Fifth Graders Build Friendly Monsters

As part of a cross-curricular learning experience, fifth grade students recently worked over the course of several days to build their own “friendly monster” dolls that lit up or played a song.  

Using needles, conductive thread, felt, fabric glue, coding software and circuit boards, they successfully designed their dolls and programmed an LED light to complete a series of blinking patterns or remain on and coded a few notes from a song to play over a speaker. 

“The students were ambitious and programmed some really intricate songs,” teacher Megan Figueroa said. “Some worked in pairs and wrote 13 pages of code so their minion monster would play the theme song ‘Happy.’ They collaborated and thought critically in order to get this complicated song programmed.” 

Throughout the experience, the students exhibited teamwork, collaboration and patience to build their “friendly monster” dolls, which required sewing, cutting and coding skills. Figueroa said the students learned about the importance of persevering through any challenge until they succeeded at the task.

The project, which incorporated science, technology, engineering and math skills, was part of an i2 Learning program that introduces students to the engineering design process and challenges them to think critically and solve problems.