I love these electronics workshops! This is the second time we’ve had one to replace Code Club over a half term and the kids just love them. They usually have an understanding of how the various pieces of kit work and can’t wait to get hands-on while the parents love it and generally have no idea how the things work!
Today the kids were able to learn how to play a tune on bananas (!), race cars round a race track on the floor controlling them with iPads, 3-D print rings to take away (4 minutes printing time) and, the one that produced most squeals from the boys as well as the girls, experiencing Virtual Reality. They could choose between swimming with dolphins, being in a shark cage, a roller coaster ride and several others but they were the most popular. I also saw a Raspberry pi and one attendee playing Tetris with a post-it note instead of a smart phone.
We were lucky enough to have a DigiLab session at four of our libraries over half term so around 45 – 50 kids would have benefitted from them and I was also able to drum up some more joiners for our regular Code Club.
If these sessions do nothing more than enthuse the kids and stimulate their curiosity then I’m satisfied it’s a job well done. I hope they’ll have learned and experienced new things that will sow a seed for later in life, whether that’s in their secondary school or beyond.
Keep your eyes open for the next half term electronics workshop in our next events brochure, our website, mobile app, Twitter and Facebook – there’s no excuse for missing it!
Steph Webb
rbkc libraries blog 