Horowhenua District Council’s robot battles delight children during school holidays

Six children designed paper cups at the Shannon Library.

The Horowhenua District Council’s school holiday activities have been a hit – and one event was especially popular with tamariki across the district.

That event was a robot battle, with battling bot events held in the Levin, Foxton and Shannon libraries.

Children’s learning librarian Samantha Tibbs said the children designed paper cups which wee then put on top of small robots called Sphero Bolts that can be controlled with a tablet.

“They get free range design on the paper cup to give it extensions, so it’s a mixture of art and craft and imagination with science and technology.”

She said the libraries tend to err on the side of fun – especially for the school holidays.

“It’s just kind of getting that sense of joy and excitement but also there’s always an undercurrent of that stem learning.”

Tibbs said it was a chance for the children who want to explore their artistic side to try designing and creating, and children who want to explore technology can do that too.

The six robots the council owns are used for other things too – the Shannon library hosts code club on Fridays and Tibbs said she brings them out as a special treat.

Some of the other school holiday activities the council had on offer were Lego, movies, a concert by Myah and Lavarah, and more.