 x 13 grid) with a variety of small colorful cubes.  An idea booklet was purchases separately. (It looks like they’ve restructured things since we bought our Bloxels… the guidebook looks like it is now included.)
• How Much?  $49.95 plus the free app for “Apple, Android & Kindle phones and tablets.”
• Age Range?  box says ages 8 and up.  I agree. I think younger kids could use it, but the ability for the game to tell a story requires developmental skills younger kids don’t always possess.
• How Did We Acquire it?  Library purchase after Bloxels blew up my Twitter and Facebook feeds this Spring after the NY Toy show. Ultimately the library bought 12 Bloxel boxes.
  

  Ideas for Use

This summer (July 2016) we had a Bloxels Club, a four week program where we all learned to use Bloxels.  I had this great idea that kids would create boards and share them with the other participants in the Club.  A few took advantage of this, but mostly they wanted to make their games and play.

We are continuing Bloxel Clubs this fall.  We’re having Bloxels 101, which is a registered program.  The Bloxel Club won’t be registered.  We have a dozen boxes to use.

Time Involved

We learned together.  Okay, I watched some of the tutorials before the club, and tried things out, but mostly watching the tutorials is all you need.  Then, be prepared to spend lots of time creating your story / game.

One-time or Recurring Program

I would say recurring. Bloxels has updated their app and the Bloxel board is needed to advance your game.  Kids are going to want to use the board.

 Extension Activities

All the elements needed for the game are included in the app.  Follow the tutorials and build your game with characters, animation, and options for enemies (purple blocks).  The ideas are limited to your imagination.

Skills You Need

Well, I’m not much of a game player.  So I needed to get some gaming chops….like jumping. I’m a lousy jumper.

Creativity.  The ability to tell a story.

Other Tools You Need

• A working device (iOS or Android) and free app.

Bloxels has a lot of education tools.  Since I’m not a teacher and my purpose in using Bloxels is informal education, I glanced at the materials but created my own worksheet.  It was a brainstorming document that I hoped would help kids create stories in their games. If my theme is underwater, what do the bad guys look like? (Sharks, crabs, octopi).  What would powerups (pink) look like? (oysters with pearls)

Also, you need a light colored table for using the camera on the Bloxel board.

Good Stuff

The animation builder is fascinating. Once again, the tutorial is great.  My game was underwater, so I needed some underwater bad guys. My octopus couldn’t really move back and forth because I used all thirteen columns.  So I changed the colors of the octopus arms.  If you look in the lower left hand corner, it looks like the octopus is moving!  Crabby actually is moving.  I did that!

Frustrations

The only frustrations we experienced were with devices.  The program was advertised that kids had to come to the program with a working device with the app pre-installed.  Since kids tend to get their parents castoff devices, a few of them weren’t working.

Everything Bloxel related was great.

Ending Thoughts/Observations

I love Bloxels.  I like the creativity involved. Game creation with an informal coding language (color blocks) is a great activity for all ages.

Overall Rating: Bloxels is great. Highly recommended!

Here’s a few screenshots of my game:

Did I have any difficulties? You bet. I capped the program registration at 16, but I ended up with 25 (I had enough supplies on hand, but it took a lot more running around —  a couple of amazing parents pitched in to help out). I left the bouncy balls I made the day before the program out on a shelf and that’s how I learned you really need to keep them in a ziploc baggie or they’ll harden; my program attendees just had to take my word that the colorful rocks I showed them had been bouncy the previous day. And of course, as any youth librarian who has ever presented children with cornstarch, Borax, glue and food coloring knows, there was a lot of cleanup involved.

Ball 1 ended up being the bounciest; by reducing the cornstarch in attempts 2-3, they didn’t retain their structure. Ball 4 was the most pleasantly round yet still bouncy.

So here’s my recipe:

1. In the first cup, combine 1/2 teaspoon Borax with 1 Tablespoon VERY WARM water. Stir well.
2. In the second cup, combine 1 Tablespoon glue, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, and a few drops of food coloring. Stir well.
3. Pour the water/Borax solution into the glue/cornstarch solution and stir; it will quickly form into a nice glob.
4. Remove the glob from the cup, shake off excess water, and roll it into a ball between your hands. It helps to blot the ball and your hands with a paper towel.
5. Once it’s rolled and blotted enough, it should bounce quite well. Manage your expectations though — this is all about learning and creating, and the ball will not be the same as the kind you get in a vending machine for a quarter.
6. Store it in a ziploc baggie.

Overall, it was definitely worth the mess.

Last week, I needed to buy more batteries.  It’s been my experience you can’t have enough batteries or Cubelet Drive cubes (the ones with wheels).  So I ordered more. They asked if I wanted to updated cubes. Did I want my Cubelets to respond faster? You bet.

There is a great video that explains how easy it is to update these cubes.

Last Friday, I did just that. I downloaded the Cubelet app and followed the tutorial; first updating my bluetooth cube.  There was a hiccup or two.  I was slightly impatient with the process — I started it late on a Friday afternoon, and I was on desk.  Not the smartest move on my part.  But I handed it off to a co-worker who cruised through the process.  Here are a few screen shots of what it looked like for me.

The countdown to my speaker cubelet being updated.

The last step of the update with clear easy instructions.

Easy, clear instructions made this update go smoothly. We have a considerable collection of Cubelets, and they were done in under four hours. Also, we have both kinds of battery Cubelets (the ones with rechargeable batteries and the USB batteries).  Both battery Cubelets updated without any problems.

Yesterday afternoon I met with an instructional coach for the local school district.  He’s been witness to some of the technology realia we have (Cubelets, Dash and Dot, Beebots, etc.). We met to discuss how we could incorporate these materials with a sixth grade class at one of his schools.  We met for about 90 minutes, playing together, bouncing ideas off one another.  It was a great collaboration and I learned a lot from him.  That’s not new.  But what blew me away was his comment that he learned from me.  What? How is that possible?  We ended our meeting with two and possibly three different collaborations in the schools next month.

This morning, the lightbulb went off.  I’ve been faking this technology stuff for about 18 months, and finally, it’s stuck.  The faking it til I make it?  I think it hit.  Now, am I as knowledgeable as Jacquie?  Not on your life.  But I’m right where I need to be.

Everything we’ve talked about on Robot Test Kitchen: failing and trying again, perseverance, being open to new things.  It’s all come together.

I’m gonna make it after all!

1. Stop-Motion Animation: Stop-Motion videos can be made in several different ways depending on the technology and materials you have available. LEGO blocks and minifigures and always a favorite, but you can also use Play-Doh, Post-it notes, or small toys. This tutorial shows how to to make a video by capturing images with a digital camera or webcam and then edit them with Windows Movie Maker Live (a free download). There are also numerous apps available for Apple and Android products, depending on what you have at the library or what your patrons can bring in. If you have teen volunteers, assisting with Stop-Motion programs is a perfect fit as they can provide hands-on help with the editing as well as keep kids on track through the design and filming process.
2. Take It Apart: The upside of technology going out of style every few years, is that most libraries have old computers and other outdated technology hanging around.  Goodwill and other thrift stores sell things like remote controls, dvd players, and iPod speakers.

Now I haven’t done this program yet, it’s coming in January.  But I wanted to share what some of my peers have done in other libraries.  J learned how to take apart computers by watching YouTube videos.  R. had a great turn out and took pictures.   H recommends getting lots of screwdrivers and paint scrapers (for pulling things apart).  Participants loved the idea of just taking things apart.  Some libraries had IT guys on hand to act as resources. That’s definitely what we’ll be doing; the IT guys in my library are pretty much going to run the show.

Everyone recommends that you watch the sharp bits — the insides of computers are very sharp (one library recommends having a supply of band-aids on hand).  This has turned into a road-block for my program.  The concerns that children could get hurt have been raised, so we’re developing ways to work around that.  One idea is that we have three tables with library staff taking the sharp bits out of the computer and letting kids explore the things that have been removed. I can’t wait for the program.  The possibilities of this barrier busting program are really exciting.  I’ll blog about it once it’s complete.  SH

3. Coding Club: Believe it or not, you can begin a coding club at your library with very little prep time and without knowing much at all about coding. Several of us here at Robot Test Kitchen have had success with the approach of learning alongside our patrons. In terms of technology, you can use your library’s desktop or tablet computers, or even take over the adult computer lab for an hour. Our favorite FREE online resources include  Code.org, Kahn Academy, or Code Academy (which has a free After school Programmingtoolkit).

4. Cardboard Challenge: The Cardboard Challenge is an annual event thought up by the Imagination Foundation. It is a simple program any library can present – no technology required. All you need is a supply of cardboard, some various craft supplies and a place for kid’s to create. The important thing to remember with this program is to not have a specific thing a kid needs to make, the point is to let the kids imagine on their own what they can make with the cardboard. Let go and let the kids tap into their own creativity. It can be a minimally staffed program; it is helpful to have at least one adult there with a utility knife to help cut out doors, windows, or whatever kids can dream up.

5. Squishy Circuits: Who doesn’t like playing with play dough? This is an interactive, inexpensive, approachable technology activity that has worked with kids as young as preschool and as old as junior high – and is fun for adult participants too. With two different types of home made dough, a few dollars in electronic parts like LEDs and wires, and a battery pack or 6V lantern battery, you have everything you need. Squishy circuits really brings play into the equation in a big way. It’s a material that people are not intimidated by at all, so it’s more conducive to relaxed playful interaction. Participants bring their positive experiences playing with dough to squishy circuits as well, which is helpful when they are trying something new and different. Try it with young kids and see their eyes light up in surprise; try it with tweens and teens and see the kid in them come to life and engage with an old friend in a whole new way.

From the moment I tried out the Tickle App, I was excited by how it taps into Sphero’s potential. It has a visual interface that resembles Scratch, which many kids in my community are familiar with from school, the library’s coding club, or their own pursuits. It’s easy to get started — just drag and drop commands into place. It was so much fun I may have been a bit of a menace at first because of how fun the commands are — “Just pick it up and shake it. See what happens! What what it does when I drive it into the wall!” We’ve been pretty enthusiastic about Sphero ever since we got our hands on them, and the fact that after all this time we can discover a new app to control the basic hardware just reinforces that this is a good robot to have around.

When he and his mom stopped by the library’s table at the Junior High’s registration night to tell me what he’d been up to with all of this tech, he was glowing, and his mom was excited too. And just what had he been up to? Building a media server for his house. With the prize he won from the library for reading books.

I asked him to come over to the library some time and chat about what he’d learned, and hoped he’d share his ideas on technology in the library. We had a really interesting conversation. I showed him the pieces that I’ve been collecting for our circulating technology collection, and he had some great ideas on how to promote the collection. There was definitely more than a spark of curiosity and hunger when I asked if he would help me figure out how to use the tools.

When I asked what he had learned while working with these tools, I expected to hear about how he’d learned a lot about programming in Linux. Or how he’d discovered some fun vintage games online while looking for ways to play with the Makey Makey. What I didn’t expect was an answer that we can all learn so much from.

“I would say, perseverance and problem solving. Definitely. Yeah.”

My librarian heart grew three sizes.

This is, of course, the “right” answer. It’s the one we hope for, and the one that here, at the Robot Test Kitchen, we believe in sincerely. But it’s not the answer we often hear the young people we work with repeat. We hear about the fun they had finding the vintage games. We hear about their new sills in Linux. And though we might see them persevering and problem solving, those aren’t the skills they can usually pull out as evidence of their learning. What made the difference here that allowed this teen to make and then verbalize that connection so unwaveringly? I think there are several elements at play here.

First, he has ready access to the tools he used. He had them in his home, and he had time to use them.The ability to approach the technology on his own terms, when he’s in the frame of mind to be open to trial and error is key. This is obviously not a possibility for a lot of teens. But an ongoing club setup or open Makerspace time at the library could provide similar access.

Second, he has a great support network at home. Both of his parents are involved in engineering, so he had people to bounce ideas around with, and more likely than not, he had someone to fish him out of the weeds if he got in too deep. Again, not all teens have this, but this is an area where that same club setup and the supportive co-learning environment of Makerspaces fills that need.

Third, he had open ended time and opportunity. There was no assignment and there was no deadline. Assignments and deadlines certainly have their place, but for this teen, the blank slate of opportunity allowed him to be creative, think about what he wanted and needed from the tech, play, revise, start over, settle in to the detailed work required, and finally triumph with a project that was meaningful.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately on the benefits of summer reading program for teens whose reading skills are more established and don’t slide over the summer like those still developing reading abilities. What I’ve learned is that more than minutes spent or pages read, the most significant impact for teens in developing a love of reading, or increasing the perceived value of reading, is engagement. It’s seeing that adults care that they are reading, want to hear about what they think of the books they find, and encourage and champion them to read more.

I believe that technology literacy is largely the same. If we can encourage engagement with the technology by providing time, access, and support, the minutes spent on tech and the lines of code created will likely increase. But more than those quantifiable results, the teens will want to come back to it because they will be developing those Assets that have proven to lead more teens into successful adulthood.  It’s not about the tech. It’s not about the library. It’s about the people.

*I’d like to point out here that the total cost of the prizes he won this year is far less than many of the big draw prizes that some libraries offer. Another prize option, the gift card to the local book store, had a higher dollar amount. Sometimes -maybe most of the time- the biggest splash doesn’t come from the most expensive, shiniest tech.

In a previous post, I shared about the solvency experiments and shaving cream notecards activity.  That was week one.

Week two was our mad science week.  We made liquid nitrogen ice cream.  Safety was the biggest concern; no one wanted to see frozen eyeballs. Anyone involved in this program had to wear goggles (provided by the high school). At first they (a second high school science teacher came for this program — that was good, liquid nitrogen is not to be taken lightly) talked about the properties of liquid nitrogen.  I noticed that it looked like it was boiling.  It was — the boiling point is -195C.  These sort of things blow my mind.  How can something be so cold and be boiling?  They showed what happens to a balloon that gets doused with liquid nitrogen (the oxygen freezes and the balloon wrinkles).  Then it was time to make ice cream.

We made the solution and using pipettes, each child (with adult supervision) dropped pellets into the liquid nitrogen.  After waiting 10 minutes, they could enjoy their frozen treat.

Week three was slightly more complicated. We worked on bouyancy.  It’s a hard concept and younger kids really needed help figuring things out.  We used a kit consisting of pipettes and nuts.  Library staff drank a lot of water to save bottles for this project.  The bottles were filled with water.  Each student filled their pipette with water half way then closed them up with a nut.  Then the pipette is closed in the water bottle and then you squeeze.  Squeeze it, and the pipette (the diver) sinks. Let go and it rises.

https://vine.co/v/er6r1UjxMeZ/embed/postcard

Week four brought us Hovercrafts.  Library staff contributed a lot of water bottles (I think we had over 30 of them).  We asked Tech Services for any used CDs.  Other supplies included 12″ balloons and electric tape.  Our high school volunteer did the hard work and hot glued the CDs on to the drilled bottle caps. She also cut the bottles in half and taped the edges to prevent balloons from popping. Initially we had the label side down.  This was a fail.  The print on the CD didn’t allow the disc to fly across the floor.

So, we got the glue gun out and re-glued the CDs to shiny side down.  Still the hovercrafts weren’t hovering.  This is where collaboration came in.  It was so great to see kids and adults in action. Someone suggesting rubbing the CD to create friction.  We tried it.  Nothing.  Then I scooted the CD just a wee bit. That’s what the hovercraft  needed. (An equal and opposite reaction!)

https://vine.co/v/egzvrPeI2hW/embed/postcard

This week was our fifth and final week. They did a series of demonstrations on gas.  His explanation was so simple, preschoolers were understanding it.

They dipped a candle in a clear cut off bottle.  The bottle was filled with oxygen and the candle stayed lit.  They filled another bottle with baking soda and vinegar, creating carbon monoxide.  They dipped the candle in and almost immediately, the candle went out.  Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and will distinguish the flame.  Then, she poured the carbon dioxide into the empty bottle and dipped in the candle.  We couldn’t see the evidence of the gas transferring  until the candle went out.  Fascinating.

Using dry ice, the gas extinguished the flame.  One young girl (maybe age 5 said, “I can’t believe that’s real.”

https://vine.co/v/eXpuUjiJarV/embed/postcard

More dry ice fun: They added dish soap to water and dry ice, creating a perpetual bubble machine. Add some PVC piping and the bubbles just keep coming.

Adding dry ice to plastic cups withe round lids on them (like 7-11 lids, with big openings…) and you have smoke ring machines.

Lastly, a hot air balloon made with tissue paper. They talked about heating air (using an industrial heat gun). The song at the end of the clip was pretty spontaneous.

https://vine.co/v/eXpULmPMrI0/embed/postcard

This has been such a great program and collaboration. S, the senior in high school who is heading the STEM Squad, will be continuing science programming once a month on Saturday mornings. I can’t wait to see what they come up with!

Last year the local high school science teacher contacted us and asked if we could somehow collaborate with them and present science to kids.  We were thrilled. I’m a generalist, not a specialist; and as we’ve discussed before, science isn’t my thing. He recruited students to volunteer and the STEM Squad was born.  Kids teaching kids.  It’s a really great thing!

Today we had our first program.  The theme was solvency and the activity was shaving cream tie-dyed cards.  Less tie-dye and more marbling…but fun nonetheless.  Like every drop-in program, we had no idea how many kids would actually show up. The leftover index card count was 7, which meant 93 cards were made.

Activity 1:Shaving cream cards

List of Materials needed:
3×5 index cards
shaving cream (we used six cans)
food coloring  (six boxes)
popsicle sticks
foil pans (we had eight)
garbage cans
tarp to protect the table
paper towels

Place a small amount of shaving cream in the foil pans.  Add drops of food coloring.  With the popsicle sticks, marble the food coloring in to the shaving cream.  It’s best to leave some white — too much mixing will create colored shaving cream and not give you the pretty marbling you’re looking for.  Place the index card onto your shaving cream.  Give it a good press and remove.  Scrap the remaining shaving cream off with the popsicle stick and blot it dry.

I think they’re really pretty.

Activity 2: Color Separation
This was neat.

List of Materials Needed:
Petri dishes (or small shallow dishes)
water
Skittles and/or M&Ms

1. Putting four different pieces of candy  (don’t mix the candies, pick one brand per dish) add a small amount of water — enough to cover the candies.

2. Wait.

You can see it best in this picture.The color is removed from the Skittle and separates into the water.  I think it’s fascinating that the colors don’t bleed together.  (At least until dish is upset, then all bets are off.)  In the second dish, the colors are completely gone and the whitish part is the sugar dissolving.

We did one more experiment using M&Ms. The colors separated much like the Skittles, but the candy coating didn’t dissolve during the time we had our program.  The little rice paper Ms were left on, which was fun to see.

What’s up in the STEM Room for the rest of the month? Lots of mad science: liquid nitrogen, dry ice, and more.  We’re excited to work with the local high school science teachers. It’s such an amazing opportunity for our department and patrons!