M’CHIGEENG—Manitoulin Metal has begun weekly Community Robotics programs for two different age categories. The First Lego League Explore teams are for ages 5 to 9, and this year First Lego League Challenge has been added for students ages 9 to 13. The theme focusses on archaeology.
“In First Lego League, teams design, build and program a Lego robot to complete age-appropriate missions on a themed game mat,” Yana Bauer explained. Ms. Bauer is the Lead Mentor for Manitoulin Metal. “The children don’t need to bring anything and do not require any background knowledge. Manitoulin Metal leaders are mentoring the teams, teaching the children about robotics, problem-solving, teamwork, innovation, programming, design, and career opportunities in a fun, hands-on program,” she said.
The programs began on Tuesday, September 16 and will run each Tuesday until December 2. Both groups meet at Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS), in the cafeteria. The Explore teams meet from 5:30 to 7 pm and the Challenge team works from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Only 12 spots are available for the Explore teams and there are eight spots available for the Challenge team. “Payment is by donation,” Ms. Bauer said, “to ensure cost is not a barrier for any family.”
The Manitoulin Metal Robotics team ran a very successful summer camp for kids in Grades 1–5 and Grades 5–8. This was the result of the success of workshops they’d held in the past. The MSS students had decided workshops were not enough to fully immerse the children into the robotics program, which is how they came up with the idea for a summer camp. From the positive response of the summer camp, the robotics team decided to run the First Canada Lego Robotics teams from September to December. The MSS student leaders who planned and ran the program, were amazed at the learning capacity of the children, how quickly they learned and how skilled they became during the summer camp.
In the first fall session, the two Explore groups came up with team names: Dig Deep and Dinosaur Diggers. They learned about archaeology, created artifacts and documented their discoveries in their Engineering notebooks. The Challenge team called themselves Bone Builders. “They also learned about their innovation project: to solve a real-world problem faced by archaeologists using the engineering design process, and present their invention at a tournament,” Ms. Bauer said. The season will conclude in early December with a friendly competition showcase, but families can also attend other competitions and festivals throughout the province.
Manitoulin Metal is looking for community business sponsors for the 2025-2026 season. If anyone would like to register, wants to sponsor the teams, or has questions, please contact Yana Bauer, bauery@rainbowschools.ca.
by Margery Frisch
