A Fun Change of Plans: How to Build a Robot

I talk a lot about my plans “mushrooming” but sometimes the opposite happens. On occasion I’ll have an idea that never really takes shape. This happened with my idea for Anderson’s seventh birthday party. Anderson has wanted to build a jet pack since he was six years old. So my plan for this party was to set up a table where the boys at the party put together jet packs and saved the world from impending doom. There would also be a trampoline for some cool action shots.

This idea was inspired by a scene from the movie Apollo 13. After the famous “Houston, we have a problem” line, the carbon dioxide levels in the shuttle began climbing and the current filter stopped working properly. So a team of scientists were given the job of figuring out how to fix the filter using only the parts available to the astronauts on board. One scientist walked into the room, dumped a box of everything the astronauts had access to, and the team figured out how to make it work. I love that scene!

So a few months before Anderson’s birthday I began collecting anything that looked like it could fit on a jet pack. Containers, detergent boxes, cereal boxes, cardboard tubes, and lids filled my laundry room. Then, somewhere along the way, Anderson and I switched gears to a Star Wars birthday party. Before I threw away the collection of jet pack ingredients, Vacation Bible School planning began. The theme centered around a Science Lab, and I volunteered to do the experiments. As we built the lab, I decided we needed a robot. We pulled out the jet pack ingredients and used them to create a spunky little robot.

We used:

2 ice cream tubs

4 large coffee cans

1 mid-sized box for the body

1 Baking cocoa container for the neck

1 box for the head

2 smaller cylinders (for the hands)

Strings of Christmas lights

Our robot really came to life after we added the paint and lights. We cut a hole in the front large enough to hold the aluminum pan that became our message board. Stephen drilled holes in the pan and pulled a bulb from a string of Christmas lights through each hole. He made the eyes and mouth the same way. The boxes held the remainder of the string of lights out of sight. The finishing touches to our robot included pipe cleaners and Styrofoam pieces. We used half circle shapes for ears, shoulders and an antenna on his head.

The jet pack party is an idea whose time has not yet come. But it has been marinating in my mind for almost 6 years now, and when it happens, it is going to be phenomenal. In fact, now I may combine scenes from Apollo 13 and Gravity. (Mushrooming alert!) But building our robot was a fun detour. He lived with our family until the effects of three precious and rambunctious children completely overwhelmed him. If this inspires you to build a robot of your own, I’d love to see pictures!

Erin

Write a Story With Your Child

At one point in this parenting adventure, I had three little ones 3 years old and under. So there were many days of blocks and trucks and dolls and tummy time all happening simultaneously. I built towers of blocks so that Anderson could have the joy of knocking them down. Again and again. Although other mothers assured me that the kids would get older, I have to admit that there were days when I did not believe them. The “little years” can be a grand mixture of overwhelming monotony and amazing milestones.

In the midst of those days when I was sure that I would always be changing diapers and wiping carrots out of someone’s hair, I would ask Anderson questions just to hear his answers.

“If this turtle could fly would he have rotor blades like a helicopter or wings like a bird?”

“If we were small enough to fit into your toy trucks, what would we do?”

He was young enough to actually answer these crazy questions and his answers gave me a glimpse into his imagination. During one of his cowboy phases, around age 5, we wrote a story named Buck the Cowboy. I was just going for a beginning, middle and end, but Anderson threw in the conflict and resolution on his own and made it a complete story. It was such a fun project that I wanted to share it with you.

To write a story with your child:

1. Start with a subject your child enjoys. Anderson started the ball rolling by drawing a picture of a cowboy. I asked questions about the picture and wrote his answers. Choosing a time when your child is in the right frame of mind is also important. Keep a notebook nearby to jot down their answers. Buck the Cowboy wore a big cowboy hat. He was tall. He wore brown cowboy boots. He had a horse named Brownie. Buck loved to ride and throw ropes and sing and do things all by himself.

2. Ask questions. Even if the conversation sounds like the latest episode of your child’s favorite television show, ask questions to get your story-teller going. The action part of our story evolved when I asked “What did Buck do? “What happened next?” One day he went to the store to buy cowboy ropes. And it was a good thing he did. Later that day, Buck the Cowboy was riding on his horse and Brownie was going too fast. Brownie tried to stop but he could not. So Buck threw out his rope and it landed on a cactus. They slid past the cactus. Soon they stopped. “Whew!” Buck said. “That was close!”

3. Include your child’s personality in the story. If there is a phrase he likes to say, or if she has a favorite color or song, include this in your story. The last sentence of our story was classic Anderson and he loved hearing his words in the story. Later I wrote a story for Maggie about a princess who loved to climb and swing on things. She loved it.

4. Put the pictures and words together. I took pictures of Anderson’s drawings and pasted them into a Word document. Then I typed the words under the pictures. It only took three pages including the cover of our book, but he was so proud of it.

My little cowboy turned 10 this week. These days his stories are filled with spaceships and alien attacks. I still love it when he illustrates his stories, because I get a glimpse of what is going on in his imagination. Grab these moments when you can ask the crazy questions and get answers not bound by reality. Our little storytellers will grow, as will their stories, and we have the perfect view to watch each chapter unfold.

Erin