Bee-Bot Pumpkin for Halloween
Cross a Bee-Bot with a pumpkin and you get a Bee-Kin! Rachel Parker and her colleague Hank Bryant, who both teach technology at Nashoba Brooks School in Concord, MA, converted a pumpkin into a Bee-Bot as their entry in the annual employee pumpkin carving contest at their school. The Bee-Kin, as it came to be known, sported the familiar yellow and black along with GO and movement buttons.
Rachel reports that “It didn’t function exactly like a Bee-Bot, but we used circuitry equipment to give it some similarities. We made the buttons out of cardboard and the GO button was wired so when the kids pushed GO on the top of the pumpkin, the eyes lit up.”
Rachel said that they don’t have any formal directions for how to create the Bee-Kin, but they used alligator clips, a battery pack, a switch from a Snap Circuits kit, and LED lights to build a small circuit inside the pumpkin. All of this makes this project perfect for older students learning about the technology of circuits, while younger students will be inspired by seeing their favorite bot ready for Halloween and can make costumes for their real Bee-Bots.
“It was on display in our school cafeteria and the students were allowed to touch it during lunch. I teach weekly Bee-Bot lessons to my pre-school and 1st grade students, so pretty much all of the students in our pre-school to 8th grade school have used the Bee-Bots with me and were excited to see the pumpkin.”
And how does the winner get chosen? “Students get to vote for their favorite pumpkin. Ours won!” says Rachel.
And here at Terrapin Logo, we are not at all surprised.
Contact Information
| Name | Rachel Parker and Hank Bryant |
| Position | Instructional Technologist |
| School | Nashoba Brooks Schools |
| Location | Concord, MA |
| hbryant@nashobabrooks.org | |
| Website | https://www.nashobabrooks.org/ |
| Tags | Bee-Bot, Massachusetts, Art, Seasons |
| Age | Pre-K to Grade 8 |