Workshop Recap: Ready Jet Go! | Ready To Learn Blog

You don’t have to travel 238,000 miles to experience the thrill of space travel. Vegas PBS, the Las Vegas Urban League and the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District teamed up this past June to help families explore the moon.

The annual Family and Community Learning summer series kicked off with special help from Sunspot Propulsion and his friends from Ready Jet Go!

Over four weeks, families learned how to turn screen time into play time by turning recyclable materials into creative crafts.

Right out of the gate, families ground their imaginative gears to create space suits for stuffed animal astronauts. Some of the whimsical suits included unique accessories, like a unicorn horn, a toilet-tube backpack and a space dress.

Now that the students had created their spacesuits - it was time to travel to the moon. Families worked together to turn straws and balloons into supersonic rocket ships. As if the rockets weren’t thrilling enough, students also used their engineering chops to turn those same balloons into hovercrafts - this time using CDs as a vessel.

Heading into the third week, the families already had their spacesuits and rockets ready. Now they had to solve a bigger conundrum - how would Sunspot get around while on the moon?

Using recycled boxes, students turned bottle caps and old CDs into space rovers capable of withstanding the toughest terrain. Not every rover was able to safely maneuver down the rocky bubble-wrap mountain, but that didn’t stop anyone. Each family embraced the challenge, even taking the crafting materials home to continue their experiment after class.

The fourth and final week of the session was a day of celebration. Families made a lunar landing pad, so Sunspot could safely land on the moon. With only 15 minutes to spare, every family found success!

The session culminated with a ceremony, praising each family for making it through the four-week course. Each student received a certificate and a commemorative flashlight. Every family who attended three of the four classes also received a PBS KIDS Playtime Pad.

Mother Nikki Hoff was surprised when her family received the Playtime Pad. She said even without the incentive, she’d still recommend the course.

“I would highly recommend,” said Hoff. “It’s educational, it’s fun, it’s creative, and it’s great for all ages!”

Although the session only lasted four weeks, Vegas PBS Project Facilitator Mayte Heredia hopes the families will continue to use Vegas PBS’s programming to extend learning at home.

“A lot of children are watching TV or they are already playing on the tablet, so we want it to be an educational experience,” Heredia said. “What we hear a lot is families don’t know what they can do. We tell families go to our website, watch our programming.”