A Ferry Fun Week

 Week 2 of Connect: Nukko Lake Group

Week 2 at the Connect: Nukko Lake group we built popsicle stick boats! While it is a fun, and relatively simple activity, and the goal of this project was for the kids to learn and practice sharing, communication, critical thinking, planning, and team work.

As this is a lengthy activity that will take more than one session, we jumped straight into the project! The kids were paired into groups of two, and used hot glue and coloured popsicle sticks to build their boats. The aim of the project is to build a boat that will float on water, and maybe even hold some rocks – so needless to say, lots of critical thinking was involved! The kids managed to complete the entire base of their boats over the 45-minute span that we worked on them. What was interesting to see is the kids all used unique strategies from each other, which really promoted their creativity! When we do projects like these, we do not give the kids specific instructions, as we want to let their creative sides come out, which is exactly what happened! During the activity, the kids chatted about activities they enjoy doing, such as hockey, snowboarding, and ping pong.

Even though this activity may seem simple, the overall objective was to promote sharing, communication, critical thinking, planning, and team work in the kids. We definitely saw this during the activity, as the kids had to communicate a plan of how they wanted to build their boat within their groups, critically think about how they could design it to be strong enough to float and hold rocks, take turns doing different building tasks whilst assembling their boat bases, which resulted in each child exhibiting overall amazing team work skills.

So far, this group has been such a fulfilling and inspiring process to be apart of. We are continuously impressed and inspired by the resilience of the children we work with on a daily basis.

- Jaidyn, BigsNBC Mentoring Coordinator