We’ve turned two of our favourite robot patterns into free printable templates so you can make them too.

The boys worked really hard planning, designing and then building their robots and they were super pleased with the results. You can use the Qixels straight out of the box, following the pattern cards provided, to make all kinds of things, but I set my boys a challenge to plan and create their own robots. You must be an Australian resident to enter, and entries close at midday on Wednesday November 25th 2015. See full terms and conditions below.To get them started I created some printable pattern sheets – simple hexagon shapes with a grid of little squares.

This kind of STEM or STEAM activity (science, technology, engineering, art and maths) is a great way to encourage creative and critical thinking and to combine learning across a number of areas in an holistic way… but it’s also super fun!

Win a Qixels Prize Pack and Create Your Own Designs.

This competition is now closed. Congratulations to our winner Sue who suggested they might renovate their house with Qixels! To start with, we simply coloured in the squares with markers to design our robots. This was an easy, hands on, way for both boys to grasp the concept of putting together numbers of squares to make a picture. You can open the pattern printable in any kind of editing software, such as photoshop, and highlight and fill each square with colour. This made it easy to change your mind, or fix mistakes, and it meant we could easily print multiple copies of each design.

The older my kids get, the more they enjoy making things. While they still love doing art just for the sake of experimenting and creating, they also love to make plans and work on inventing and creating a finished product.