In the One Scoop Challenge, teens were given a paper latte cup and a giant bin of legos and tasked to take only one cup's worth of lego's and see what they could build with it. Teens had to make use of every piece in the cup. Platforms were designated as free pieces since they gave more creative freedom and were too big to fit in the cups anyway. Outside of these rules the teens were allowed to direct how the activity would proceed.
In my case, the teens chose to work in teams and turn the program into a Boys vs. Girls challenge as well. They asked if they could have only one scoop per team or one scoop per person on a team and were told the latter was fine. One teen who was interested in what others were building but not in building themselves was designated as a judge.
One of the nice things about this program is that you can impose as much or as little regulation and guidance on the teens as you deem necessary.
Note on Cost: In our case this program only cost us the price of the cups because we already had a large bin of donated legos we use for other programs. If you were starting without any legos you might be able to find local parents whose kids have outgrown their legos willing to donate them to the library. If you cannot get legos donated you can expect to spend $50-$200 to get yourself set up with a large bin of basic lego bricks and platforms etc. for a program of around 10 teens. If you expect more than about 10 teens at the program this cost could be higher.
Type: Self-directed Age: Middle school Optimal size: 6-10 Estimated cost: $1 - $25 Planning time: <30 minutes Frequency: One-time
Teens were asked how they would rate the program, Poor, Average, Good or Excellent. The program was consistently rated Good and Excellent. They were also asked what would have made the program better. While most said the program was great the way it was, one teen suggested they would have liked to have a time limit imposed on it.
When asked what they felt they had gained from the program one teen remarked they felt they had gained some insight into working as a group and the importance of having one or two people in charge of a work group to make sure things were added on smoothly rather than, “everyone just throwing things together how they want, so it breaks because the part one person adds doesn’t work with the others.” As a group they did express that they felt they would be able to do better at the challenge in the future as a result of having worked at it once.
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