Winning Words
Journals from the "Wet Your Pants" Team of TOYchallenge 2003
Take a peek inside the journals of the grand prizewinners, the Merritt Island Merrymakers, and see what they say about their whirlwind trip to the National Showcase.
 The crew from ABC videotapes a "Wet Your Pants" demo. |
Jamie Dodich I thought TOYchallenge would be a fun experience to learn and have fun with friends. We had to work as a team to come up with ideas and design our toy. We also had to find ways to solve our problems. We used some materials like PVC pipe, a plastic tarp, and a solenoid to build our toy. We learned how to work as a team. I also learned about engineering and how water flow is similar to electricity flow. I think TOYchallenge helped me to learn a lot! Friday, June 13, 2002 Saturday, June 14, 2002 Once almost everyone was there and set up, my teammates, Megan and Sara looked around at all the different toys. Once they got back Natalie and I went to look around. I think my favorite toy was the one with the inner tube with the basketball hoop on top. You played that game in a pool with a team. Natalie's favorite toy was the "Tick Tock, the Juba Clock." They were set up right beside us. All the kids at the TOYchallenge event were very nice and had great ideas. A news crew came by from Good Morning American and talked to us. Then we got lunch. Right when we were about to eat our lunches one of the judges came by to talk to us. Then we sat down to eat our lunches again and another judge came by. When we finally got done with lunch, Sally Ride talked to everyone. After that we went to classes. The first class was about what two of the Smith College students learn at Smith College engineering classes. The second class I took was about a lady who studies lions. We played a game were we had to match the lion on our cue card to the one in the picture (we lost). After our classes we presented our toy for a couple more hours. |
THEN…The awards ceremony. We won best in our category, the kid's choice prize (tied), and THE GRAND PRIZE. We were so happy. After that we went to the banquet for TOYchallenge. After that one of our team moms took us out to go midnight bowling to celebrate.
Megan Heron
My name is Megan Heron. I am 11 years old. I enjoy softball, cheerleading and tumbling gymnastics. My favorite subjects are math and science. I am in the chorus at my school and take art classes after school. I just finished the 5th grade and I like reading books. I also like to swim.
I wanted to do TOYchallenge because my dad took me to engineering programs and shows and I got interested in it. My dad also took me to work for take your children to work day and he works on the Space Shuttle at Kennedy Space Center. When I heard about the TOYchallenge I thought it would be fun! So I asked all my friends if they wanted to be on a team to send in an entry. I think that they started TOYchallenge because they wanted to get kids interested in science and engineering-maybe even someday become an engineer.
We learned about Ohm's law, (I=V/R). We also learned about the different gauges of wire. We learned about LED's (Light Emitting Diodes). We learned about the tools that electronic engineers use like multimeters and oscilloscopes. We learned how the rules of water flow and electricity flow are much alike. We also learned all about the design process that engineers use to make new products.
We made a Simon-like game but ours is played on a large mat outdoors. When you get a question wrong, the game sprays water all over you. We had many challenges designing this game and we overcame them.
Whenever we made a part, we would test it out which was a lot of fun. Sometimes we would have to redesign the part because it didn't work. We had to watch our budget for materials also. Doing TOYchallenge was GREAT!!
Friday, June 13, 2002
We went on an airplane and flew from Florida to Connecticut. It was very fun flying and talking about the game. The flight attendant talked about our game and wished us good luck. Then everyone on the plane asked us about our game. When we got to Connecticut, we saw Smith College and walked into a big room. We saw the tables that we all set up for the TOYchallenge the next day. Then all of our team and parents went out to dinner at Spaghetti Freddy's.
Saturday, June 14, 2002
We woke up very early and ate breakfast in the lobby of our hotel. Then we drove to Smith College. When we got there we set up our game and it took about 15 minutes to set it up. Then our team split up and two at a time went and look at all the other toys. There were a lot of really cool toys. My favorite game was "Truth or Dare Darts" and my dad loved the "Refueling the Space Shuttle" game. I saw some really neat toys that I had read about on-line, like "The Blinky B lanket". Our table was set up next to the "Runo the Rhino" toy. They were very nice and had a really cool song that went with their toy.
Some kids came around and tested our toy. We also handed out bags of stickers and pencils. There were judges that walked by and asked us questions.
Later, we went to our classes. We leaned a lot about what engineers do. We also heard a speech from Sally Ride. She let the audience ask questions. I asked her what jobs engineers can do on the space shuttle.
Then it was time for the awards. They started announcing the winners. We were thinking that we didn't win anything because our names and game were not being called. We were all holding hands. I started feeling very nervous but my dad said not to worry about it because we had done our best. Then they announced our name. We had won best in our category, Get Out and Play. Just when we sat down they announced a tie for the kids' choice award. That was where all the kids in the TOYchallenge got to vote for the best toy. They called out our name as one of the winners for kid's choice. We tied with Truth or Dare darts. I liked that game too. Just when we sat down they announced the three grand prizewinners. They called our name again. We were so shocked and surprised. We had to pick out of a bag to see what prize we won. Jamie picked the paper out and it was a week at space camp. We were so happy. We are all best friends and we are planning on going to space camp together.
Sara Jones
My name is Sara Jones. I am 11 years old. My hobbies are reading, shopping, building things and drawing. This year I was in the fifth grade at Tropical Elementary School in Merritt Island.
I was interested in TOYchallenge because inventing a new toy would be a great learning experience and lots of fun. So far I haven't been disappointed.
Our toy is called "Wet Your Pants!" Our group is called the Merritt Island Merrymakers. We are a team of 4 girls who also happen to be best friends. Our game consists of four shapes that you have to step on in the correct order. A light shows you which shape to step on. If you step on the wrong shape, the nozzles spray you with water.
The hardest thing for us to figure out was how we were going to mix electricity with water. We made sure that all the electricity is away from the water.
This project also helped me in science class. We learned all about Ohm's law, electricity, and water pressure. It also taught us the value of teamwork and we also learned some presentation skills.
Friday, June 13, 2002
We left the coach's house at 7:00 a.m. and we got to the airport at 8 a.m. We waited for a long while, and then we boarded the plane. The take-off was awesome. This was the first time I had ever flown in a plane. All the towns and cars looked like miniatures. We got snacks on the plane and we flew inside clouds. Near the end of the plane ride they announced our team name and wished the team good luck at the TOYchallenge competition. At 2:00 we had landed and Megan and I ate lunch at Friendly's. We checked into our hotel and walked around Smith College. Then we got to go shopping (one of my favorite activities). After shopping we ate dinner at Spaghetti Freddy's. When we got back to the hotel we put together some goody bags and went to bed.
Saturday, June 14, 2002
Today we woke up at 6:30 and took a shower, brushed our teeth and got dressed. At 7:30 we went to breakfast in the hotel lobby. After we packed up our cars we drove to Smith College. Then we set up our game. Soon people started walking up and we explained our game, which is called "Wet Your Pants!" Then we started handing out goody bags to kids and grownups. Soon after, some video cameras came and interviewed us. Then we had lunch. Soon several judges looked at our toy and ask us all questions.
My favorite game at the TOYchallenge was "Truth or Dare Darts"
In the afternoon Sally Ride gave a speech and we all went to classes. All my teammates chose the same classes. After the classes there was the award ceremony and I won two ribbons and a week in space camp.
After we packed up and ate dinner at the banquet, we got to go to midnight bowling.
Natalie Edinger
I entered TOYchallenge because I like to do challenges and I like to build things and figure out things. We all like to play outdoor games and get wet. We named the game a silly name to attract people and make them wonder why it is named that.
We used math problems and formulas that people use in college. Some people still don't know what Ohm's law is. We used nozzles to spray water. We talked about many different engineering things like square waves and sine waves. We needed to use a battery-powered solenoid but we found out that they were very expensive. We had to use a plug-in transformer to make our solenoid instead of batteries.
Some of our challenges were: To connect a garden hose to PVC pipe and also how to get the PVC pipe to be easy to assemble and easy to fit in a box. We decided to do a one-person game instead of a two-person game to save money and to make it less complicated. We couldn't use too many nozzles because they would just dribble instead of spray. We learned not to underestimate engineers.
Saturday, June 14, 2002
We went to bed early on Friday and I woke up around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. We went down to the lobby and ate breakfast. Afterwards we went back upstairs and we packed cars full of our game, the display and goodie bags. We all went in our cars and drove to Smith College. It is a college for girls.
We set up our game after we found our table. Then people started coming. Some kids wanted to try out our game and we let them. It sometimes took a while before some of them caught on. Megan and Sara went around the stadium to look at other games. Then Jamie and I walked around. Jamie's favorite game was the game with inner tubs and basketball hoop that is played in the pool. That would be a great game to play in Florida with all the swimming pools. I like the "Tick Tock Juba Clock.
After we were done looking at all the games and display we went back and helped the others on our team. We saw a lot of judges. Jamie and Sara demonstrated the game to the judges. The judges asked us a lot of questions about what we had learned. It was funny when we got our lunches because right after that a judge came by and we had to stop eating and got up. Then we went and sat down to eat our lunch again and another judge came by again. Then we sat back down and finished our lunches.
After lunch we heard Sally Ride speak. She was the first American woman astronaut in space. She also helped design and use the robotic arm on the Space Shuttle. The other speakers talked about TOYchallenge and why it started. They also talked about science, math, engineering, and technology."
Afterwards, we went to our workshops. Everyone on my team signed up for the same workshops. The first one was Extreme Fun Engineering! The other one was about wildlife and working with lions. We played a game in that class where you had to match the lion on the note card and match it to the lion pictures on the wall.
After we finished the workshop we went back to our game and worked more. We were interviewed by Good Morning America.
The award ceremony was last. We went to the middle of the room. We won three different awards. We won the kid's choice award, the best in our category and we also got the GRAND PRIZE. We gave our coach the Ms. Potato Head trophy. Afterwards the Good Morning America crew wanted to bring our toy to New York! We went to the TOYchallenge banquet that was a buffet dinner. Then we went for a walk around the Smith College campus with my sister Lauren. After our whole day, we started writing our papers. Then we were going to the bowling alley for midnight bowling.