Ruder Elementary fifth graders got the chance to team up with some their high school counterparts last week as the Columbia Falls High School Library hosted a “mini maker” fair.

It was the first time the school had put on the event, which offered a variety of learning stations, including robot coding, several building stations and even one where Ruder students had to defend a cardboard castle from water balloons hurled from a catapult built by high schoolers.

“We are trying to get them interested in technology and building things and doing hands-on, engaging activities,” first-year high school librarian Alia Hanson said. “It is also great for the high school students because it puts them in a leadership role with some of the younger kids.”

There were high schoolers involved from the maker space design lab class and the Google apps class as well as a number of volunteers from the Key Club.

“It’s taken a lot of planning, but it has been so much fun, for both the fifth graders and the high schoolers,” Hanson said.