MaKEY MaKEY Mixcraft - Last Day!

Today was the last day of MaKEY MaKEY Mixcraft!  Let the music speak for itself!

MaKEY MaKEY Mixcraft - Day 3

By now, we've got the mechanics down so it's time to buckle down and make some music!

Magnus was a newcomer today, but he picked up the MaKEY MaKEY very quickly and the whole class put on their headphones and got into it!

MaKEY MaKEY Day 2

Today was the second day of Makey Makey Mixcraft. The students understand how to use their MaKEY MaKEY kits and so today was all about getting acquainted with Mixcraft and seeing all of the cool things that it can do. We are basically creating virtual instrument tracks and then playing them with the inputs from the kits. Its all MIDI so we can rearrange things and tweak them after the fact.

 So far so good!

MaKEY MaKEY Mixcraft

Today was our first day of MaKEY MaKEY Mixcraft!

We've done this program in the past, and it was a lot of fun, but this time we'll be taking it to the next level, by directly integrating our MaKEY MaKEY kits into the Acoustica Mixcraft software in order to play virtual instruments!

The result is that we can use "touchpads" made out of tin foil that we tape to our desk to play virtual midi instruments on!

Hour of Code

Today was our monthly Hour of Code!  Unfortunately, summer is in full-effect so we only had two students show up, but they learned a lot.

Our Hour of Code classes are a bit of a different animal.  Rather than teach the students from lesson plans, we set them loose on their own according to their skill level.  It's a chill atmosphere where we listen to music and help each other learn.

We've got an Hour of Code scheduled every month, so join the club, come hang out and learn something!

Robotics - Last Day!

Well, in a lot of respects, the last day of our robotics class was a lot like our first.  We just didn't get much done.

Progress was very slow as we attempted to figure out these Finchbots, but we managed to do a lot of cool things like make the robots lights change color in pre-programmed ways and run routes that we designed to get around obstacles.

I feel like we're just beginning to scratch the surface and here it is time to move on to the next project.

We will definitely be revisiting the Finch bots and trying again soon!

Robotics Day 3 - Birdbrains working on Birdbrain

Today was the return of the Finch Robot! With some creative thinking, we got them working. We did some basic programming like programming the Finch to move in any direction and getting the Finch's nose to light up. We are hoping to do more with this on the last day now that we have everything figured out. The possibilities are endless!

(Not so much) Robotics - Day 2

Today, we had some technical difficulties and all computers were down in our room! With some quick thinking, we planned a last minute class of some good old soldering. We tried to make a Light-Following Spider robot. The kids seemed to really enjoy the class and have demanded an encore of this soldering class since we could not finish the spider. Hopefully, everything is fixed for the next class and we can get back to the FinchBot!

Robotics - Day 1

What is the Finch Robot? That's what today's class is all about.  We've never seen these robots before, and we don't know how they work.  Together we're going to figure out what makes them tick and how to make them go.

TinkerCAD - Last Day

Today is the last day of TinkerCAD class for the summer.  Our students have been working on their designs for the last 3 classes and today is the day to put the finishing touches on their objects and get them ready to be sent to our Makerbot Replicator to be printed into real objects.

We will update the blog soon with pictures of how each object turned out.  Remember not all 3D designs are "printer friendly".  Will all of the objects turn out as intended or will we see some disasters hit the build plate?  Stay tuned to find out!

TinkerCAD - Day 3

Today was the 3rd day of TinkerCAD.  At this point the students are TinkerCAD pros, so class was very quiet as they set about their work.  Thursday will be the last day, so it's coming down to the wire for them to finish their masterpieces in time to have them 3D printed on our Makerbot Replicator at the end of the session.

TinkerCAD - Day 2

Today was our second day of TinkerCAD.  We learned the basics of how TinkerCAD works in our first class on Tuesday and now it's time for the students to be set loose and show us what they can do!

Half the battle was just figuring out what to design!  We've got 2 more days to figure it out and fine tune our designs!

TinkerCad - Day 1

Today was the first day of PNG's 4-part Tinkercad class.  We got started running everyone through the basic tutorials of how to use Tinkercad and getting them all familiar with the interface and how 3D design works.

In the next class each student will figure out what object they want to design in 3D and then spend the remaining classes making it as awesome as possible!

I can't wait to see what they do!

BristleBots!

Today we assembled BristleBots!  Bristlebots are cool like "robots" that work using a simple battery and motor to skate around a flat surface on their own!

Thanks again to our friends over at EvilMadScientist.com for the instructions and inspiration!

Hour of Code

Today we did our (now monthly) Hour of Code.  We had a great turnout with almost a full house which is awesome because we are going to try to turn this monthly Hour of Code activity into something more!  This is a good place to start to get kids interested in coding and also working together to share their knowledge of coding.

Right off the bat we've got kids who have never coded and others who are pretty well-versed, so we want to get them working together and create a fun atmosphere where they can look forward to getting further into coding!

Coming up soon we'll have some robotics classes that will build on what we are learning here!

For today's activity, though, we started at the beginning with Code.org's Hour of Code activities.  These simple "games" involving Angry Birds and Plants Vs. Zombies characters are not only fun, but they also teach the basics of how to code using a visual block style.

Photoshop - Day 2

Today was our second and final day of Photoshop!  The kids picked it up super fast and made some pretty excellent!

We learned how to take a photo, import the photo onto the computer, then bring the photos into Photoshop.  In Photoshop, we learned how to remove, isolate, scale and copy elements into a composite photograph.


Check out the results!

Photoshop and Photography - Day 1

Today was our first day of Photoshop and Photography for Summer 2015!

We had a lot of fun today learning how to use old digital cameras and taking silly photos.  Then we kicked it up a level and used Adobe Photoshop Elements to edit the photos and do all kinds of crazy things to them!

PNG Summer 2015 Announcement

Photoshop &Photography: June 2, 4, 2pm-3pm

Let's use cameras to take digital photos and then edit those photos in Photoshop!  We'll teach you the basics of how to compose a photograph and how to use Photoshop to edit your subject into all kinds of crazy backgrounds and special effects!

PNG Hour of Code: June 9 2pm - 3pm

Not only is coding massively important to the fabric of your digital world, coding can also be pretty fun!  Sign up for this quick introduction to activities on Code.org and play fun games while learning the fundamentals of basic coding! 

PNG Bristlebots: June 11 2pm - 3pm

What happens when you combine a toothbrush, a tiny motor and an electric current?  Bristle Bots!  Sign up to construct your very own Bristle Bot and then race them against your classmates! 

PNG TinkerCAD: June 23, 25, 30, July 2 2pm-3pm

Let's use the computer to create 3D models and then print them out on the Makerbot Replicator!  This 4-part class will teach you the basics of 3D design and how to use Tinkercad.com to create 3D objects that can be printed on any 3D printer!

PNG Robotics: July 7, 9, 14, 16 2pm - 3pm

The Finch is a new robot for computer science education. Its design is the result of a four year study at Carnegie Mellon's CREATE lab.  We're going to hook them up, figure them out and program them to do our bidding!

PNG Hour of Code: July 21 2pm - 3pm

Not only is coding massively important to the fabric of your digital world, coding can also be pretty fun!  Sign up for this quick introduction to activities on Code.org and play fun games while learning the fundamentals of basic coding! 

MaKEY MaKEYMixcraft: Tuesdays & Thursdays, July 28th, 30th August 4th, 6th 2pm -3pm

Let's use Makey Makey sensors to create our own beat machine out of stuff we have lying around and then build a song around our creations!

PNG Reality TV August 11, 13, 18 20 2pm - 3pm

We're going to film our own episode of Iron Chef right here at the Elmwood Park Public Library!  Learn how to use cameras, tripods, microphones and Adobe Premiere Elements to edit together a riveting episode of reality TV!

PNG Hour of Code: August 25 4pm - 5pm

Not only is coding massively important to the fabric of your digital world, coding can also be pretty fun!  Sign up for this quick introduction to activities on Code.org and play fun games while learning the fundamentals of basic coding! 

Superheroes Day 2

Phase two of our superheroes class involved using our heroes from the last lesson to create a silhouette on the Silhouette Cameo. The students worked with the Silhouette program and played and toggled with the controls that dictate negative and positive space to come up with their own unique superhero silhouette.

Superheroes Day 1

 With all the superhero movies coming out this summer today's class revolved around creating our very own take of a superhero. We used three different types of comic creating websites and chose which one worked best for each person. The first step of this two day class will be to create our own superhero and then at our next class we will use this superhero to create a vinyl silhouette out of.