Design Squad facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Design Squad |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 46 |
| Production company(s) | WGBH Boston |
| Release | |
| Original network | PBS Kids Go! |
| Original release | February 28, 2007 – March 20, 2011 |
Design Squad was an exciting PBS reality television show for middle and high school kids. On the show, contestants used their smarts to design awesome and sometimes silly machines. The big prize for the winner was a $10,000 college scholarship from Intel. The show was made by WGBH and even won a special award called a Peabody Award in 2007. This award was for doing a great job of getting young people interested in careers like engineering. You could still catch reruns of the show on PBS Kids in 2018.
Contents
Meet the Hosts
The first season of Design Squad was hosted by two engineers, Nate Ball and Deanne Bell. Deanne Bell left after Season 1 to work on another show. After that, Nate Ball became the only host for the rest of the series.
How the Teams Work
In Design Squad, there are always two teams competing.
- In Season 1, the teams were Red and Blue.
- In Seasons 2 and 3, they changed to Green and Purple.
The number of contestants on each team also changed:
- Seasons 1 and 2 had 8 contestants in total, with 4 on each team.
- Season 3 had 6 contestants, with 3 on each team.
A cool thing about the show is that the whole team wins the challenge together. The team members don't stay the same for every episode. They switch around, so you always see new team combinations!
Season 1 Challenges
Cast of Season 1
- Giselle
- Joey
- Kim
- Krishana
- Michael
- Natasha
- Noah
- Tom
Season 1 Episodes
Here are some of the cool challenges the teams faced in Season 1:
- "The Need for Speed" – Teams turned toy cars into super-fast dragsters.
- "Rock On" – They built unique musical instruments for a local band.
- "Skunk'd" – The challenge was to create really wild and unusual choppers (bikes).
- "DS Unplugged" – Teams built 20-foot bridges using old-fashioned methods, without power tools!
- "Got Game" – They designed remote-controlled cameras to film a basketball game from every angle.
- "A Collective Collaboration" – Teams made machines to help a women's group in Haiti make peanut butter.
- "Just For Kicks" – They invented a device to automatically feed soccer balls to a professional player.
- "Functional Fashion" – The teams designed clothes that could do two things at once, like a jacket that's also a gadget!
- "Batter Up" – They built a machine to cook, flip, and serve perfect pancakes.
- "Pumped" – The challenge was to create a pump for an 11-foot tall water slide at a community pool.
- "Blowin' In The Wind" – Teams designed amazing wind-powered art from recycled materials.
- "Bodies Electric" – They created a sound-and-light show that reacted to a hip-hop artist's dance moves.
- "Winner Takes All" – The final challenge was to design and test a "summer sled" for a big retail company.
How Points Worked in Season 1
Usually, each person on the winning team got 100 points, and the other team got 0 points. But sometimes, the judges changed things up:
- In one episode, judges liked both teams' bikes so much that everyone got 100 points!
- Another time, points were split because both teams worked really hard, or one team needed extra help.
- The person with the most points at the end of the season didn't win a scholarship in Season 1, but it was still a fun way to keep score.
Season 2 Adventures
Cast of Season 2
- Dewey
- Deysi
- Jason
- Kim
- Leah
- Nick
- Tomas
- Tréjonda
Season 2 Episodes
Check out some of the cool projects from Season 2:
- "Cardboard Furniture" – Teams designed strong and useful furniture made from cardboard for a big store.
- "PVC Kayak" – They built ten-foot kayaks using modern materials but traditional designs.
- "Green Machines" – The challenge was to create a compost lifter for an urban farm.
- "Gravity Bikes" – Teams built super-fast bikes that used only gravity to race downhill.
- "Water Dancing" – They designed special tools to help a dancer perform underwater.
- "Backyard Thrill Ride" – The teams brought the excitement of an amusement park to a kid's backyard!
- "Big Bugs" – They built giant wooden arthropods (like insects or spiders) for an artist.
- "Aquatic Robotics" – Teams built a robot that could float on a river for tourists.
- "Band Cam" – They created a flying camera to film a live concert.
- "No Crying in Baseball" – The challenge was to build a machine that could grind onions without making people cry!
- "Hockey Net Targets" – Teams designed targets for hockey goals.
- "Offroad Go-Karts 1 & 2" – This two-part finale had teams building and racing offroad go-karts.
Season 2 Points and Winner
Just like in Season 1, the winning team usually got 100 points per person.
- In one challenge, neither team finished, so no points were given out.
- One contestant, Trejonda, had a tough start and didn't earn points until Week 9!
- Leah won Season 2 and received the $10,000 scholarship from the Intel Foundation!
Season 3 Creations
Cast of Season 3
- Ana
- Annelise
- Juan
- Lindsey
- Wes
- Zach
Season 3 Episodes
Here are some of the exciting challenges from Season 3:
- "Moving Target" – Teams built tough, remote-controlled flying football targets for a toy company.
- "Crash-Test Rugby" – They created an automated wheelchair to act like a defensive player in wheelchair rugby.
- "Water Rescue Part 1 & 2" – The teams built remote-controlled vehicles to rescue pets from water.
- "Shooting for the Sun" – They designed T-shirt shooters that could reach the upper deck of a basketball arena.
- "sNOw Problem? Part 1 & 2" – Teams built dry-land dog sleds for the Jamaican Dog Sled team.
- "Tour de BBQ" – The challenge was to build a bicycle-powered rotisserie for a BBQ restaurant.
- "Escape from Misery Island Part 1 & 2" – In the final challenge, teams built sailboats to race across the ocean.
Season 3 Points and Winner
Points were usually 100 for the winning team.
- There was a special tiebreaker challenge where Annelise, Lindsey, and Juan built kites to see who would compete in the final. Juan's kite won!
- Wes won Season 3 and earned the $10,000 college scholarship from the Intel Foundation.
Design Squad Nation
Design Squad Nation was a new series that started in January 2011. It had 10 TV episodes and video blogs. This show continued the idea of Design Squad to get kids excited about engineering.
Design Squad Nation was a fast-paced reality show led by two professional engineers, Judy and Adam. They worked with kids all over the world to make their dreams come true using engineering. From building a skate park in Arizona to creating a playground in Nicaragua, the goal was to inspire viewers to try their own hands-on engineering projects.
Season 1 of Design Squad Nation
Cast of Design Squad Nation
- Judy Lee
- Adam Vollmer
Design Squad Nation Episodes
Here are some of the amazing projects Judy and Adam worked on:
- "Apache Skateboarders" – They helped a teenager build a cool, strong, and weather-resistant skate park in Arizona.
- "It's Alive!!!" – Judy and Adam engineered an electronic cake for a musical's cast party!
- "Garden–to–Go" – In London, they designed and built a pedal-powered mobile garden to help sell fresh produce.
- "A Cut Above Part 1 & 2" – They helped young fashion designers create unique gowns using engineering ideas for a fashion shoot.
- "Musical Bike" – Judy and Adam built a bike that could play music, like a pedal-powered organ!
- "DIY Playground" – They traveled to Nicaragua to help a community build a playground for kids.
- "One Giant Leap Part 1 & 2" – Working with NASA, they designed and built a human-powered flying machine for a competition!
- "Trash to Treasure" – For the finale, winners of a contest got to work with engineers to turn their recycled inventions into real products.
Images for kids
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The official logo for the Design Squad TV show.
