Scroll down to find games and activities specific to each of the following setups.
Jump Start
Treefort
Front Door
Rocket
Throne
Dance Hall
Shipboat
Solar Garden
Click on the image below to jump ahead to that house setting.
Build a Hiding Bonnie-Bobbie Bunny!
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Find an old T-shirt. Iron it out!
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Print this pattern. Lay it on your shirt.
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Using a marker, trace the shape onto your shirt.
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Draw a face on your bunny!
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Cut out the shape through both sides of the t-shirt.
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Hand-stitch the blue edges with thread (or dental floss).
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Stuff with remaining t-shirt scraps (or actual stuffing).
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Hand-stitch the green edge.
Now it's time to play hide-and-seek! Take turns with your friends or family, hiding the bunny somewhere in your home.
Builders
It's fun to imagine the voices of the characters in your stories. What does my voice sound like?
Storytellers
At twice the height, it fits the tallest dolls. Slide the trunk back to reveal the secret hideout!
Explorers
Locate all the objects listed below. Look closely!
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acorn x 6
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binoculars
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bird's nest
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blue flamingo x 6
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brown bird
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bunny counting
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bunny hiding
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button
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chimney x 2
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crystal knob
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flute
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flying bird
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giraffe
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key
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kite
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moped
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mouse x 2
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mushroom x 9
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paintbrush x 2
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party squirrel
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rocking chair
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snail
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snake
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squirrel house
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soccer ball
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thumbtack
Scholars
Once you've found all 6 acorns, solve the following riddle:
We're the acorns, thick as thieves,
Always and forever!
The thing that stands us all apart,
Is what keeps us together.
What is it?
Scholars
Find out who designed the bentwood rocking chair on the patio. Hint: They worked as a team.
What other famous furniture did they design using their wood-steaming techniques?
Now that you know more about this furniture, be on the lookout. You're likely to see it in some local cafés! You might even find some on sale in your neighborhood.
I'm Bobbie! I love to play hide-and-seek with my best bunny buddy named Bonnie. Write a funny story about us!
Storytellers
Creators
Find the corner of the soccer field in the grass. Set up the Treefort on a large surface so you can play your own field games!
With Paper
Place a sheet of paper (11" x 17" or similar) under the Treefort. Grab a marker and extend the lines of the soccer field along the paper.
With Masking Tape (or Similar)
Stretch some masking tape along the tabletop, extending from the soccer field lines.
Build the Props
Create a goal and ball for the game. Use your imagination to make this to-scale for your figurines. Then, use markers or objects to add bushes and lakes to your paper landscape.
What else can your figurines do in the field? Fly kites, have picnics and barbecues, do cartwheels...
Scholars
The plants growing on the Treefort's rooftop are growing in the front yard of the person who illustrated the tree itself. One is star jasmine. The other is called bougainvillea.
Explorers
Grab paper and crayons. On a walk through your neighborhood, or around your home, draw the plants and flowers that you find. You can also rub them into your paper with a crayon edge.
When you get home, call some friends, talk to your family, or search the internet as you try to identify the plants you found!
Creators
On the roof is a sign. Create your own sign, and hang it on your bedroom door. Where is home for you?
Scholars
DYK: The curtains from the broken window become waves when the house transforms into the Shipboat!
DYK: The tack holding the rooftop sign is shown to scale.
DYK: The squirrel's hut is yellow with green trim, like Archamelia.
DYK: One flamingo is leaping through the air, like a dancer.
DYK: The button that hangs on the tympanum belongs to the illustrator of "The First Door." What is a "tympanum"?
Why doesn't the light switch on the patio have an "off" setting?
Creators
There's a floating party sign near the front door of the house. And there's a "CONGRATS" banner suspended from the tree. Invite your friends and throw a party in the backyard of your Archamelia!
Did you find the key? Tell a story about who swallowed it and why!
Storytellers
Slide the Treefort trunk backward until it latches into place. Your secret hideout is revealed!
Explorers
Locate all the objects listed below.
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boulder
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walkie-talkie x 2
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telescope
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volleyball
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Casio keyboard
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flip-flops
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soda
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pillow x 4
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matchstick x 7
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butterfly net
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treasure map
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fishing pole
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bear x 2
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firefly light strand
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boombox
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oil lamp
Create a story about why I stand on one leg! Can you stand longer than I?
Storytellers
Creators
Welcome to your secret hideout. First thing first, write your name on the welcome mat at the entry to the hideout.
Now, you need a secret handshake, a special knock and a secret password.
HANDSHAKE
Some handshakes use snaps, claps, and taps. You can fist bump, knock, and jazz-hand too. What is your secret handshake?
SPECIAL KNOCK
This is how you know that the person on the other side of the door is on the team. A short pattern of knocks, using rhythm and sound, is all you need. What's yours?!
SECRET PASSWORD
Think of a word that is easy to remember, but not often used. That will make for a great password. Share with the gang!
Scholars
There are secret rooms all over the world! Apartments atop the Eiffel Tower, piano ballrooms under the NYC Subway, hidden buildings behind billboards, dance halls on train stations and even a basketball court in the attic of the Supreme Court.
Visit your local library, or use the internet to find and learn more about secret hideouts, handshakes and passwords.
Explorers
Did you know that the phrase "no lies" in the hideout spells something else when seen from the interior of the house?
Create your own message that spells something new when rotated 180º. Start by writing all letters that become new letters when turned upside down. Try making secret words first, and then create phrases or sentences.
Scholars
Whose flag is on the flip-flops?
Did you know there are 14 books in the original Oz series? These books inspired the inventor of Archamelia™.
How does a telescopic lens work?
What makes a firefly light up?
Where else does that honey bear appear in Archamelia™?
GRRRR! I'm hungry for honey! I smell some in this tent! Write a story to fill up my appetite!
Storytellers
Builders
There's an empty game board without pieces. It can be used for checkers and chess. Build your own!
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Cut 8 strips (1" x 8") of construction paper from color A
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Cut 8 strips (1" x 8") of construction paper from color B
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Glue color A vertically to color B (horizontal)
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Glue the remaining color A strips across color B, alternating front and back
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Weave in the next 6 color B strips, alternating every time.
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Glue the final color B strip to each end as you weave in place.
Creators
To play checkers, you need 16 pieces of two different things. You can play pennies against nickels, paper clips against paper crumples, rice grains against popcorn kernels... Use your imagination!
To play chess, you can create your own. It helps remember what they can do when the piece looks like the path that it can travel.
Builders
MAKE A FORT
Build a fort in your room just like the one in Archamelia™. You can use windows or lights to create shadow figures against the sheets. Broomsticks can be used as props. Don't forget pillows, blankets and some music!
TELEPHONE CANS
Make a walkie-talkie with soup cans and string. And learn how sound waves travel at the same time! The trick is to make sure the string is taut, which means it needs to be in a straight line.
SHADOW PUPPET THEATER
When the "sun goes down" in your fort, The Shadow Puppet Theater begins! Here is just one way to do it. Make your own figures to tell your favorite stories!
Your house didn’t fall over, it became a ship! Put your figurines in the deck and set sail!
Explorers
Locate all the objects listed below!
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anchor
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angelfish x 4
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birds x 3
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chimney
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firefly x 6
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French bulldog
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frog legs
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key
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knife x 3
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leaf
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lightning bolt
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marble x 2
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megaphone
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monkey
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piano
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octopus x 2
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seahorse x 5
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shark fin
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skull/crossbone x 2
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underwear
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watermelon
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whale x 2
Builders
Make your own chimney cannon, like the one in Archamelia™. You will need:
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Paper roll
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Tape
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Scissors
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2 rubber bands
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1 pencil
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Cotton Ball Cannonballs!
Explorers
There are 6 codes hidden on the Shipboat. Find them all, and then figure out what they mean. Once you've cracked the code, consider cracking one open.
Scholars
How do cannons work? And who invented them? Look online for "fun facts about cannons" to learn more.
Scholars
Sometimes things become new things when we change our point of view. Point to all the transformations below.
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the sheet becomes a sail
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the chimney becomes a cannon
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the curtains become waves
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the fence becomes a ladder
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the grass becomes seaweed
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the interior sheet becomes a second sail
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the interior view is aquatic (submarine looking out)
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inside the boat, the bottom has a whale in water!
Look around you. Find something that transforms into something else, with a little bit of your imagination.
Salut! I'm Daisy the Doily Fish. Tell a story using the transforming object that you found!
Storytellers
Creators
Turn your pet into a toy! Take, print, and cut out a photo of your pet. Glue it to some cardboard and then cut it out. Now your pet can become a part of your next great story.
Make ocean waves by bunching up a blanket or towel on the floor! Set up the Shipboat on the waves and let your imagination do the rest! Create an island, too, with buried treasures?!
Builders
Ever heard of a dinghy?
Make one to accompany Archamelia™.
Like the Shipboat, you can make yours with old pencils. Or consider sugar cubes, Popsicle sticks, Q-tips... use anything you have in excess and let your imagination do the rest.
These pirates use a giant octopus as their emblem. What's their story?
Storytellers
Explorers
Find the names of several infamous male and female pirates. Draw their pirate emblems on paper. Sometimes, these can be seen on the sails of their ships (which are often famous too!).
What makes a great emblem?
Creators
Give yourself a pirate name, and create your emblem.
Then, make a sail for your shipboat. Cut a piece of paper into a triangle, and draw your emblem on both sides. Then, tape the paper to a pencil. And now you have a mast!
Scholars
Did you know the watermelon can be seen somewhere else on Archamelia's walls. Find it!
Consider this: Open the roof of the house and use it as a loading ramp for the Shipboat. Now you can get all the cargo in and out!
The interior panel can be laid flat to reveal a trap door at the base of the Shipboat. Or it can be a portal for deep-sea divers!
Did you know that the male seahorse gives birth to the baby?
Draw out the lifecycle of the seahorse. Include the seaweed, and show how they hold on with their twisty tails.
Scholars
Find, then tell the story about the Pirate Frog who fell into the barrel!
Storytellers
Lift the inner panel to create an astro-platform, latch the garage door in place, and 3... 2... 1... Lift off!
Explorers
Locate all the objects listed below!
Look closely, they can be anywhere!
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alien x 4
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sheriff
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key
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box x 4
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astronaut
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satellite dish
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stardust
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telescope x 2
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howling coyote
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sun
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moon x 2
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Earth
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staircase
Explorers
On the walls of Archamelia™ are these silly expressions. Point each one of them out!
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"it's written in the stars"
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"shooting star"
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"blue moon"
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"cow jumps over the moon"
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"worm hole"
Now that you've found them, what do they mean anyway?
Scholars
Guess what! Archamelia™ is illustrated in relation to the sun! Each exterior panel reflects a quality of light from one of 4 times of day. Using clues from shadows, and the temperature of the light, can you match each panel to a time of day?
TIMES OF DAY
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Sunrise
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Noon
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Sunset
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Midnight
PANEL OF HOUSE
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Rocket
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Treefort + Solar Garden
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Garage + Card Roof
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Shipboat
Once matched, figure out what direction the front of Archamelia is facing - north, south, east or west.
Explorers
Learn about how Earth moves around the sun, why there's a "dark side of the moon" and why it's not technically accurate to call it a "sunrise" or a "sunset."
I'm Shiloh, the Sheriff. Write about my latest adventure keeping the universe safe with my best friend, Moonblue!
Storytellers
Builders
Find the planets floating in Archamelia™ space. Do they look familiar? They're marbles! Any spherical object can become a planet in your imagination.
Search your home for planets. Use them to build a solar system for your rocket-launching adventure.
Scholars
By the way, why are planets spherical? Moons too? What if they looked like floating pyramids? Or donut-shaped?! Silly indeed.
How many planets and moons make up our solar system? And what is our solar system called anyway? What's the difference between moons and planets?
Need to remember the planets? Just know "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Noodles!" What does that even mean?!
Creators
Invent your own solar system. How many planets are there, and what are they named? Do they have moons? What are your planets made of? Cotton candy? Spiders? The color indigo? And what shape are your planets?
Does anyone or anything inhabit your solar system?
Explorers
Figure out who lives in the Archamelia™ Apartments? Are they celebrities? What makes them famous?
NIGHTTIME ADVENTURE
Take your Archamelia™ rocket for a nighttime flight! All you need is a flashlight! Pack for lift off in your backyard, after the sun has set. Shine the light to guide your path and touch down in foreign lands. What kind of insect-creatures do you discover at night? What are the sounds you hear?
Creators
The interior of the platform is a perfect place to stash your dolls and figurines for launch. Imagine them walking through the rocket doors to get ready.
Using objects from around the house, create some billowing smoke and gently tape it to the base of the rocket. The smoke in the stop-motion animation (2m15s) was made with cheesecloth!
Explorers
There are a bunch of different types of plants. Like deciduous and coniferous. Some plants love the desert, and others live in the water. Learn about plants and how special they are. Can you name the alien plants attacking Archamelia™?
Scholars
Plants. Weird! How many ways are plants different than people? And in what ways are they the same? Are they actually aliens?
Builders
Did you see how Skiddleedoo is surfing on a stolen satellite array? What a scoundrel! Build your own Skiddleedoo and satellite surfboard using objects found around your house.
Yarn, paper clips, cardboard, and pipe cleaners would work. Or even an actual succulent plant! Just make some feet with some construction paper and then tape them, along with some googly eyes, to a little pot! Happy adventures!
We're Sanjay, StarPie and Skiddledeedoo, the sleuthful, succulent scrutinizers. We have more questions than we have answers. In fact, we spend so much time asking questions that we never get anything done! Tell our story?
Storytellers
Scholars
Did you know the security firm GuarDex is named after Dexter. That's the inventor's dog. You can see Dexter's face pictured somewhere else on Archamelia™. Find Dexter!
Why is the word "GO" placed precisely where it is? HINT: It has to do with something above and below.
The fence for the house becomes a satellite array when it expands into a rocket. What is an array? What do satellites do?
What is the Kuiper belt? Check online, or visit a local library. There are some fascinating objects in the Kuiper belt. How did we discover its existence, if no one has ever been there?
Learn about Galileo Galilei and why he's remembered as the father of astronomy, observation and the scientific method.
Learn about blue shift. This is the phenomenon that helped Galileo discover that some stars weren't stars, but in fact planets! That observation led to the idea of a heliocentric solar system. Why was this controversial at the time?
Explorers
Identify the rockets hiding behind the Archamelia™ shuttle. HINT: The first word is a moon of Saturn, and the second is a reference to twins.
Fold the interior flap vertically, and latch the wings on the walls. Don't worry, the roof won't shut all the way.
Explorers
Locate all the objects listed below!
Look closely, they can be anywhere!
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ladybug x 4
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beehive
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hen
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henhouse
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butterfly x 5
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mouse hole
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balloon x 10
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penny
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horseshoe
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snailmail
Explorers
There's a theme for this facade. It's what the plants, horseshoe, ladybug, butterflies, and penny have in common.
What is it?
Builders
Locate the basketball net in the shadow against the front of the house. Use your creativity to build one of your own, using familiar materials from around the house.
With a flashlight, try to set up your DIY hoop where it needs to be in order to cast a matching shadow against the house.
Creators
Grab all your dolls and figurines and set up a basketball game in the driveway of your Archamelia™! No need to build a second hoop... just play "half court."
Get with your friends and create a cheerleading squad too. Ra-Ra-Sis-Koom-Bot! We don't ever miss a shot!
Scholars
Did you know the clay rooftop is from an image of a house in Bukchon Hanok Village, one of the oldest urban neighborhoods in Seoul, South Korea. It's more than 600 years old!
Notice the watermelon flying overhead? Where else can you find a watermelon on the walls of Archamelia™?
Explorers
Once you have located all 6 plants around the Front Door, identify them by name, and their native location.
BONUS CHALLENGE: What do these 6 plants have in common? Best of luck solving this one!
Explorers
There are seven 7's hiding around the Front Door. Make a wish, then find them all, and your wish will come true!
People forget about me. "You're just a snailman!" But, Imagine a world without me! Tell my story.
Storytellers
Why do you think the crayon has that specific name for a color?
Scholars
Write a story about me and that piece of cheese over there, hiding underneath the shingle in this house of cards!
Storytellers
Explorers
What's missing?! There are 5 missing cards. One entire "crazy" set, and one more rogue card. Figure out the missing card.
Do you have a deck of cards? Learn these games and start a family card night! Or these magic tricks to impress the family at the next holiday gathering.
Creators
Create your own deck of cards! Collect a bunch of images from magazines and photographs and collage them to a piece of paper. Do this on 3 pages, covering the ENTIRE page each time.
Lay clear tape across ALL of the images. After, cut each page into 5 equal strips horizontally and vertically (about 1.7" x 2.2")
Now that you have a laminated collage deck of your favorite things, draw each of the cards on the flip side, from 2-10, J, Q, K, and A. Make sure to establish 4 different suits. Use the 3rd sheet for back-up in case you make mistakes.
Show a friend you care by making them a set too!
Flip the lid of your Archamelia™ to reveal the rooftop solar garden. Power your house and grow your own food!
Explorers
Locate all the objects listed below!
Look closely, they can be anywhere!
-
elephant x 3
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key
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gopher
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pumpkin x 3
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hippopotamus
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sun
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tomato plants
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Venus fly traps
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solar power flower x 4
Scholars
The solar garden tree can be seen elsewhere in Archamelia™. Where? Have you ever painted with watercolors?
Creators
The image in the background of the solar garden is taken of Pasadena, California. This is where the inventor of Archamelia™ would go to think creatively.
Build your own collage. Visit your favorite, most creative places. Take a thoughtful photo at the "right" time of day of each place. Print those photos and use them as a backdrop for your collage.
Complete the collage with additional images. These can come from magazines, photos or drawings. Cover the backdrops with all the things that make you feel confident, creative and silly.
Place your Creativity Collage near your desk. Whenever you feel tired, look at the images and remember what they mean to you. Surrounding yourself with beautiful and meaningful images helps cultivate inspiration.
We are the SoFlyTraps, and we love singing in harmony. Write a story about our band, and the latest song we've sung.
Storytellers
Builders
Urban Farming rocks! DYK we "invented" agriculture 7,000 years ago?! Put some holes in an old dresser drawer, fill it with soil and seeds, water...and GROW!
Scholars
Weird! Some plants eat insects?! Yup! There are 3 types of Insectivorous Plants: Active, Semi-Active, and Passive Traps.
The solar garden has Dionaea muscipula. But it has a much more recognizable name. HINT: It's also a planet.
Is this plant Active, Semi-Active, or Passive?
Creators
This hippo was made with a single piece of faux-leather by using a thoughtful series of folds and cuts.
Here are a bunch of animals you can make on your own, with just a square piece of paper. Create them all and invite them into your next storied adventure!
You can also make animal friends with hand towels! Build some of these animals and stack them around Archamelia™ as giants in the land of Imagistoria!
Explorers
Ever notice how the sun and moon appear larger when they are lower on the horizon? Learn about the Ebbinghaus illusion to understand why.
Find your next full moon here. Just plug in the name of your city. On that night, observe the full moon when it's low on the horizon. Cut a piece of paper the same size when held at arm's distance.
Wait one hour, for the moon to change locations higher in the sky. Check it again! First, does the moon appear smaller than it was? Now check it with your piece of paper at arm's length. Is it the same size?
Builders
Build a penny path! Lay your Archamelia™ on its "back" so that the unfolded roof rests along the ground. Then lay a handful of pennies in a path on the table.
Let your figurines skip and hop from penny to penny in and around the solar garden.
Fold the door into a bench, turn the floaty into a cushion, and you have a throne fit for a “natural” ruler.
Explorers
Locate all the objects listed below!
Look closely, they can be anywhere!
-
antlers
-
beetle
-
boat
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bottle
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butterfly wings
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cork
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crab
-
crown
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DNA strand
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egg
-
fern bud x 2
-
fire
-
floaty
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snail
-
snake skin
-
soda
-
strawberry
-
succulent
-
sunflower
-
top hat
-
umbrella
-
unicorn horn
-
volleyball
-
wheat
-
wind blowing
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wings
-
gecko
-
golden cord
-
key
-
maple leaf
-
palm fronds
-
paper straw
-
pineapple
-
pinecone
-
raspberry
-
sandwich
-
seahorse x 2
-
seashells
-
shovel
Scholars
The throne is made of natural elements, including plants, fruits, animals and elements. On a piece of paper, use 3-5 words to describe features of each of these elements.
Afterward, circle the words that are used more than once. These are the qualities that are shared across these items. Guess what
they ALL have in common? Answer further below.
Explorers
Transformation is a part of nature. Just like caterpillars transform into butterflies, Archamelia™ transforms into many new playsets. Complete the following visual transformations in the throne:
-
The umbrella staff becomes a _____________.
-
The sand bucket transforms into a _____________.
-
The river floaty turns into a _____________.
Scholars
The throne captures elements of the plant and animal kingdoms. On the centerpiece of the throne is a beetle. Identify this crowning creature?
Once you figure it out, learn about its life cycle. It goes through four different transformational stages throughout its life!
Creators
With paper and colored pencil, draw out the lifecycle of the jewel beetle, including the environment that supports each one of these stages.