Maker Faire Camp

After doing a few school terms in Singapore I realized that I have to plan Ace's holiday activities in advance so that he doesnt feel too bored at home...

So leh, when the people who organized the Maker Faire sent me a message telling me there is some sort of workshop, I went to take a look..

It was a maker workshop and they will teach how to do woodwork, how to plan projects etc etc etc... Being a very handy little boy, I think Ace will definitely enjoy this workshop and so I decided to sign him up... even though the thought of sending him to and fro from the Singapore Science Centre seemed daunting.

When I met a friend, I shared about the workshop when he said his son, CH, was very handy as well and he signed him up too :)

And so by the time Ace reached the camp, he already made ONE friend:) But interestingly, after one whole day with his friend, he did not know what is CH's name.. hahahahaha..

So when Ace came home, I asked him what he did and he said he made things lor.. kauz.. I meant like what he learnt and what workshop he went to mah.. apparently, they had a few workshops for them but my son was not interested in most of them.. he spent most of his time just making things...

Day 1, he came home with a light sabre that he made... I must say I was quite impressed lah.. looks decent:) Too bad cannot glow though...

And he also modified a remote control car... he said there were only about 10 and he was one of the first to find it and use it. He took it and modified it such that when the car moved forward, the light in the middle will light up...

He said he had some help with soldering and difficult parts like that...

But when he took out his car, I looked at it and asked him why was one wheel missing??? Hahahahaha... Where got people make car with only three wheels one.. and he said maybe it dropped in his bag..

He tried to find but cannot find and then I told him he has to really take note when he makes things because if the wheel can fall off, it is a sign of poor workmanship. I told him to go back and find the next day..

Next day, he brought a wheel home and said his friend found a wheel and gave it to him..

When he opened up the car to fix it in, we realized one of the parts broke off.. and that was why the wheel came off... and so we had to glue it back...

Then asked if I can take a video of it or not.. and so I helped him take some pictures and a video..

Here is a video of his car and how the bulb in the middle lights up when it moves forward..



After that leh, he was quiet for a while and when I looked up, I found out that he had "modified" the car furthur and "customized" it... bu adding his own designs... hahahahaha...

The next day he brought home some funny looking contraption and told me that today they had a boat race and that was something to hook the boat... and that his team's boat won the race..

On the last day of the camp, parents were also invited to go earlier so that we can see what they are doing.. we were told there is a presentation but really it was just each child talking to their parents ...

When I arrived, Ace was fixing something... the boat he made had some problems and he was trying to fix it..

They had formed groups to do projects and he is in the BOAT GROUP with 4 other boys...  They had made a boat they named M1... and it failed.. and so they made M2 together.... The one that Ace was fixing is M1 and he was trying to get it right..

Ace with his group mate JA..

As he was fiddling with his things I looked around and explore the place and I think this is what they were taught for project management..

Te one that the boy in yellow and green are fiddling with is M2.. the one they took to take part in competition. M2 runs on remote and so they can control direction by just using remote. However, as there are more things on it.. it moves rather slowly..

M1 is powered by a fan but Ace said the fan is not working so he had to keep soldering and changing the fan motor..

The boat group... From left, CH, Ace, K, JA and DWI

Everyone bz working on their own projects inside the workshop area..

One of the days, their group also came up with an idea to make a robot that could make art and CH actually went and made it... it was a robot tat can stamp and move forward... so you just put paint and the robot will splash it around and make art... and the boys said tey are going to sell the painting on ebay for alot of money.. hahahaha:)

Ace had to change the motor fan cos the first one he used sort of over heated up and died cos he used a hot glue gun on it...

Saw another tea making a star wars robot.. haha.. quite cool hor. they used cardboard for the top and then bottom they used the remote control car set that Ace had.. quite a cool idea!:)

Ace says he wants to take picture of M2 to remember it:)

I looked around and saw that maybe 10% of the class are girls... and boys were all into very mechanical thigns but girls are into fancy stuff.. this is a robot a girl made... when she turned on the fan motor, the robot will just omve around the table. I think if she took off the caps of the pens, can draw also..

I asked Ace what he enjoys most about the camp and he says it is the access to all the different tools and recyclable junk they were given...

Ace says that he is called TOOL MASTER among all his team mates and if they needed to use any tool, they will always call him because he is very good at using the various tools...

The soldering machine..

Saw....

Drill... He said that the drill is his favorite and he has added it into his xmas list:) hahahahaha.. too bad we not living in ang moh house with a garage and workshop space...

Since hot glue will overheat the motor.. Ace decided this time round to use masking tape to fix the motor on the boat instead...

The R2D2 wanna be works! Great job!

When all the boats are done, the boys went to the kinetic river to have a boat race:)

Ace's friend CH also made a boat by himself.. but I think water got into his motor and so it could only float after one try...

When trying out, Ace realized tat the fan is to low and will hit the water and so the boat cant really move well..

Oh well, at least we tried mah:)

We wanted to make our way to Tanjong Pagar to meet Max but it was raining so we seeked refuge in Mac Donalds and Ace treated me to a drink ;)

His teamate whose name I do not know came.. I call him the Deal With It Boy becuase he has this safety goggles tat says DEAL WITH IT.. hahahaha

THe boys even have a chat group lor... and Ace says he is one of the youngest in the workshop. He says he enjoyed himself very much and that he will want to attend again next year. :) His only complaint is that the food sucks so I made food for him everyday to bring there.

Then we went to the red dot museum for a short while and headed to Vivo City for dinner cos Aunty KP told me that they are giving out Star Wars Lego sets...

Alas when we arrived, we found out they only had a limit of 50 sets a day and so had to be there early in the morning... Ace was so disappointed lor... I promised him we will be back again lah..

Anyway, we had dinner at Modestos and then walk walk a little and went home...

I am glad Ace enjoyed his camp... just that his poor dad had to send him there and home everyday..  Looking forward to more Maker Fiare events for sure:)

Previous Post: Para Games Carnival