FIRST LEGO League In a Week?!? Day 2 Report and Day 3

I'm a Maker, I'm a starter. I love starting new projects, especially those that involve making something, and those that involve engaging with those who might make that something. I create a scavenger hunt for community of a very specific sort, and reach out via the Internet through a mechanism I've developed. It's called The Community Lemonade Game and it works.

Our Gauntlet of The Community Lemonade Game - The Challenge - is to gather FLL teams together in a week and compete on Friday.

DAY 2
Take a field trip. We went to the California Space Center in Downey.

Somewhere during the discussions, talk about the 3 parts of the FLL challenge. Robot Game, Project, Core Values. Then tell them that we are looking for a problem to address.

Show a video about the project. Some of the International students may speak some English., so don't translate it. Have lunch. Show the video again, with translation.

This year's project, from the FIRST Challenge Letter:

"Have your team identify a human physical or social problem faced during long duration space exploration within our Sun’s solar system and propose a solution."

Do a Brainstorming session about some problems. Use other visualization techniques if you would like.

All team members may not be present, so you can't select a problem to solve as yet.

Talk about the costume or team dress.

After camp, pull out the sewing machines and space fabric that you might have stashed away for years, just waiting for this time.

Note: I wasn't sure how my visitors would react to the sewing machine. I love sewing, but I was wondering if they would think it too lowly a task. No worries! The male coach was probably the most enthused. More. We are headed to the Long Beach Comic Expo on Saturday, so our team getups can again be used for the Comic Expo! The whole idea of wearing costumes for Halloween was unfamiliar, but they knew the word Cosplay. Whoo Hoo!

More thoughts: I think I should make Lemonade on Friday afternoon, when we have our competition, but I have no time to do this. I wonder if I can get someone to help with this? If you can help me by organizing this, I would absolutely LOVE it! Please contact me. It means you should already know how to make Community Lemonade according to the rules of the game, as I can't break from my current tasks to tell you.

Today, Day 3, we are meeting at the Expo Center and teams will continue working on the robot problem. We will talk about team wear and select a problem. We will start ideating about a solution.

Trish Tsoiasue is a community builder based in Long Beach, California . She builds socially responsible, grassroots communities, believes in the power of play, has many hobbies and interests, and lots and lots of ideas. She is trained in LEGO® Serious Play and the Creative Problem Solving Institute's methods of intentional creativity. The communities she has created and in which she takes most pride are the Long Beach LEGO® User Group, Makersville and the Leading Edge Multi-National Games, which she has led since 2018. She is the inventor of the Community Lemonade Game, a mechanism for path finding and problem solving that she plays. She's convinced that one day you will play it too. Perhaps one day she will define the Community Lemonade Game so that more people can play it. You can find her experiential videos on her Squigglemom YouTube channel (please subscribe!), and when she's not blogging on the Patch, she's blogging on Squigglemom.net.