We’re always on the lookout for free or inexpensive activities for our kids. Our oldest who is 12 is a tough one to find activities for. He’s not into sports, arts and crafts, or music. When we stumbled onto VEX 2 years ago we were thrilled to find a low cost activity that suited his love of building and engineering. VEX is a program for students, typically grades 6 and up, that want to learn science, math, technology and engineering skills from talented volunteer mentors.
What is VEX? VEX is a robotics system that the kids use to build, and program the robot to compete in local area competitions. The challenge for the competition changes every year. The program is run by a group of dedicated volunteers, mostly IT and engineering professionals, with over 100 kids grouped into several teams. Meetings take place Tuesday and Wednesday nights from 6:30-8:30pm. The cost is $50 per semester/per child, but if your child qualifies for the free lunch program they can attend for no cost. For more information, check out their website http://www.vexmen.com/
Pancake Breakfast to benefit Downingtown Area Robotics Saturday, October 23rd Downingtown Area Robotics will be hosting a pancake breakfast at Applebee’s ( (470 West Lincoln highway Exton PA 19341) from 8-10 am. Tickets are available for $7, and all proceeds go to help these bright young kids build robots!
Chester County Moms has donated a Hexbug set for raffle. Hexbugs are a popular toy with young kids right now, they are small motorized “bugs” that race around a habitat. The Hexbugs were created by the same company that builds the kits for VEX. Raffle tickets will be sold for $1/each. For more information on the VexMen, or the pancake breakfast please contact bob@vexmen.com
This post submitted by Chesco Mom, Kelly Whalen, who can also be found at her blog The Centsible Life.
Philaburban Mom 