Most years in February, the nation’s largest Auto Show takes place at Chicago’s McCormick Place. Recently, St. Peter hosted a Car Show of its own. The middle school students’ Tech assignment was to create a car out of wood using all the equipment available to them in the Makerspace lab. The results have been on display in St. Peter’s first-ever Car Show!
The students started with a simple rectangular block of wood and created a graph paper drawing of their car creation. Once they traced that drawing onto the wood, Mrs. Murphy made the larger rough cuts on the bandsaw. Then the middle schoolers could use the jigsaw and sanders to refine the design, and then use the hand sander, sandpaper, and files to smooth it out. It took the kids a long time to get through that part.
Once the car shape was complete, they were able to start painting the cars. They were then given two axle rods for the tires. The axel rods were too long for the woodblocks, so they needed to measure them and have Mrs. Murphy cut them down on the bandsaw. Then they drilled the holes in the car to insert the axle rods.
The next step was to design wheels with the 3-D printer. The kids could get as intricate or as plain as they wanted with the tires and then attach them to the axles. Some kids used the laser printer to design emblems for their cars as well. The final creations were fantastic!
Once the cars were complete, the car show was set up for viewing by the elementary students. 1st graders came through the lab to view all the car creations. The 2nd- 5th-grade students could come in and vote for their favorite car in each grade. It was exciting for the younger students to see everything possible in the Makerspace lab.
Car shows are a chance to see the newest, sleekest, most advanced cars on display. The St. Peter car show was a chance to see its middle school students' creativity and skills on display.
