Panther Spin Art

Big Idea: Create spirals and shapes from paints and markers using crickets to spin the canvas.

Dates: Wednesday, March 29 and Monday, April 3rd

Groups Participating: Panther Boys and Girls Club

Attendance: 6 teens plus Panther kids visiting

Software: Cricket Logo Blocks

Hardware: Laptops, crickets, transfer crickets, lego motor and motor connectors.

Materials: Legos, peg boards, foam boards, drill, exacto knife, wire ties, crayola markers, squeezable paints,

Directions: Start by cutting a piece of peg board and foam board of the same dimensions. The two pieces of board should be connected by motion module spinner. Tape a piece of paper to the top board, turn cricket on and begin to to create. Take markers and touch them to the spinning paper or splatter paint onto the canvas for a more experimental design.

Associated Concepts: http://www.pienetwork.org/a2z/s/spinart/

Improvements: Something thought of later by a father at Northside, we did not have boxes to put the spin art machine in when attempting to use paint as a medium, so it got messy. Its best when you introduce paint on the final day of spin art to bring large boxes to put the machines in so the teens and kids can get as messy as they want.

Best Part: By bringing in an example of a spin art machine, then breaking it down and showing them what it was made of and how it was built by other teens, it presented a challenge they all immediately got into. We built 7 machines total. Also, it was a blast when we invited the kids from the club in to try them out.