Do you have a kid who loves to tinker, who loves to get into the junk drawer or tool box and create, and who loves robots? Raise you hand if you do because I have one too and this is one fabulous kid led invitation to build a robot with a pumpkin base. We are all about fall and pumpkin STEM activities now and this is our latest creative endeavor, a pumpkin robot tinkering project.

INVITATION TO BUILD WITH A PUMPKIN ROBOT TINKERING PROJECT

Some day, my son hopes to make a robot that will really move but I told him this is a great way to start, by building a prototype. Great new vocabulary word too for my young engineer. This pumpkin robot tinkering project was completely open ended, I just left the supplies on the table. He went to town and came up with an elaborate plan for a solar powered pumpkin with a jet booster.

SUPPLIES

Small Pumpkin

Tinkering Materials: I have pre-filled a nail and screw case from the hardware store with all sorts of goodies including a few repurposed parts from our computer take apart STEM project last winter.

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Scissors

PLAN | DESIGN | BUILD

This was an excellent opportunity to let him create his own project without any adult led instructions. I did help when requested by cutting the electrical tape. He did want to find a way to make his robot go, so he dug out his LEGO rubber band car from an earlier project we had done with superheroes. You can see it in action in the bottom right picture.

He loved adding the computer parts to make “solar panels”. Consequently attaching a long, rectangular, and stiff piece of metal to a very round pumpkin proved useful for practicing his problem solving skills. You read about 10 VALUABLE LIFE LESSONS KIDS LEARN FROM STEM!

He tested his pumpkin robot by taking it out into a patch of sun and hypothesizing what might happen. Several times, he determined that he needed to complete a circuit or add a switch and headed back inside for another go of it.

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I thoroughly enjoyed watching the afternoon unfold with this pumpkin robot tinkering project I left out for him. He had some fascinating ideas about what was happening and he was really testing out his observational skills and his critical thinking skills. This is a must try for a robot loving kid!