May 2nd Workshop Review

The winds of change blew through our recent Green Apple Kids workshop and got our young inventors thinking about alternative fuel sources. GAK co-founder Beatrice Tinio led the day’s lesson by starting with a picture book focused specifically on the how the suns fuels almost every energy source that exists on the Earth.

When Bea asked the class what makes the wind, parents were amazed to learn that the junior Green Apple attendees where in the correct ballpark. “The sun!” offered one GAK kid, while another added, “Because the sun controls all the weather.” The kids also recognized the differences between fossil fuels and sustainable energy sources (identifying solar panel and embracing the concept of hydro-electricity).

But enough talking, a Green Apple Kids workshop would be incomplete without a fun. hands-on activity. At their respective workstations, the kids decorated the arms of their anemometers (say that three times quickly) and colored one of the 4 cups that catch the wind in order to be able to measure the wind’s velocity. The stem was made from discarded pencils and the base from repurposed modeling clay.

With their anemometers ready, the Green Apple Kids constructed an indoor ‘wind farm’ counting off their cup revolutions (see video below) and then each kid left with a velocity chart in order to record wind speeds in their neighborhoods and advocate for the installation of an energy-producing turbine.