Science and Robots and Mythbustrers, oh my! Encouraging our kids through geeky adventures!
Mythbusters has always been one of our favorite shows. It was a way to introduce science to our kids and making it cool! While this memory is from a few years ago (oh my how little and titchy they were!), I wanted to share with you ways to integrate fun concepts into your everyday life to encourage your little ones. Science is cool, fun, and can make you a rockstar if that sort of thing floats your boat!
VEX/BEST ROBOT WAR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The VEX/BEST Robotics World Championships were held in Dallas today (2010). Having been a fan of Robot Wars & Battlebots back in the 90’s, we thought it would be a hoot to visit, even if they didn’t fight to the death. What made it even more special was that Grant Imahara from Mythbusters (who was a champion with his ‘bot Deathblow in Battlebots – and funnily enough, Jaime Hyneman & Adam Savage were also competitors) was going to be the MC of the championship rounds.
Micro Robots – Hex Bugs
We started off trying to watch a competition, but must’ve arrived at the very end of the rounds as they were just handing out awards, so of course we ended up walking right into the ‘shopping’ area. The boys (including the big one) fell in love with HexBugs – the cutest little robotic toys. One or two wandered home with us:
Hex bugs have grown even since 2010. There are some incredibly complicated engineering tricks and settlements for them. You can spend a small fortune, but at this age (5-8), it was so worth it!
Walking around…we ran into this little guy. A local robot maker was creating his own R2 unit and showing it off.
Meeting one of the Mythbusters
After a quick (really expensive) lunch, we went in search of some robots..and look who we ran into next?
Grant Imahara was so very gracious with the boys, even though you could tell he was just done being with so many people crowding him.
Then off to the robot wars!
There were 4 different battle areas set up in the big arena, plus battle grounds all through the convention center for different kinds of robot construction and demonstrations by robotic groups and engineers.
Geek Man had a previous engagement so headed home, while the boys and I got ready to head out for a few new adventures in downtown, but ran into this wee guy first?
Beeble was in heaven as he’s such an R2 freak, and seeing two in one day made him so happy.
As an aside, we then went to the Dallas Public Library … because geekdom isn’t all about science and comic book superheroes.
History Geek Moment
I’ve lived in the Dallas area pretty much my whole life and NEVER knew that we had an Original copy of the Declaration of Independence in the library. It is one of about 25 extant broadside copies printed at John Dunlap’s print shop in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.
It was not signed by any of the members of Congress, but it was printed that day to be sent around the colonies for others to view. It’s one of the very best specimens left and it was in amazing shape. Turns out, it had been sitting in a bookshop in storage for about 100 years, which is one reason why it held up! It was amazing to sit and read it out loud with the boys. Different than reading it online or from our books or a poster. This was a document made 234 years ago which was the earmark of our country’s Independence!
Makes me want to break out the John Adams mini-series again!
