Solar Explorers
Grab some panels, motors, and wheels and discover how sunlight becomes motion. Kids and grown-ups build a tiny solar machine to take home.
Choose a session date / time:
One ticket covers one child plus an accompanying grown-up. Registering siblings? Add a ticket per child at checkout. Questions? Email hello@waterbearworkshop.org.
What we'll do
Sunlight is pouring down on us all the time — how much can it actually do? In this session, kids and their grown-ups experiment with small solar panels, motors, and batteries to find out.
Working as a team, each family builds a little solar-powered machine — a spinning wheel, a buzzing motor, a wobbly "bad tractor" — and gets to take it home.
We'll explore
- How a solar panel turns light into electricity
- What "voltage" and "current" mean (with hands-on meters you can watch move)
- Why a cloudy day is trickier than a sunny one
- How motors, wheels, and gears turn electricity into motion
You'll leave with
- A small solar machine your family built together
- A feel for how off-grid power really works
- A pile of good questions about energy
Who it's for
Curious kids ages 6–12 and one grown-up per child. No experience needed — just bring curiosity and clothes you can get a little dirty in.
This session is an outdoor, weather-friendly version of the Solar 101 workshops we run at Waterbear Field School.
Grab some panels, motors, and wheels and discover how sunlight becomes motion. Kids and grown-ups build a tiny solar machine to take home.
Choose a session date / time:
One ticket covers one child plus an accompanying grown-up. Registering siblings? Add a ticket per child at checkout. Questions? Email hello@waterbearworkshop.org.