What are some items (beyond LEGO) that might be useful for your robotics room? The following article has ideas shared in the Facebook Group FLL: Share & Learn.

What non-LEGO items are essential in your team meeting room?

1. White boards. A huge white board and plenty of colorful dry-erase markers can be helpful for teams to brainstorm. You can also post meeting work tasks or track robot run progress on the board. Teams with no white board in the room can use 3M Easel Pads or similar.

2. Most FIRST LEGO League Challenge tables need some kind of support under them. Large folding tables, saw horses, and even a Centipede XL can work for this purpose.

3. A list/poster of the Core Values as a daily reminder. Here is one by Ana Paula that you can use.

1. A tape measure or meter-length ruler to measure the length of the next segment of the robot’s path.

2. A binder with the season’s challenge guide, updates, and rubrics.

3. A calendar to post all major deadlines.

4. A way to document Core Values. A big poster with several blank spaces, each labelled for a different question we expected the Core Values judges to ask about what the team did over the season (e.g. “examples you saw of someone on the team making their teammate feel valued” or “ways you made sure everyone was included in decisions.” When the kids notice one, they write it on a post-it and stick it on the poster.

5. Emergency contact info for every team member and coach at your team meetings, all in one place.

6. Post-it notes and wall space to stick them on to.

7. Blank progress reports/Engineering Notebook pages for each meeting. These include their objective (what they plan to do that meeting), their progress, what the next steps are and what they learned. This can also include “what core values we displayed and how we displayed them”.

8. Rolling chairs are a problem and distraction. Avoid them.

9. A rolling cart is incredibly helpful, especially at competitions. Also, have a place for all of the robots and attachments between meetings. Keep this separate from a take-apart area.

10. Something to do during breaks - board games, trampoline, soccer ball, etc.

11. A competition table cover to keep dust (and curious hands) away.

Image Credit: Scott Mengle

1. A Smart Phone - to take photos and videos and to use as a timer.

2. A must have for our after school group is snacks and drinks.

3. Some boxes/bins for sorting LEGO parts, storing robots, transporting robots/LEGO, etc.

4. If the season has a robot height limit, get something to measure the height - a ruler, a PVC pile vut to the right length, etc.

5. A computer and printer. Students need to be able program, but also look up updates or do research. You might have to print out something, especially if you plan to create a tri-fold or poster board.

6. An LED projector and screen to facilitate student communication. Students can share their research for the innovation project or even collaborate on coding.

7. A chat group with parents and coaches to be able to easily communicate with each other.

8. Tri-folds or poster boards if your team plans to use them.

9. Team attire