Making Lighthouses in Kindergarten

In their classrooms this quarter, the kindergarten students have been learning about lighthouses. How they are made, what they are used for and the different types of lighthouses. As part of this unit, they also learned about economics. To put these two things together, the teachers wanted them to buy pieces of a lighthouse and then build it. This is where the Lab came in.

Because many lighthouses are made with dovetail joint, the teachers wanted to make the lighthouse pieces connect with dovetail joint. You can do a lot of things with a laser cutter, but we couldn't figure out a way to make these joints. So we did the best we could and made what we called, "Semi-Dovetail Joints".

After buying their pieces of the lighthouse, the students come into the Lab for the building phase. Before we built the lighthouse, we had a quick lesson on electricity and circuits. The students were taught that their are two points of contact, a + and a - pole to a battery, and that electricity moves in a circle (called a circuit). 

Then came the time to build. Students got out the pieces they purchased and off them went. Once their portion of the lighthouse was put together, it was secured with a rubber band. When everyone was done, we put the lighthouse together. 

Toping the lighthouse is a light that was made by the Lab. We used both the laser cutter and the 3D printer to create the pieces. The light was made with a coin battery, and LED and some wire.