A circle of 16 children, ranging from 5-to-8 years old, sat with a ziplock bag containing the essential pieces to build a motorized merry-go-round on Thursday in a rec room at Bluffs Park in Malibu.
The weeklong LEGOS Engineering Camp, which ends Friday, was hosted by the City of Malibu and taught by Play-Well TEKnologies, a company that educates children on the principles and methods of engineering, architecture and science.
“Our goal is to teach engineering to kids in a fun way,” Play-Well Teknologies instructor Vitoria Mouwen said. “We try to teach them basic pre-fundamentals of engineering.”
The kids in the LEGO camp built two projects each day, including an “Angry Bird” world complete with catapults and amusement parks with a working merry-go-round.
Five-year-old Bodhi Cherowitzo said he liked the LEGOS camp because it was fun and that his favorite piece to build was the motorized merry-go-round.
“[I like the merry-go-round] because I can spin it really fast,” Cherowitzo said.
Play-Well TEKnologies has been teaching kids engineering since 1997. Their hope is that kids will learn by playing with LEGOS. Play-Well TEKnologies goals are to help kids use their problem solving skills and enhance their critical thinking skills all by building things, like belt cars.
John Hughes, 8, said his favorite piece to build was also the merry-go-round.
“I like going on merry-go-rounds,” Hughes said. “I really like the circus.”
For more information on LEGO camps and classes through Play-Well, visit play-well.org, and for more information on other camps offered by the City of Malibu, visit here.
