A new day dawns. Tuka, Maco and Waaba have gathered in the usual place, but they’re feeling even more excited than normal. Today, Maco has promised to show them an exciting place that they’ve never seen before. “Follow the leader!” shouts Maco, as he leads them down a narrow spiral staircase into the dark, damp basement. Luckily, he lights a miracle lamp that sounds a warning whenever there’s a spider or water dripping from the ceiling. “This is so exciting!” Waaba yells, as cheerful as usual. “Why are we even coming down here?” Soca asks doubtfully. In his opinion, this is exactly the kind of place where unexpected things can happen. However, encouraged by the others, he dares to continue the journey into the unknown.
“Wait a moment! It must be somewhere around here!” shouts Maco, and continues to plunge deeper into the basement. Tuka has been given the task of carrying a piece of timber, which goes snick-snack as she walks. “I should have guessed!” Soca is quite sure that the timber will break at any moment. He wants to get out of the basement as quickly as possible, but he can’t imagine returning up the dark stairs alone. Just then, to Soca’s relief, Maco returns carrying a dusty chest in his arms. The whole Kip crew heads back upstairs.
Maco rummages excitedly through his treasure chest and throws out all manner of objects. The first thing that flies out of the box is a soft, green feather. A small, round, blue button shoots out next… and hits Waaba right in the forehead: “Ouch!” (Oops! That was a mistake!) They all burst out laughing. Luckily it didn’t hit her in the eye! Maco says sorry and promises to calm down. He continues looking for treasure, but more carefully and without throwing things around. Finally, the crew find a whole load of things in front of them in addition to the button and colourful feathers. There are also sticks, small rocks, dry leaves, flowers and hay. There is also a great assortment of strings and threads, fishing line and stretchy rubber bands!
As Tuka stares at all the material, her fingers are already itching to get started. She suggests that the crew should get to work right away. But Maco reminds Tuka of an important task that they have to do before they can start building the machine. “A well-planned job is half done!” That’s the first step. Maco goes to his design cupboard and fetches a piece of paper and a pencil for each member of the crew. Everyone can draw their own design for the kind of machine they want to build. Waaba has one more important question before she can start drawing: “So what does ‘a moving machine’ mean?” That’s a good question to think about together!
Waaba is working on her own design using light, circular motions. The others are finding it difficult to picture an image in their minds, but Waaba has a clear idea of what she’s going to build. Her design shows a fun and happy machine that moves on spinning wheels.
Soca has drawn a simple sketch of a machine for growing flowers. The moving part in his machine is a lid that opens when you pull a string. Soca can already picture all the flowers that his machine will grow, and he can’t wait to practice his language skills with them. By the way, did you know that Soca is the only member of the Kip crew who can speak the language of flowers and animals?
Maco’s design is very precise and full of tiny details. His problem-solving robot moves and talks when you press a square button. Tuka draws so quickly that she has finished her entire design before the others have even started. Tuka has designed a catapult that shoots things as fast as a rocket using a doubled rubber band.
Looking at their amazing designs, Waaba realises they’re going to need some soft and flexible materials to wrap around the different parts. She promises to bring some with her next time!