Build a remarkable drawing machine from 1913 adapted by Senior Apprentice Angus Macmullen and Educator Josh Revkin. Since their first adaptation, it's been revised three more times. We will teach you some ways to program it. Then you will go on to invent your own programs. The possibilities are infinite. Add color and shadows.
A basic vocabulary of movements controls every mechanical device. Leonardo daVinci identified and drew the most important of these. Learn one of three classic arrangements to control the direction, speed and shape of movement. Invent an artful application for your device. Then, connect yours to someone else's machine and let them work together with a set or series of pulleys to combine movement and meaning.
Construct a robot. Hear the logic of Leonardo's mind at work as he invents the first modern robot, an automatic drum machine whose rhythms can be reprogrammed flexibly and whose tempos adjust automatically.
A battery's current flows in one direction. Clever arrangement of switches can reverse that direction. Construct a controller with a battery, motor and ultralight buggy which can go forward or backward. Learn wiring logic, precision, and trouble shooting.
Marbles have amused and educated children’s hands for thousands of years. These spheres of stone, clay and glass invite play and experiment. Leonardo, Galileo, Newton and Ada Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace, used marbles to explain how the world works.
A popular project that teaches game design (beginnings, middles and ends), logic (rewards for difficulty), marble movement (caroms, momentum) and creative design (good games must still attract players.) A rare exploration of the work of play.
The X-wing was a prominent series of multiple starfighters produced by Incom with a characteristic "X"-shape of four wings, known as S-foils, extending out from the fuselage. These star fighters were found in the service of the Rebel Alliance, New Republic, and also the Whitney Workshop.
Create your own world of Minecraft in three dimensions with our building blocks and glue. Make a character you choose (Steve? Creeper? Enderman?) to keep you company you when you're playing online.
Common Sense Media rates Minecraft as a game for 8 years old and up.
All creatures live in a web of resources that support or suppress their growth. Create a dynamic model of an insect’s or bird’s world. Suspend a magnetized creature on a pendulum. Add food and shelter (with magnets) that attract the creature and predators and hazards that repel it. The creature navigates a complex and fascinating path.
Immigrants brought to America traditions of crafting simple playthings out of common materials. These toys develop dexterity and inventiveness. Two toys from the catalog of classics. Understand Force and Motion or connect to Colonial curriculum or the geography of play. Yesterday's toys for today's kids – and they still evoke wonder. Nothing and everything is new.
The Circus explores the art and science of balance, forces, center or gravity and performance. Conceived with a nod to artist /engineer Sandy Calder, each circus tests classic experiments at work.
Explore the ancient and challenging mechanics of catapults. Rubber bands power this model. Safe for people and places when used with the ping pong ball provided. Make Happy Birds and fling them with accuracy.
Fifty years ago, a remarkable epic began. The Starship Enterprise and her crew began to explore Space…the Final Frontier. Unlike many explorers, her mission sought neither conquest nor treasure. Her crew sought out unknown civilizations across the galaxy. A Prime Directive promised that no starship would interfere with the development of any civilization it encountered. The challenge and wisdom of that law shaped the Enterprise's many adventures and accounts for her ongoing respect and fame. Construct and captain a model Enterprise Class starship.
