Build a Robot is a game of creativity and imagination. It provides your Scouts with the opportunity to develop / exercise coloring / painting skills. Critical thinking comes into play as Scouts select their robot parts throughout the game, matching the parts they choose with the story they will tell. And, of course, it expands their imaginations to create a fun and engaging story about their robot.
Game variations add additional skills by drawing their own robot parts and tools as well as alien landscapes. Introduce STEM facts into the game to be incorporated into the stories. Add critical thinking skills with other game variants. Come up with your own variations to further develop creative skills or let the Scouts come up with their own variations.
How To Play
Build a Robot is for 2 or more players. For more than 4 players, make additional copies of the robot parts and tools pages. It is a game of fun and imagination.
Setup
Make additional copies of the robot parts pages and tools page for future use. Color all of the shapes. Encourage participants to use a variety of colors and patterns. Cut out all robot shapes and tools. Place them in a pool in the center of the playing area.
Game Play
Play begins by rolling the die. To begin building a robot, a player must first roll a 6 to select a tool. A roll of 2 to 5 allows a player to select a robot part, but only if they already have a tool. If not, they must pass and play continues with the player to the left. If a 1 is rolled, the player loses their current turn. If a player rolls a number again, they may pass their turn or return the item rolled to the parts pool and select another part of the same type. Mix and match parts for more fun.
The first player to assemble their robot, wins! The winner then tells the story of their robot. Have fun with this. The should use the parts of the robot they built and their alien landscape as inspiration to weave a fun and engaging tale. See the sample robot and the fun story behind it.
There are a lot of ways to introduce variations to the rules to encourage Scouts to develop and exercise new skills.
Game Variant: Build a “Build A Robot” Game
Skills Practiced: Artistic, color/pattern matching, imagination.
Rather than using the shapes and landscapes from the Resources section, have the players to make a line drawing of their own robot and alien landscapes and color them. The robots should be generally humanoid. Segment the robots into 4 parts: Sensory Cluster (Head), Collector (Arms), Foundation (Torso), Locomotion (Legs).
The alien landscapes can be of and from anywhere. Perhaps the inside of a rocketship, the surface of the sun or moon, Mars, under water, wherever their imagination takes them.
Game Variant: Continuation
Skills Practiced: Problem solving, Critical thinking, Mental agility.
After the first robot is built and its story is told, continue the game allowing all players to tell their robot’s story. As each player completes their robot, the players that finished their robot already each provide a short phrase to begin the story. They may not name the other player’s robot but can introduce details not in eveidence from the robot or landscape. The newly finished player must incorporate those elements into their story but is encouraged to embellish to make the story their own.
Game Variant: STEM Facts
Skills Practiced: New learning, Problem solving, Critical thinking, Mental agility.
Engage with STEM counselors from your unit / district / council or other reliable STEM experts to gather STEM facts relating to robots, space exploration, etc. and write them on slips of paper. Fold the paper slips so the facts cannot be read without opening them. When a player roles a 1, instead of just losing the turn, they must draw a random STEM fact that they must include in their story after completing their robot.
To ensure playability of the game, you may wish to place a limit on the number of STEM facts that must be included in a story. If a player has more than the limit, they can choose which ones to include.
Game Variant: Your Variation
Skills Practiced: Could be anything
Use your imagination to choose variations that will reinforce target skills and introduce them into the game. It may be a little trial and error but it will promote participation when the players share ownership for the rules.
Meet Ruth the Robot. She was sawed from solid aluminum to withstand the extreme cold of space and built to explore the icy rings of Saturn. Her suction cup feet anchor her to the ice fragments that make up the rings while she uses her claw-like hands to collect ice samples. Her body has a 4-slot chamber
for analyzing the samples. The first slot checks for life forms. The second slot analyzes the nutritional value of the sample. The third slot checks light refraction characteristics. The fourth slot heats up the sample to analyze the released gasses. The teal chamber is a freezer with temperature gauge used to transport samples back to Earth for more detailed analysis. With 3 eyes, Ruth sees the fourth dimension, time, allowing her to see and navigate the ship through wormholes allowing her to travel great distances in little or no time. She once left on a mission on a Thursday and returned the Tuesday before. Her eyes are extended to serve as antennae. This keeps her in contact with the mother ship while she is exploring and allows her to receive HBO. She has no ears because sound does not carry in space.
