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Workshop Schedule and Registration

 

Big Learning Workshops for Scouts, Kids' Clubs, Enrichment, and After-school Programs

Our stimulating hands-on workshops rev up curiosity and teach practical and academic skills. We can customize workshops to meet badge or patch requirements or support your academic program goals.

Have Big Learning visit your program for a special meeting or session. Or, get a discount when you buy a weekly or monthly series.

Want to host a family day? We also offer workshops tailor-made for parents and kids together. See our listing of Family FUN workshops.

Listed below are programs we offer for kids in grades k-6. Each can be offered as a full series or in part as a ninety-minute workshop. Our rates are affordable and vary depending on group size, age level, and cost of materials, so contact us for details or a free brochure.

Call for more information (301)560-1633 or e-mail workshops@biglearning.org.

 
Toymaking (10-session series)

Our young toymakers don’t just learn science – they take command of it to make their toys work. Each week students learn new techniques for building bright, sophisticated moving toys from wood, wire, cloth, and found objects.  They learn to make classic mechanisms from scratch – including wheel and axle assemblies, cranks, and springs. Every task engages children’s creative energy. Every child’s project is unique.

Every session engages children's minds with important ideas from math, science, language, art, and social studies to support school learning through concept and knowledge development.

Available as a package including teachers' guide, how-to videos for each project, posters and all student materials.

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Building Big and Small (10-session series)

Kids can release their inner builder in this creative hands-on series. Each child will build toy-size houses they can take home to use for imaginative play. They'll also collaborate with other kids on full-size temporary play structures such as tents and clubhouses - and then play in their structures!

Every experience gives kids a chance to stretch their understanding of what makes structures strong and steady. Our projects also provide natural practice with mathematics of measurement, fractions, and angles, and integrates language development, science, art, and other important subjects.

Every project offers design choices so kids can customize the structure to suit their interests and tastes.

Available as a package including teachers' guide, how-to videos for each project, posters and all student materials.

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Making Toys (single session workshop)

Here's real woodworking that kids can do safely. In this workshop, kids design and build their own wooden toys with moving parts, and learn lots of measurement, geometry, engineering, art, and science while they're at it.

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Making Kites (single session workshop)

In this workshop kids design and build their own kites, and learn about the culture, history, vocabulary, engineering, and geometry of kite making. While they work, they learn measuring, pattern-making, knot-tying, and other useful skills. Plenty of time for creativity too.

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Things that fly (single session workshop)

Kids make two flying toys and learn about wing design, projectile motion, and other fun science.

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Birdfeeder and Beyond (single session workshop)

More than peanut butter in a pinecone! In this workshop, kids design and build a bird feeder, learn to recognize local species, and learn lots of measurement, geometry, engineering, art, and science while they're at it.

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Build a Birdhouse (single session or two-session format)

No woodworking required! Kids build a sturdy little birdhouse from start to finish. Each part of the birdhouse teaches something about the shelter needs of cavity-nesting birds. Kids get to chose a local bird species and custom-build the birdhouse to suit. Along the way, they'll encounter important measurement and geometry mathematics that they are are likely to see again at school.

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Trees (single session workshop)

Kids will learn about trees by building one - or a forest full! Trees are about 5 feet tall, including a "planter." As kids build the trees, they'll get an age-appropriate lesson in tree physiology, species identification, and forest ecosystems.

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Build a Castle (single session workshop)

Kids learn about different types of castles from history, and create their own castles with authentic architectural features.

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Gardening Together

Kids will grow their math, science, and literacy skills along with the carrots. They'll learn about seeds, soil, and even bugs. Fun-filled activity stations will lead kids through a complete introduction to gardening. They'll plant seeds, build soil, and design a garden plot. Along the way they'll encounter math and science naturally - identifying bugs, learning about pH as it applies to soil, measuring seed depth, and using scale drawings to plan a garden. This is an afternoon of Big Learning fun for parents and kids 5-12, plus a summer's worth of garden learning to take home. More about Big Learning Workshops...

Boats! (two-session workshop)

Kids build a wooden model sailboat with working parts. They'll learn sailing science and vocabulary, plus math, woodworking, and craft skills in this fun-filled two-hour workshop.

 

More About Big Learning Workshops for Programs

Big Learning takes advantage of children's natural ability to learn from the real world. Kids love our creative and engaging activities. Parents and educators appreciate the serious academic content.

Each and every one of our activities helps develop children's skills and knowledge in areas including science, math, language, and the arts . Kids come away with practical skills, new knowledge, pride of accomplishment, and love of learning .

Dr. Cole designs the workshops so that when you leave, your kids are ready to keep learning, and you are ready to guide them.

 

 

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