I got an "emergency" call for help from my friend over at the local middle school looking for an activity for her students. It's that time of year when kids and teachers are ready to be OUT, so a worksheet wasn't going to cut it. I dug around in my engineering bag-of-tricks and came up with some tiny motors and solar panels. The kids made optical illusion whirly birds with them. They drew designs on circles of paper, and when the motors started spinning around, the designs transformed into something totally different. It was fun and a great way to get out of the classroom (maybe even learn a little bit about solar power at the same time).
