Tony Sarg was a puppeteer and marionette master who invented the first, larger than life, helium balloons for the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenges include: (1) Dash/Sphero: Develop a Macy’s Day Parade route using tape on the ground with a partner. Then, switch routes with another group and program the robot of your choice to navigate the parade route using code. (2) Ozobot: Develop a synchronized dance routine for both Ozobots for the stage of the Macy’s day parade using https://ozoblockly.com/editor (3) Create a moveable puppet that will be featured in the Macy’s Day Parade.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

Young keyboarders with their small hands have limited skills when it comes to keyboarding. It is important that they learn how to use a mouse as many of the educational games they play will require mousing skills. There are many games available to students to learn how to use a mouse.

The true, inspiring story of Beauty, the bald eagle, who was shot, rescued, and received a 3D-printed prosthetic beak. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenges: (1) Use paper and pencil to design a prosthetic body part for a human or animal. Then use tinkercad.com to create a prototype. Finally, use a 3D printer to print the prosthetic. (2) Have students research animals who use prosthetics. Then, improve the design in Tinkercad and 3D Print.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

Using scrap metal and spare parts, William Kamkwamba created a windmill to harness the wind and bring electricity and running water to his Malawian village. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Develop a way to harness the wind by designing with Strawbees.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

Ralph Baer’s family fled Nazi Germany for the US when he was a child. Using wartime technology, Baer thought outside the box and transformed the television into a vehicle for gaming. His invention was the birth of the first home console, the Odyssey, a precursor to the Atari gaming system. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenges: (1) Think outside the box. What’s something you use everyday, but not for its “intended” purpose? Examples: A broom to clean the snow off your car windshield, a trash bag as a sled. Now, think of a problem you might have at school, home, et al. Invent an item that would solve this problem. (2) Let’s think outside the box! Design the latest and greatest technology for kids to hit the market! Make it the *most* fun anyone has ever had. You may NOT use anything on the market - any technology currently on the market is off limits. Use your imagination, do not put limitations on it, and be as creative as you can. (3) Use household items to create a prototype of your new invention.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

Two blobs of clay go on an enjoyable adventure as they transform themselves into fun shapes and new things throughout their escapade. What will they be by the end of the book? The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Design a stop-motion video that morphs an item of your choice into another item. Before you begin, sketch out the process you’ll take to transform your item.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

Students will use knowledge of coding to code through various holiday programs from Code.org and Google.

Decomposition one of the four parts of Computational Thinking breaks down problems into smaller parts so that it is easier to understand and solve them.

There are many simple experiments students can do to analyze data. They can test two objects designed to solve the same problem and compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs. The teacher will create a spreadsheet to collect the data to share with the students.

After the Great Depression struck, Ford especially wanted to support ailing farmers. For two years, Ford and his team researched ways to use farmers’ crops in his Ford Motor Company. They discovered that the soybean was the perfect answer. Soon, Ford’s cars contained many soybean plastic parts, and Ford incorporated soybeans into every part of his life. He ate soybeans, he wore clothes made of soybean fabric, and he wanted to drive soybeans, too. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Think about the people in your community and the challenges they face. List three challenges that affect their daily life. Consider something you use every day and brainstorm how it could be repurposed or modified to address this problem.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

This is the story of how Les Paul created the world's first solid-body electric guitar, countless other inventions that changed modern music, and one truly epic career in rock and roll. How to make a microphone? A broomstick, a cinderblock, a telephone, a radio. How to make an electric guitar? A record player's arm, a speaker, some tape. How to make a legendary inventor? A few tools, a lot of curiosity, and an endless faith in what is possible, this unforgettable biography will resonate with inventive readers young and old.

Meet savvy scientist and inventor Hedy Lamarr, also known for her career as a glamorous international movie star. Dubbed "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World," Hedy actually preferred spending time creating inventions in her workshop to strutting down the red carpet. Hedy co-invented the technology known as frequency hopping, which turned out to be one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century! Today's cell phone, computers, and other electronic devices would be more vulnerable to hacking without the groundbreaking system discovered by a world-famous actress and gifted inventor. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Create small groups. Pass out one of the challenges listed in the lesson plan/book card to each group for them to come up with an invention that will solve the problem at hand.

Amy Guglielmo, Jacqueline Tourville, and Giselle Potter tell the story of autism advocate Dr. Temple Grandin’s childhood and her quest to experience the sensation of a hug. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Students will work to develop an assistive technology solution for people with autism. Alternatively, students may develop assistive technology solutions for students with differing abilities. Students are encouraged to work with peers in a local special education classroom to combine their love of technology and engineering to help positively influence their peers’ lives.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

This lesson is an extension of Mystery Science Force Olympics Mystery 3. In this extension, students will create a wrecking ball using the Lego WeDo 2.0 kit and program it to knock down a wall. Students will experiment with different variables (like speed, distance and string length) to answer the question: "How can you knock down a wall?" (credit Mystery Science Mystery 3 guiding question). This activity should be done over multiple days (viewing mystery, building the robot and programing and experimenting). Building instructions for the wrecking ball arm are attached as picture steps.

Using Kodable students will learn about sequence and algorithms and use code to direct classmates during a fun game that gets the class moving.

This lesson will allow students to build their own balloon car racer as an introduction to engineering and coding.  Each pair or team of students will be able to engineer their balloon car, measure the performance of their cars using yard sticks, and set up a basic algorithm to construct and run their machine.PURPOSEThe goals for this lesson are to: (1) integrate engineering and coding to young students; (2) have students independenty identify the steps (an algorithm) to build and improve their racers; (4) be able to spot "bugs" in their algorithm; (3) integrate measurement and addition operations to determine which car went furthest overall; and (4) teach perserverance by showing students that it is normal to find bugs in algorithms/coding.   

Meg set out to climb up and investigate the rain forest tree canopies — and to be the first scientist to do so. But she encountered challenge after challenge. Male teachers would not let her into their classrooms, the high canopy was difficult to get to, and worst of all, people were logging and clearing the forests. Meg never gave up or gave in. She studied, invented, and persevered, not only creating a future for herself as a scientist, but making sure that the rainforests had a future as well. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Your community has many different areas to explore - it might be a park, a grocery store, a forest, or an alley. For some people, it might be difficult to explore these areas because they may have differing abilities. Select one area in your community, and come up with a plan to build a way for it to be more accessible to everyone.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

First grade task cards for all seven MITECS and ISTE Standards for Students

Second grade task cards for all seven MITECS and ISTE Standards for Students

A young girl has a wonderful idea to make the most MAGNIFICENT thing! But making her magnificent thing is anything but easy, and the girl repeatedly tries and fails. Eventually, she quits, but a walk with her dog and time to think, she comes back to her project with renewed enthusiasm and manages to get it just right. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Create small groups. Pass out one of the challenges listed in the lesson plan/book card to each group for them to come up with an invention that will solve the problem at hand.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.