I spent hours collecting bits and pieces and painting things silver so that the kids would have a huge selection of parts to use to assemble their robots. I began asking questions as the kids sorted through the materials, so that they would begin to flesh out an idea. “What will your robot be for?” “How will it move?” “How will it see?” “How will it think?” Unsurprisingly, I found that the boys were much more engaged in the project than the girls. The girls quickly whipped their robots ideas together, so they could go work on their lovely “royalty” projects (jewelry and crowns). The boys, however, kept working on their robots, actively trying to make them work. I think we spent 2-3 hours in total on this project, and look how diverse and wonderful they turned out!