Spooky Mad Science Expo with Watergate at Landmark
Science Club

The Art Technically team was incredibly excited to be invited to the third annual Spooky Mad Science Expo with the Watergate at Landmark Science Club in Alexandria, Virginia! Expo booths included experiments, hands-on demonstrations, and Q&As with all sorts of scientists and technical specialists from places like the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, the National Society of Black Engineers, the National Science Foundation, and our very own Art Technically workshop leaders Lily Donaldson and Matthew Fields!

Lily and Matthew hosted a table where students could come to a laptop and work through our “Love Letters” creative coding lesson plan. For those of you familiar with “Love Letters” (which is celebrating it’s fourth anniversary this year 🥳), you’ll know that, in past years, our student-coded greeting cards for Meals on Wheels have usually been Valentine’s Day themed. This year, however, to celebrate that 4-year anniversary, we are extending “Love Letters” to the Halloween and Winter Holiday seasons! The “Love Letters” lesson plan now includes the Halloween CoffeeScript templates introduced at the Spooky Mad Science Expo.

Kids at the Spooky Mad Science Expo learned typing skills and basic coding and got creative working through the Halloween cards which include “I See You” eyes, “Spooky Skull”, “Black Cat”, “Happy Pumpkin” jack-o-lantern, “You Put a Spell on Me” (explores variable naming and transparency), and “Pumpkin Pattern” (explores nested for-loops), all while donning a powerful spectrum of halloween costumes from mad scientists to superheroes. Even our workshop leaders dressed up as The Little Mermaid’s Ariel and Eric, adding to fun!

You can follow the “Love Letters” lesson plan yourself or host a “Love Letters” workshop in your school or community! We always accept completed cards from “Love Letters” which we print and deliver to senior meal delivery programs. You can email completed cards (or request a Love Letters workshop) to team@arttechnically.org. Stay spooky! 👻