Celebrating International Women’s Day and hosting Superhero Daughter Day across Australia and New Zealand was amazing and so much fun! If you haven’t already, check out the photos on Facebook.
But no time to rest, now is when the real work starts; continuing to engage your young superhero in STEM* related activities!
Don’t’ worry, we’ve made it easy for you. Here is our list of suggested activities to keep the learning up until the next Superhero Daughter Day!
Don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter to hear about future events.
Excellent STEM* activities to do with your Superhero:
Lil’Makers – introductory offer to our DCC* network!
Lil’ Makers is the world’s first build-your-own electronic jewelry kit for kids ages 5-12. The product is made up by pieces, similar to jewelry beads that kids can paint and then interconnect to form bracelets and necklaces with a twist. Extensions of the kit will allow kids to connect electronic jewelry to each other and interface with coding and smart phones. They light up with touch, light up with a shake, change colors, sense your temperature, measure your heart rate and more! Founded by electrical engineer and entrepreneur Shilly Inguva.
Like Lil’Makers on Facebook and follow their Twitter.
Check out these two Youtube videos to learn more about the product:
- https://youtu.be/ZqAdUviSHdg
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETWaY09Xeq8&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop
Gamefroot
Gamefroot is an online web application that teaches programming in an interactive and fun way. Create a login and explore the site -there are many tutorials to help you and your superhero get started!
Additionally there are a number of YouTube tutorials:
Lego Education WeDo
Lego WeDo is a great way to introduce your superhero to robotics. She will be able to build LEGO models featuring working motors and sensors; program their models; and explore a series of cross-curricular, theme-based activities while developing skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics as well as language, literacy, and social studies.
Here is a fun tutorial to help you get started.
Makey Makey
Makey Makey is an easy to use invention kit. It’s fun and easy to assemble, and also a great way of creating a banana piano! It helps children understand the basics of electronics in a meaningful and tactile way.
Watch an awesome video tutorial here.
mBot
It’s cute, it’s fun and easy to assemble, it’s mBot by MakeBlock– the new educational robot based on Arduino! mBot is an all-in-one solution for beginners to enjoy a guided, hands-on experience with robotics, coding, and electronics.
Paper Circuits
Paper circuits are a great way of adding light to your drawings, origami, or papercraft creations. Instead of using wires to connect a battery to LEDs, paper circuits use conductive metal tape.
Copper tape can be found online at places like Amazon, Sparkfun, and as part of the Circuit Stickers kit at Maker Shed. It can also be found at hardware stores as “slug tape“. Or try cutting long, narrow strips of aluminum foil tape, used for repairing HVAC ducts (but not duct tape!).
Check out this awesome video tutorial and learn how to make paper circuits.
Binary Bugs
Teach your Superhero how to combine math and origami with Binary Bugs. Melissa Silk does amazing workshops using these techniques and more details can be found here.
Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi is a tiny and affordable computer that you can use to learn programming through fun, practical projects.
Raspberry Pi Australia has some great kits for kids to get started. Here is a recommended kit.
Here is a really good tutorial and YouTube playlist to get started.
Wearables
There are a variety of exciting new wearables coming onto the market. We saw the following at Superhero Daughter Day: Adafruit Gemma, Codebugs and Jewelbots friendship bracelets. These products use Arduino coding to create amazing new additions to clothing and jewelry.
Little Bird Electronics supplies great Adafruit products and the Adafruit site has some terrific tutorials.
HTC Vive
The HTC Vive is a virtual reality system that completely immerses you inside virtual worlds. Naturally it was one of the most popular stations on Superhero Daughter Day and was a hit with the girls. It can be purchased at Harvey Norman and JBHiFi for about $1,400. Read more here.
Early Learners
Early Learners handpick toys, books, games and puzzles that provide learning experiences to children and sell them in their online store. Their blog also offers lots of ideas and activities to engage your child in STEM activities, starting from just two years old!
Are you the next Tech Girl Superhero?
Launched on International Women’s Day, Wednesday 8 March at Google HQ Sydney, girls from Australia and New Zealand were invited to the competition to learn and apply skills to solve real-world problems through technology. We invite you to join us for the Search for the Next Tech Girls Superhero / Technovation Challenge!
From March to July, teams compete to become state and national winners in Australia and New Zealand. TechnologyOne sponsors the winning Australian team to attend Technovation in San Francisco each year.
Teams are then encouraged to submit their entry to the global Technovation Challenge competition for yet another chance to win!
Read more about applying here.
School holidays and after school activities for ages 6-18
If you budding superheros want some amazing opportunities to delve into some of the activities in more detail, Coder Factory Academy are running a range of holiday and after school activities. More details and opportunity to book can be found here.
Based in New Zealand?
Join OMGTech! Rangers. OMGTech! regularly runs hands on fun workshops for kids and big kids exploring fun new technologies. If you enjoyed the workshops at Superhero Daughter Day in Auckland you’ll love the full day events. Register here to find out more and sign up to hear about the next OMGTech! Rangers events.
About Superhero Daughter Day
Superhero Daughter Day is an initiative by DCC Jobs* and Tech Girls Movement to encourage primary school aged girls to get excited about STEM. Held in March throughout various locations, the event is a unique International Women’s Day Celebration (IWD) celebration. The idea came to us in 2016, when we were searching for an alternative to the morning tea/lunch event options, and decided to create a hands on event for our next generation of women in tech. Together with partner organizations across Australia and New Zealand, the event introduces girls in year 1-7 to the exciting world of STEM through engaging activities and workshops.
When is the next Superhero Daughter Day?
Sign up to our newsletter to hear about future events.
Get tickets to Superhero Daughter Day here.
How can I get involved?
We are looking for both sponsors and volunteers for the 2018 Superhero Daughter Day Event series. Click here for more information about getting involved.
*This article references Diversity City Careers or DCC. This is what WORK180 was known as when we first launched back in 2015. You can find out more about our story here.
