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active challenge:

Solar skee ball

Suggested Ages: K – 5th Grades

Have a blast creating your own version of a classic arcade favorite. In this challenge you’ll use household materials to create your very own skee ball game! As you design you’ll to BE REFLECTIVE to help you position your ramp and buckets just right.

This is no ordinary DIY activity for kids: It’s a step toward becoming an innovator.

 

Every Galileo Active Challenge gets kids moving and teaches the same mindsets that professional designers, engineers, artists and athletes use in their work. With skills like these, we believe you can change the world.

Get Involved—For Grown Ups

Materials list:

Help your child find these materials or a close substitute: 

 

  • 3-4 soft balls (like wiffle or tennis balls)
  • 2-3 large cardboard boxes (flattened)
  • 3-4 containers (like clean trash cans, plastic bins, more boxes)
  • Tape (like from a cereal box)
  • Paper and markers for decorating

 

Activity Steps:

Use these to keep your innovator on track as they play: 

 

1.  Create the ramp by taping cardboard to a container and the floor (1:31).

    • Support being reflective—If kids are having a hard time troubleshooting to get the ramp to work, test with them and ask them guiding questions to help them identify what changes they might try.
    • Ask: What do you notice about the ramp? Is it steep or shallow? How might we change the height or length?
    • Ask: What throwing techniques do you notice work best?
    • Ask: What do you notice about how secure the ramp is? What might we do to make it more secure?

 

2.  Arrange the scoring bins.

 

3.  Test by playing!

  • Ask: What might you adjust/add to make the game easier/harder/more fun?

 

4.  Redesign to make the game even more fun.

 

More Ideas:

Every activity presents opportunities to add your own twists or extensions. Here are some ideas to get you started: 

 

  • Innovate On! Think about how you can put your own twist on skee ball. What if you added multiple ramps? How might you make a multi player version? Could there be special bins?
  • Share your creation! Invite others to play your game. You can even ask for feedback and ideas about what else to add.

 

Wrap Up Questions:

Lock in the learning by asking your child these questions about the activity and how they practiced the featured Innovator’s Mindset element: 

 

  • Tell me about your favorite part about your game.
  • How were you reflective when you were making the game? What did you notice when you first tested? What did you redesign?
  • What other ideas does this give you about games you could make using ramps and balls?

SHARE!

The last step in the Gallieo Innovator’s Process is SHARE. Great learning can come from sharing successes and failures—to solidify your own experience as an innovator and to inspire others.

 

Share with Galileo

 

Share a photo or video of you playing your solar skee ball game with the Camp Galileo Anywhere Facebook community.

 

 

 

SHARE WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

 

Your innovation doesn’t stop with you. Inspire someone else by sharing your active challenge—maybe they’ll try it themselves or maybe your experience will give them a new idea.

 

  • Who: someone in your house, a family member, a friend
  • How: in person, on the phone, online
  • When: anytime, starting now!