Microduck StudioIndependent project

Duck Cards Packs

Loop the course

Courses on a five by five board where the fewest cards wins, so Repeat and End repeat pay off, with two rows to debug.

Print this pack's cards See the challenges Download the pack file

Cards in play.

Only these. The pack's own rows lay up to five of one card: five Walk forward cards in Who moved the bread? Print this pack's cut sheet once for each group, then untick every card but Walk forward and print it again until each group has five.

  • Walk

    Walk forward

    walk_forward

    • Studio
    • Pad: L stick
    0

  • Walk

    Walk back

    walk_backward

    • Studio
    • Pad: L stick
    1

  • Walk

    Turn left

    turn_left

    • Studio
    • Pad: R stick
    2

  • Walk

    Turn right

    turn_right

    • Studio
    • Pad: R stick
    3

  • Walk

    Stop

    stop

    • Studio
    4

  • Speed

    Slow

    slow

    • Studio
    20

  • Speed

    Fast

    fast

    • Studio
    21

  • Look

    Look left

    look_left

    • Pad: Y
    40

  • Look

    Look right

    look_right

    • Pad: Y
    41

  • Trick

    Kick, right

    kick_right

    • Studio
    • Pad: RB
    61

  • Sound

    Hello

    greet

    80

  • Control

    Start

    start

    100

  • Control

    End

    end

    101

  • Control

    Repeat

    times

    repeat

    102

  • Control

    End repeat

    end_repeat

    103

How it is scored.

Fewest cards wins. Count every card between Start and End: Repeat and End repeat, and every card under another. A Your card is one card. This is where a loop pays off.

Par is the shortest row the pack's author found. If your class finds a shorter one, the par was wrong, not the class.

A row solves a challenge when the duck ends on the goal, has walked through every tunnel the long way, and has not bumped into a wall or the edge of the board. When a challenge names a card to finish with, that card is last. Every Repeat needs its End repeat.

The board.

Every challenge card below draws its own board. Here is how big a square is.

The board rule

One Walk card moves the duck one square. One Turn card is a quarter turn, where it stands. That is the rule on paper and in Studio, and every par is counted by it.

A real duck

Walk and Turn cards on a duck are timed for now: two seconds each, and the duck does not land on board squares. Measured cards are being tested. So for now the board is played by people and in Studio, and a duck beside it is a trial.

Measured cards

Measured cards walk until the duck's own odometry says one 30 cm square and turn until it says a quarter turn. They are being validated, in Pollen's simulator and then on testers' ducks, before they are switched on.

Squares for people

Tape the board on the floor in 30 cm squares, so a student playing the duck can stand in one. Or draw it on squared paper and walk a finger.

The challenges.

Easiest first. Print this page and it prints these cards and nothing else, four to a sheet, ready to cut. Choose Actual size or 100%.

  1. Loop the course 1 of 10

    Fetch the bread

    Par 3 cards

    Here the score is cards, not steps. Count every card between Start and End.

    Grades 3 to 5. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com

  2. Loop the course 2 of 10

    Down the long dock

    Par 3 cards

    Four Walk forward cards say the same thing four times. Is there a card that says it once?

    Grades 3 to 5. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com

  3. Loop the course 3 of 10

    Who moved the bread?

    Par 6 cards

    This row bumps into something. Act it out, card by card, and stop where the duck goes wrong.

    Find the bug. This row, between Start and End, does not solve it. Swap one card to fix it.

    1. Walk forward
    2. Walk forward
    3. Turn left
    4. Walk forward
    5. Walk forward
    6. Walk forward

    Grades 3 to 5. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com

  4. Loop the course 4 of 10

    Round the pond

    Par 5 cards

    The duck walks all the way round and comes home. What part of the walk happens again and again?

    Grades 3 to 5. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com

  5. Loop the course 5 of 10

    Stepping stones

    Par 6 cards

    Each stone is one up and one across. Say one step of the stairs, then repeat it.

    Grades 3 to 5. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com

  6. Loop the course 6 of 10

    Stones the wrong way

    Par 6 cards

    The loop is almost right. Act out the first time round and watch which way the duck faces at the end.

    Find the bug. This row, between Start and End, does not solve it. Swap one card to fix it.

    1. Repeat 3
    2. Walk forward
    3. Turn right
    4. Walk forward
    5. Turn right
    6. End repeat

    Grades 3 to 5. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com

  7. Loop the course 7 of 10

    The big corner

    Par 6 cards

    Walk a side, turn, walk a side, turn. A Repeat can hold another Repeat.

    Grades 3 to 5. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com

  8. Loop the course 8 of 10

    Lap and hello

    Par 7 cards

    Go all the way round the lake and say hello when you are home. Does Hello go inside the loop, or after it?

    Finish with

    Hello

    Grades 3 to 5. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com

  9. Loop the course 9 of 10

    Snake through the reeds

    Par 14 cards

    Find the part of the path that happens twice. It has two straight runs in it.

    Grades 3 to 5. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com

  10. Loop the course 10 of 10

    The lap that went wrong

    Par 6 cards

    The duck bumps on the very first corner. Which card in the loop turns it, and which way should it turn?

    Find the bug. This row, between Start and End, does not solve it. Swap one card to fix it.

    1. Repeat 4
    2. Repeat 4
    3. Walk forward
    4. End repeat
    5. Turn left
    6. End repeat

    Grades 3 to 5. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com

Lessons.

Each one fits a class period with paper only.

Loops

Say it shorter

Solve Down the long dock with plain cards, then again with Repeat and End repeat, writing the number in Repeat's box. The score is cards: count every card between Start and End, Repeat and End repeat included.

Ask: when does a Repeat save cards, and when does it cost one?

Patterns

Find what repeats

Before laying cards for Round the pond, trace the path with a finger and say each move aloud. Circle the part you said again and again. That part goes between Repeat and End repeat.

Ask: how did you decide where the loop starts?

Debugging

Find the bug

Hand out the buggy row for Who moved the bread? Groups act it out, find the one wrong card, and fix the row with a single swap. Then do the same for Stones the wrong way, where the wrong card sits inside a loop.

Ask: why does one wrong card inside a loop go wrong more than once?

Nested loops

A loop inside a loop

The big corner and Lap and hello need a Repeat inside a Repeat. Unroll one on paper: write out every card the duck does, in order, and count them. Then count the cards you laid.

Ask: how many steps does the duck take for each card you laid?

Parameters

Slow by the reeds

Speed and Look cards go under a card and change how it moves, not where. On the board they change nothing, and each one costs a card. Add Slow under one walk and Look left under another, and watch the score.

Ask: if a card costs a point and does not move the duck, why would you lay it?

Take the pack.

The whole pack is one file in the open duck-pack/0 format. Duck Cards, from microduckstudio.com, CC BY 4.0.