FIRST® LEGO® League Discover is for children ages 4-6, this playful introductory STEM program ignites their natural curiosity and builds their habits of learning with hands-on activities in the classroom and at home using LEGO® DUPLO® bricks.

PARENT/GUADRIAN PARTICIPATION REQUIRED - FIRST® LEGO® League Discover incorporates family engagement at home. Participants will borrow a Discover More set that includes two sets of Six Bricks (12 bricks total) and instructions for families to play together.

FREE | AGES 4 - 6 | REGISTRATION REQUIRED - SPACE IS LIMITED

Madera Main Library
121 N. G Street, Madera, CA

Program begins September 30, 2024
Meetings every Monday from 3:45 pm - 4:45 pm
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Expectations: Unlike the other divisions of FIRST LEGO League, the Discover division does not have any official events to attend as it primarily focused the introduction of STEM fundamentals, building teamworking skills and good learning habits. 

FIRST® LEGO® League Explore teams of young children ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code, and create unique solutions made with LEGO® bricks and powered by LEGO® Education WeDo 2.0 or SPIKE™ Essential.

Season Programming:

FREE | AGES 6 - 10 | REGISTRATION REQUIRED - SPACE IS LIMITED
Festival anticipated in early December.

Expectations: At the Explore level participants are not expected to compete but instead learn team skills as they work together for a common goal. Instead of attending a competition Explore teams will take part in what FIRST calls a Festival. The Festival resembles a classic science fair where the team presents their findings and the model of their proposed solution to the season's themed issue.

FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge teams of children ages 9-14 engage in research, problem solving, coding, and engineering – building and programming a LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime or LEGO MINDSTORMS® robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. They also design an innovative solution to a real-world problem relevant to the theme.

Season Programming:

FREE | AGES 9 - 14 | REGISTRATION REQUIRED - SPACE IS LIMITED
Regional qualifier event anticipated in November.
If team advances from qualifier, Regional Championships take place in early December. 

Expectations: At the Challenge level participants will compete in a robot game as well as prepare a 5-minute presentation of their solution to the season's theme issue. Coaches will provide basic knowledge of robotic coding and present resources to help with research but developing solutions to both the robot game and the season's issue will entirely be done by the team. 

The FIRST ® Core Values are the cornerstones of the program. They are among the fundamental elements of FIRST LEGO® League. By embracing the Core Values, children use discovery and exploration of the theme in each session and learn that helping one another is the foundation of teamwork. It is important that the children have fun. The more playful the sessions are, the more motivated the children will be

We express the FIRST philosophies of Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition through our Core Values:

• Discovery: We explore new skills and ideas.
• Innovation: We use creativity and persistence to solve problems.
• Impact:  We apply what we learn to improve our world.
• Inclusion: We respect each other and embrace our differences.
• Teamwork: We are stronger when we work together.
• Fun: We enjoy and celebrate what we do!

FIRST® Core Values affect all aspects of FIRST® programs as participants, as well as their support/spectators, are expected to express the Core Values while attending FIRST® events. There are even bonus awards granted for teams who proficiently express the Core Values. Core Values are judged throughout events and not just during judging sessions. It is also worth to not that team support/spectators at events can affect the team's Core Value score. Core Values is something FIRST® takes seriously, so if you plan to attend an event be aware that your actions are being observed for Core Values as well.

Coding Preview - SCRATCH by MIT:

SCRATCH and LEGO worked together to develop the newest form of LEGO robotic coding. You can go to https://scratch.mit.edu/ to practice coding. Instead of controlling a robot the code you create will control Sprites (characters and objects) and backgrounds. You can code a story, a game, or have Sprites do silly dances.  Since LEGO robot kits can be a bit expensive this is the best way see your coding in action without a robot.