“Engineering stimulates the mind.  Kids get bored easily. They have to get out and get their hands dirty; make things, dismantle things, fix things.  When you offer that, you’ll have an engineer for life.”  

-Bruce Dickinson

At the Science Mill’s Homeschool Day on February 12, use your engineering skills to take wild ideas from design to reality: A roller coaster for marbles! A maze for robots! Catapults that play catch! Challenge yourself to build crazy contraptions from unusual materials, including a sky-high tower from bamboo skewers.

Guest Speaker: Angelica Dillender, Engineer Associate, LCRA
Presentation Times: 11am, 12pm

Hands-on Activities
Stations run continuously from 10am-2pm

Crazy Contraptions

Explore the forces of gravity and friction while creating a contraption that will get a marble from the top of your pegboard to the bottom -- the crazier and longer the ride, the better!

Bamboo Towers

Using only bamboo sticks and clay, engineer a bamboo tower that will stand tall on its own. How high can your tower go? 

Hexbug Mazes

Build a maze for a robotic bug! Choose your building material (foam blocks or MagnaTiles), plan your path, add in a tunnel (cardboard tube) and see if your Hexbug can make it through.

Learning Labs

Kinder-2nd Grade - Parachute Launch, 10:30am, lasts 45 minutes

Be an engineer and build a parachute! Then test your design at the Science Mill launch pad. Can your parachute safely deliver your LEGO person to the landing target?

3rd-5th Grade - Roller Coaster Ride, 11:30am, lasts 60 minutes

Work as an engineering team to build a roller coaster with at least one loop and one jump. See if your marble “rider” can successfully maneuver all the twists and turns to reach the end.

6th-12th Grade - Catapult Catch, 1pm, lasts 60 minutes

Engineer a crazy game of catch: Work together to build a catapult that will launch an aluminum ball -- then design and create a second device that can catch it!