The child/parent teams at CoderDojo Altona North have been working closely with the volunteers on completing their projects in preparation for the Monash Makerfaire. The Monash Makerfaire is scheduled for the 4th of December 2022 from 1000 Hrs AEST to 1600 Hrs AEST. Read more about the Monash Makerfaire 2022 at https://monash.makerfaire.com/. CoderDojo Altona North is participating at the Monash Makerfaire, just like we did in 2019.
Each of our child / parent teams at CoderDojo Altona North have selected a project to work on. Brayden along with his Dad (Brinley Ang) and his sister have been regular attendees at CoderDojo Altona North for the last few years. Brayden started programming with Scratch a few years ago, has played around with the BBC micro:bit but is mostly fascinated with designing games for the Kittenbot board (works with Microsoft Arcade Programming Platform). I’ve been asking Brayden for the last few weeks as to what his plans were for the Makerfaire, his response was that he was going to work on a Scratch project but the ideas were still work in progress.
In class we ask our kids to work on many different types of challenges. This could involve the kids working through – a programming challenge, a robotics challenge, a pure engineering challenge or even an electronics + software challenge. Before our kids dive into solving the challenge we encourage them to think through the approach they are considering, the potential options that they might have, grab one of the volunteers and whiteboard the ones they are considering implementing.
So, after a lot of reminders from his Dad, finally last week Brayden pulls up a chair (he’s too short to be able to write on the whiteboard), starts putting down pseudo code for his program on the whiteboard. He then comes looking for me and asks to present his ideas. So, here’s a picture of Brayden with his ideas, pseudo code on the whiteboard. Thanks to Brinley (Brayden’s Dad) for supporting him on his learning journey and a big thanks to all the volunteers at CoderDojo Altona North without which we wouldn’t be able to run the show.
Some of these projects our kids and parent/child teams are working on include –
- Data Logger for the High Altitude Balloon project using the Raspberry Pi Pico and BME280
- Smart plant watering project with phone based notifications using the Raspberry Pi Pico
- Pop the balloon game for kids built using the mBot robot
- Robot soccer game for kids using the mBot robot
- Scratch & BBC micro:bit games for kids to play and interact with
- Home automation built using the BBC micro:bit and smart home sensors
Our projects are still work in progress and we are expecting to have our projects ready for display at the Makerfaire in Dec.
A lot of our projects are designed to engage and interact with kids and adults, so if you are undecided about the Makerfaire please head over to the Monash Makerfaire website and check out the various makers, creators who will be showing off their work. Drop by to say hi, have a chat with the kids showing off their projects, interact with their creations.
Happy making and creating!!!!