No Magic Hands This Week!

The term “Magic Hands” refers to the use of human intervention in order to make the Kinetic Sculpture work completely. With such a tight deadline and such awesome and often lofty goals most projects in our Imagination and Innovation camps require the use of magic hands. This is really quite alright however most of the kids are little disappointed whenever the see that their project had a flaw.

The kids this week seemed to be challenged a bit by building all their pieces to work as one project. Most of the groups didn’t even get to testing until the final day so I was worried that their projects might rely a lot on the use of magic hands. However, when we started up on Friday the kids were insanely productive. It was awesome to work with them and see them build and put together their projects so fast.

In the group that I most closely helped with the kids were able to assemble all their components into a a massive 15 foot long kinetic sculpture. The machine included a Plinko-like ramp with marbles that rang on glass jars, fans that blow down golf balls, dragon animations (a recurring theme among the boys), and of course a nice array of dominoes.

When it came down to presentation time all the groups projects went off the first time without the use of any magic hands! It was a first for the camps this summer and the kids were definitely proud and happy with the outcome. It was really gratifying to be able to be a part of it and I’m proud of the kids from Warrensvile Heights!