STEAMed Magazine October 2015 | Page 7

Art Bots: Making Art with Robots This is a great lesson if you would like to incorporate technology into your classroom. It can be adapted for any grade level as the robots can be very basic or more complex. Our example shows two different types of robots: one constructed with inexpensive materials and another adapted from a remote control car. For the simple robot, we used a large paper cup, tape, rubber bands, an electric toothbrush and markers. The markers act as the “legs” of the robot and the electric toothbrush makes it move. Once assembled and turned on, the robot will move around on a piece of paper and will make colorful abstract art. Be sure to check out the video of these lesson plans as they go through each step of the process and will get your creative juices flowing. We know your students will be equally excited about the lessons. The best part of these lesson plans is that if you need additional funds for your classroom, both of the lessons will work with an Art to Remember fundraiser. We will even send you free paper! The other bot shown in our example is equally simple to assemble, but opens up a world of possibilities with technology. Depending on your resources, you could even incorporate programming and have the students code a program where the bot draws a picture or pattern. To view the STEAM lessons video, click here, and for more information on fundraising, check out this page. 7