The summer reading club started last week on July 10! During Week 1, our theme was Robots and Inventions. Here are the activities we tried in the 7-8 and 9-12 reading clubs.
Activity:
Mad Libs – Create your own story by filling in the blanks.
Activity:
Scrambled Robot Brain – Each person holds 2 different people’s hands. The goal
is to untangle the wires in the robot’s brain. Arrange everyone in a circle, standing
shoulder to shoulder. Tell everyone to put their right hand up in the air, and
then grab the hand of someone across the circle from them. Everyone then puts
their left hand up in the air and grabs the hand of a different person. Check to make sure that everyone is
holding the hands of two different people and that they are not holding hands
with someone directly next to them. Tell group members to untangle themselves
to make a circle without breaking the chain of hands. If group members break the chain they
need to start over.
Game:
Electricity Game - Two teams join hands and close eyes. Leader tosses coin.
When heads are up, the first people in each line are signaled to squeeze their
partner’s hands. The squeezing travels down the line. Last person reaches for
object at end.
Activity:
Fax – Give everyone a booklet of small papers (the same amount of pages as
there are people). Decide on a topic (ex. Phrases, movies, songs, TV shows,
books). Each person is to write an example of the topic on
the cover of the booklet. Next, each
person passes their booklet to the person to their right. Each person
will read the phrase on the cover of their new booklet, flip the cover page,
and draw a picture of their interpretation on the right side of the booklet. Then
each person passes their booklet to the person to their right, with their
picture open and visible. Next, the person will look only
at the picture that the person to their left has drawn. In their new booklet,
tell them to flip the page, and draw a short phrase that interprets the picture
(on the right side of the booklet). Continue this pattern of drawing pictures
and writing phrases until each person receives their own booklet back. Then,
have each person go through their own booklets and showcase each page in front
of the group.
Activity:
Build a Bridge – Each group receives a building kit (2 paperclips, 6 popsicle
sticks, sticky tack, string, tape, etc.) Each group has 30 minutes to build a
bridge to span across a bowl of water. Each group has to demonstrate
their bridge. You then test it for strength by adding pebbles/pennies one
at a time, until the bridge collapses. The team with the strongest bridge
wins!
Craft:
Marshmallow Robot – Create a robot using marshmallows and toothpicks. Decorate
it with icing and small candies.
