Hello PD+ community!
I’d love to incorporate VEX GO into an amusement park culminating activity for the end of the year! In the Pittsburgh, PA region, our local schools designate a school picnic day at Kennywood. Has anyone done anything similar? I was thinking along the lines of creating roller coasters/rides!
@Tina_Dietrich
@Desiree_White-Price
@Audra_Selkowitz
@Aimee_DeFoe
@LORI_COLANGELO
@Anna_Blake
@AlainaHaws
@Nicole_Champagne
@Jason_McKenna
That sounds like an absolute blast.
I actually did a whole live session on creating a VEX carnival using the various platforms! Here’s the recording if you want to take a look: Turn Your Next Camp into a VEX Carnival! | VEX Professional Development Plus
The main ideas were:
Not exactly amusement park, but hopefully could be a starting place for some other ideas!
Thanks @AlainaHaws! Did you know that Kennywood actually classifies their rides as mild, moderate & intense? Right now, I’m creating a spreadsheet with the lists of attractions and researching links behind the rides! I like the carnival idea too for an end of the year activity!
Oh that’s really interesting. You could probably have students do something too where they recreate elements from rides as well! I was thinking about the Exterminator ride after you first posted this and how students could build a little car to sit on top of a motor and shaft, then code the motor to rotate in each direction somewhat randomly to micmic the back and forth of the ride.
Or you could pull in something like the swings with the rotational movement as well! There’s a lot of fun ideas there.
This does sound like a super fun idea @Danielle_McCoy! You might also be able to do something where you drive the Code Base through some kind of ‘obstacle course’ type situation. I’m picturing building spinning things along the sides of the course that spin when the Code Base goes past, or that flips around when the Code Base touches it, basically interactive elements and mechanisms that students can build, then drive a robot through to trigger them.
You could assign students to make a ride, a game of chance or a food booth! Students could also map out the amusement park on the floor using tape of butcher paper, place the rides and such around the park and the they have to give direction from one ride to another, make brochures on their new park, make a shopping list for prizes and food with a given budget, lots of cross curricular things you can do.
@LORI_COLANGELO, so many fun ideas! Kennywood was always a big deal growing up. I can’t wait to see what the students come up with.
@AlainaHaws @Audra_Selkowitz @LORI_COLANGELO
Here are some of the examples of the Kennywood builds! They turned out so cool! Replicas of the Wave Swinger, Spinvasion and a Roller Coaster!
These are fantastic!! I love how unique and creative these are! What a fun and engaging project to wrap up the school year!
That’s fantastic! I love how this idea grew and the students really ran with the concept.
Yes! I love how VEX enables so many opportunities for students to express their creativity! They are also implementing so many strategies in such an engaging and fun way!
Just a follow up, Kennywood if doing their Fright Nights, so this activity could take a different spin on it if you want to do it now!
Thanks Lori!
