Yesterday afternoon we did a dry run with middle schoolers on the rocket kit.  It was a lot of fun and they got a kick out of melting metal and making blinky bling. And for the most part our planning paid off.  We also learned a few small things:

1. Show a video of solder melting, this will help them know what to expect.
2. If they are having trouble coming up with a word (like capacitor) I can start spelling it to prompt them.
3. Kids are confused by the needlenose plyers/cutter combo tool.
4. They LOVE melting metal
5. All of the kits lit up the first time!

Thanks to everyone who helped, we couldn’t have done it without you!  Seriously, we could not.

We had 9 kids volunteer to be test subjects.  😉  How Sara talked their parents into letting them melt metals, I’m not sure.  She is very persuasive.

I have a 15 minute talk in the beginning to educate them about soldering.  They paid attention the whole time!

Next we explained safety and all the tools they will be using.  I appear to be smelling this sponge.  Not sure why.

Rapt attention.

Actual soldering did take place.