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GENERAL TIPS TO KEEP IN MIND IN WORKSHOPS FOR KIDS

When working with children it is highly recommended to plan the activity in great detail. Some of aspects to keep in mind when working with kids are:

  • Do expect the unexpected: facilitators must think quickly and be prepared to adapt and react to everything.

  • Each kid is different: facilitators should be prepared to adopt different strategies and behaviors according to the kids. If something doesn't work for a particular child, try to figure out why, change and test another way.

  • Kids are active, all children are active in one way or another and that's exactly how it should be. Thus, strategies need to be designed to understand this constant movement of children.

  • Working with children is a lifelong learning experience and educators have a lot of responsibility in nurturing the next generation of talent

General tips

Train your team

Create your team of facilitators and organize some testing sessions and brief meetings for coordinating with facilitators.

Before the workshop

  1. Prepare in advance:

  2. Send the families the consents for minors (data and video).

  3. Review that the needed software in each computer is updated
  4. Book the machines if necessary
  5. Models of the object that they are going to make
  6. Scissors, cutter, pencils, rulers..
  7. Consider to have scissors for left handed people

  8. Prepare the specific materials needed for the workshop, if needed

  9. Plan the agenda for the workshop

Here is an example of Agenda of a 2 hours workshop:

Time Title Activity
17:00-17:10 Meet-up Introduction
17:10-17:25 Presentation Explain why this event is held, which is the Lab where the workshop will take place and ​​which is shemakes that sponsors the activity
17:25-17:30 Brief Enter the event: Describe how the event will be in its entirety, and explain briefly the activity
17:30-17:45 Developing Following the Power Point step by step guide
17:45-18:10 Design Digital design if necessary
18:10-18:30 Fabrication Using of the Digital Fabrication machines
18:50-19:00 Closing Open Q&A, reflection

At the beginning of the workshop

  • Check that all the kids have the data consents signed by an adult (parents or tutor)
  • Keep special care for those kids that the data consent is not signed. No pictures of the kid can be taken in this case

During the workshop

  • When possible, use a presentation as a step by step guide.
  • For a better understanding of the activity, it is recommended to have samples of each part of the process
  • If possible, consider to involve another person with the role of “observer”, to take pictures and to observe the reactions of the kids (frustrated, absent-minded, bored, annoying…). When the instructor is focused on an activity, these important details can be lost.

Covid Situation

Due to covid restrictions, some of the usual ways of working with children must be adapted, in terms of materials and class layout

Prevention rules:

  1. Participants are not allowed to share materials. As a solution, each participant has a tray with the common materials and hydroalcoholic gel in all the seats.

Covid-19 individual tray containing:

  • Ruler
  • Tweezers
  • Scissors (+left handed scissors)
  • Glue
  • Wood colour pencils

  • Colored markers

  • Participants are not allowed to follow the class in a common group. As a solution, a TV with a tripod and a camera was installed and participants could see the presentation from their seats via videoconference

Last update: January 30, 2022