For our second meeting everyone did the marshmallow challenge.  Each group had innovative ideas and different methods of reaching the goal of making the highest possible tower. The marshmallow challenge showed everyone the value in teamwork, some basic engineering, and assumptions…who knew marshmallows were heavy if they are sitting on top of spaghetti?!

A great activity for all ages, and often used in business and team building situations. Why not try one? Here is a TED talk on the marshmallow challenge. After implementing a few of these, I have seen the same issues over and over. Many people build very intricate structures that are sound until the last few minutes when they hoist the marshmallow on top. The ideas that it is indeed ‘heavy’ is a lesson for many.

Expanding those building skills and using the items from home to continue the concept of “no bad ideas”,  littleBits were handed out and allowed exploration of possibilities to build any mini game possible. The presentation of resulting of games like “race car pinball”, “drawing contest”, “whack-a-domino”, and “secret handshake” were fantastic to watch the creativity implemented in such a short time.

Check out the creative learning in action with more photos