If you love to create awesomeness using cardboard, foam, scraps, and junk, this is the classes for you! You’ll be designing and building your own derby cars to race down our Pinewood Derby racetrack! You’ll also be engineering various other cars, planes, and marble tracks. It’s not really competition though, more like cooperatition! Get it? Like cooperate+competition. You want to do your very best, but help others to do the same. These races are friendly, supportive, and energetic! We’ll compete for speed, distance, and, of course, STYLE!
S.T.E.M. Class
Racer Engineers
Grades 4-7
5/5
Build, test, improve, race!
Design and build your own racers out of various foam, scraps, cardbard, and more to race in a derby! Compete for speed, distance, and style in a friendly, supportive, and energetic environment!
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Q: Why couldn’t the frog find where he parked his car? A: He’d been toad!
Description
Good fit for...
This is the ideal class for anyone who loves to make things out of recyclables, and anyone who loves building! If you think you’d enjoy designing and building your own Pinewood Derby-style car out of cardboard and plastic and racing it against your classmates, you will LOVE this class!
Nerds make...
Nerds in this class make Pinewood Derby-style race cars out of recyclable materials. Nerds will design their own cars and spend the week building, testing, and improving upon their designs. Students in this class gain a lot of insight into how small design details can drastically change performance, like the way they place the wheels on their car or the way the car’s weight is distributed.
Nerds will need to figure out how to make the fastest car they can using only the available materials. However, this challenge is one that everyone can overcome with the powers of imagination and engineering!
Nerds learn...
Nerds learn about some basic engineering principles like simple machines that they can use to put their cars together. Throughout the building process, nerds figure out how their car’s design affects its performance, and see how changing small details can have a big impact.
Nerds will also learn about the Engineering Design Process, a process that engineers use to design, build, and improve their creations. They will be able to test their racecars and conceive ways to make them even faster and stronger. Through this process, nerds learn about planning their creations and being willing to make changes to make them better, even if it means doing something over again.
Class Structure
Our Big Nerds classes for grades 4-7, are engaging and exciting and vary greatly in content and structure, but in some form there is always direct instruction from the teacher, guided practice, and independent or small group work with help and support from peers and staff. We usually begin the day with a team building activity and move into our first lesson. Next is a hands-on activity or project. Halfway through the class, kids will take a brief recess and snack break. A second lesson follows break and the kids will do another project/activity or continue one they were working on. It’s always fun and engaging with hands-on projects!
What to Bring to Class
SUMMER & BREAK CLASSES ONLY: Class is 3hrs each day, so bring a snack for break time. Also, bring your own refillable water bottle. Don’t have one? Add our Nerding water bottle to your order and pick up on first day of class!
Gallery
Your nerd will build and discover like these nerds have.
The first official auto race took place in 1895 in France!
Some of the earliest types of cars ran on coal and steam as fuel!
It would take less than a month to get to the moon if you drove by car...you know...if cars could drive to the moon!
COVID-19 Safety
Read about the measures we are taking to provide safe in-person summer STEM classes.
Reviews
Register
$155 - $195
Locations, dates, and times vary by time of year.
Summer
Opens March 4, 2023 @ 10am
School Year
View our After School or Breaks pages to see where and when this class is offered.