Up for a Challenge Announcement
After I posted our last challenge, I got to thinking. I have tried to simplify things by combining my challenges and the solutions into one post. Then I took off the McLinky widget, to make things more simple. But the fact remains that participation has dwindled over the last couple months and while I think it is a great idea and plan to continue, it is not beneficial for me to post our challenges anymore. The instant challenges take us less than 5 minutes to complete, but it takes much longer to photograph or video tape, upload to youtube, copy the challenges to Pages, convert to a PDF, upload to Scribd, and then post it. And since no one else is participating, I don’t need to do all that for us! My boys are being challenged to think creatively, and it is the process, not the end result, that is important to me!
P.S. I will not be posting any new challenges, but you are still welcome to participate in any past challenges. =)
Instant Challenge #10 ~ Sounds Mechanical
If you are new to Up for a Challenge, I invite you to read my introductory page to learn more about it. Then come back and join us for a weekly challenge at Delightful Learning!
Challenge: Present a PERFORMANCE in which your team is a mechanical device.
For the purposes of this challenge, a “mechanical device” is a machine with different parts that work together to do a task.
Time: You will have up to 3 minutes to use your IMAGINATION to plan your PERFORMANCE. You then will have up to 1 minute to present your PERFORMANCE.
The Scene: Your team is a mechanical device. What task do you carry out?
Part One (3 minutes): Create a PERFORMANCE where your team is a mechanical device. You will be given two copies of a sheet on which to write the task your mechanical device does. Write this task on both copies of the sheet. You may not talk to other team members during Part One. Give one copy of the sheet to the appraisers (parent) at the end of part one.
Part Two (1 minute): Present your PERFORMANCE to the appraisers. You may not talk to other team members during Part Two. Each team member should make a repeated sound and do a repeated action that helps to do the task of the mechanical device.
Jordan is warming up by making plopping sounds.
Materials:
You will be given two copies of the sheet on which to write the task that your mechanical device does in Part One. All props should be imaginary. A piece of paper and a pencil will be available for your team to use as you plan and present your PERFORMANCE.
Scoring: You will receive:
- 10 points if each team member makes a repeated sound and does a repeated action.
- Up to 20 points for the creativity of the repeated sounds.
- Up to 20 points for the creativity of the repeated actions.
- Up to 10 points for the creativity of the task.
- Up to 20 points for the creativity of how the mechanical device does the task.
- Up to 20 points for how well your team works together
(Click the link above to download a PDF document of this week’s challenge).
I thought this one was hard since they could not talk to each other! I had to remind them not to talk quite a few times. I helped them by suggesting that one boy start a movement and make a sound. Then I encouraged each of the other boys to join in. Then they took off from there.
Their final “mechanical device” generates energy. (I thought that was very creative!) Their performance is pretty silly!
I love how their device went full circle. They remind me of the Three Stooges {ha ha} It cracked me up that Dylan was flinching before he was smacked. I think they could have been more creative with their sounds, but each had a different task and all worked together.
If you would like to participate in this weeks challenge, just leave a link to your challenge in the comments. =)
Creative Drive ~ Instant Challenge #9
If you are new to Up for a Challenge, I invite you to read my introductory page to learn more about it. Then come back and join us for a weekly challenge at Delightful Learning!
Challenge: Your TASK is to create a gravity-powered transportation device that can carry pennies across the floor.
Materials:
- 3 Ping Pong Balls
- 2 Index Cards
- 4 Mailing Labels
- 1 Paper Cup
- 1 Piece of Foil
- 1 Rubber Band
- 1 Piece of Newspaper
- 5 Thumbtacks
- 2 Pipe Cleaners
- 1 Plastic Bag
- 4 Paper Clips
- 12 Dried Noodles
- The ramp may NOT be damaged or altered in any way
Time: You will have up to 5 minutes to use your IMAGINATION to create your transportation device. Your team will then have up to 1 minute to demonstrate your gravity-powered transportation device.
Set Up: On the floor of one side of the room is a ramp. You may use the materials to build your gravity-powered transportation device.
The challenge was a flop in the sense that the boys did not make the device travel across the floor (we even tried two styles of ramps) thus, it was not able to carry pennies, either. However, I think this was one of the best efforts of team work I have seen with my three oldest boys (they had an audience of 6 visitors {who just happened to be over}, so that may have been why).
I will post a new challenge next week. From now on, I will post the solution with our challenge (to simplify things a little bit more). :-)
Instant Challenge #9 ~ Creative Drive
If you are new to Up for a Challenge, I invite you to read my introductory page to learn more about it. Then come back and join us for a weekly challenge at Delightful Learning!
Instead of waiting to post the linky with our solution, I will post the linky with the challenge from now on. Then I will link up our solution when we complete the challenge. If you link up, will you please leave me a comment letting me know you did, so I can come check it out?
This week’s challenge is a TASK based challenge. That means your children will be building something ~ in this case a gravity powered transportation device that can carry pennies across the floor. They are given a ramp to launch their device (hence the gravity part). The ramp can be anything you think of that will work.
So, are you up for a challenge?
