FLL Explorer Academy · Week 4 of 8

Build It — Structures That Work

75–90 min Teams of 3–4 Grades 3–5 SPIKE Essential kit needed

By the end of today, you will…

Learn the names of key LEGO/robot parts and what they do
Build a stable structure using the Inspire Set
Understand what makes a structure strong vs. weak
Record your first build in your engineering notebook

What you need

Materials for Week 4

SPIKE Essential Inspire Set (one per team)
Building Instructions Book 1
Engineering notebooks
Chromebooks (for the flashcard activity)

Part 1 10 min

Know your parts

Meet the kit

Today you'll use the LEGO Education SPIKE Essential Inspire Set for the first time. Before you build anything, let's learn what's inside.

Activity: Parts vocabulary flashcards

Click Flip to see what each part does. Use the arrows to move between cards.

1 of 6

Part name

Teacher notes ▾

Let students handle the physical parts while going through the flashcards on screen. Say the name, hold it up, pass it around. The vocabulary builds confidence before they open the build instructions.

Part 2 35 min

Build the base structure

Open Building Instructions Book 1. Your Operator and Technician work together on the physical build. Your Driver and Specialist follow along and check the instructions — call out any steps that look wrong before pieces are connected.

The shake test

When you finish a section of the build, one person holds it while another gently shakes the table. If a piece falls off or wobbles a lot, reinforce it before moving on. Strong builds survive the shake test at every stage, not just at the end.

Build rules

Check the instruction step number before adding each piece
If you disagree about a piece, try both ways and see which is stronger
Don't force pieces — if it's not going in smoothly, check the orientation

Teacher notes ▾

A common stumbling point is skipping steps. Assigning one person per group to be the "step caller" — reading the step number aloud before each piece goes in — helps the team stay on track.

Walk around and look for pieces inserted backwards (usually noticeable when the next step doesn't line up). Rather than correcting it directly, ask "does this match what the instructions show?" and let the team work it out.

Part 3 10 min

Engineering notebook entry

Today's entry — Week 4

Write or draw your answers:

Draw your build from above (bird's eye view) and label 3 parts using vocabulary from today:

One step that was harder than we expected:

One thing we did to make the structure stronger:

My role during this build was: (what did I actually do?)

Teacher notes ▾

The "my role during this build" prompt helps students reflect on their participation. If a student notes that they observed more than they contributed, it can open a helpful private conversation about what support they might need in the next session.

Part 4 10 min

Preview of next week

Next week we'll add a motor to this build and write our first code to make it move. Before then, think about: what part of your build would you most want to move? Where would a motor make sense? Write or sketch one idea in your notebook.

Teacher notes ▾

This preview keeps the build meaningful. Students who know where it's going are more invested in getting the structure right now.

If time allows, a brief demo of a motor spinning — even 30 seconds of "here's what's coming" — helps build anticipation for the next session.