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Project challenge:

Family Flags

Suggested Ages: K – 2nd Grades

Spruce up your window with some friendly flags! In this design challenge, you’ll create animal flags that represent everyone in your family. You’ll need to BE COLLABORATIVE by using your family member’s ideas for the colors and animals to include on the flags.

Engaging Design-It-Yourself projects to inspire young innovators

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

 

Every Galileo Design-It-Yourself Challenge teaches the same techniques and mindsets that professional designers an engineers, artists and chefs 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: 

 

  • Paper (index cards or cardstock is best, but copy paper can also work)
  • Markers
  • Crayons or colored pencils
  • Glue
  • Tape
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Small round objects to trace (plastic bottle cap, quarter, checker, etc.)
  • Larger round* object to trace (food can, deli container, small bowl)–needs to be smaller than the paper flag
  • Cord to hang the flags (yarn, string, ribbon, etc.)
  • Optional: plastic bag, water, washable markers (to dye paper)

*Note: If you want to create your animal drawings inside a different shape, you can trace something else like a square or triangular object.

 

Activity Steps:

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

 

    1. Be collaborative, ask each person in your family 2 questions. 1) What is your favorite color? 2) If you could choose to be any animal what would it be? Think of a color and animal for yourself too!
    2. Use the water/ marker/ plastic bag technique to dye an index card-flag for each person in the family. Use each person’s favorite color for their flag. This step is optional—you can also use colored or white paper for the flags.
    3. Make paper shapes for the animal drawings by tracing a can (or other object) on a clean piece of paper. The object must be smaller than the flags. Make one for each person.
    4. Draw and color one family-favorite animal inside each shape.
      • To start each drawing, trace a quarter or other small circle and then add details to it.
      • Use the color each person chose for their animal
    5. Cut out the large shapes with the animals inside
    6. Glue the animal-shapes onto the dry, dyed flags.
    7. Embellish the flags (add fringe, attach decorations, shape the bottom with scissors, etc.)
    8. Attach the string. Lay down a string across the flags and tape it to the back of each flag.
    9. Hang your flag garland in the window for all to see!

 

Guiding Questions:

If your child is stuck, try asking these questions to help them keep on innovating: 

 

  • What are some of the colors and animals that people chose? How are you going to include them in your flags?
  • What do you notice is or isn’t working when dyeing the paper? Could you try using more or less water, or coloring more or less?
  • What other details could you add to the drawing to make it look even more like a [type of animal]?

 

More Ideas:

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

 

  • Pro Tip: Before drawing an animal, close your eyes and imagine all the important parts of the animal that you want to include in the drawing (Example: a trunk and big ears for an elephant)
  • Pro Tip: If you don’t have a spray bottle, try flicking water onto the plastic bag with your fingers
  • If some of your family lives far away, call them up to ask for their color and animal choices!
  • Work together with someone at home to make the flags! For example: one person can dye the paper while the other person draws the animals.
  • Step it up—Add an inspirational word on each flag. Or add other decorations between the flags.
  • Keep innovating! What other types of materials can you use to make more flags? What other important things in your life that you could represent?

 

Wrap Up Questions:

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

 

  • Who does each flag represent?
  • Which flag is your favorite? Why?
  • How do you think the flags would be different if you didn’t collaborate and ask family members for ideas?

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

 

Take a picture of your child’s flag garland and share it 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 project challenge—maybe they’ll try it themselves or maybe your project 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!