RoboCup Rescue has a set of tiles you reuse to set up different fields: http://www.robocupjunior.org.au/rescue

I've always wanted to do a robot drag race / hill climb challenge.  Could do a lot of things with something like that:
- center of gravity
- impact of different wheels (friction, speed)
- gearing for torque/speed
- have a "gate" to start so when the touch sensor is released the robots start

Ashburn Robotics in the NoVa area tried Sumobots a while ago.  Not sure if they were still doing it, but the rules make for an interesting challenge for kids: http://legacy.ashburnrobotics.com/?page_id=170

Here are some other ideas I've collected (just a dump of links, you'll have to click through and see if they make since / still exist):

Some ideas:
Ways to practice at home:

Buying Options

Custom Printing

4x8 for LEGO table:

3x5 or custom for Art Tables
Line Following Tutorials
Deep Space Terraformers
http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/previews/nxt_products/terraformers/terra_print_preview.htm



On Mon, Nov 23, 2015 at 5:39 AM, Amy [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
One thing that we did during the off-season that the kids really loved was to get together with a couple other teams in our area once a month to learn programming.  Each team brought a programming challenge to share with the other teams and they spent a couple hours trying to solve it.  It was a lot of fun.  You could have your kids reach out to other teams in your area to see if there's interest.  It's a great way to teach Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition as well.

Good luck,
Amy 



On Sunday, November 22, 2015 11:52 PM, Frank Levine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


My $0.02 -

* Have them watch YouTube videos of other robots doing this year's challenge and see if they can emulate any clever ideas they see.  They can learn a lot that way.

* Spend some time teaching them about proportional control.  It's good for all sorts of stuff in FLL.

* Challenge them to redesign their strategy to use different sensors.  If they used color sensors and the gyro, challenge them to try to build something that uses the ultrasonic sensor and touch sensors.

* Keep an eye out on this list - you'll often times see requests for teams to come exhibit their robots at various events in the area

-Frank



On Sun, Nov 22, 2015 at 11:20 PM, Haihao Wu <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi all,

Our rookie team had a blast participating in the tournaments.  In the 2 months leading to the competition, they developed great interest in Mindstorms programming and problem solving.  I thought it will be a waste if they do little with their new-found enthusiasm until next September.  Would appreciate any suggestions from the seasoned teams on what activities you've tried that can maintain or even increase 4th/5th graders' interest throughout the year.

Many thanks!

Haihao
To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or leave the list".
VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ANNOUNCEMENTS-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-announcements-l.html to subscribe.

To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or leave the list".
VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ANNOUNCEMENTS-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-announcements-l.html to subscribe.


To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or leave the list".
VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ANNOUNCEMENTS-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-announcements-l.html to subscribe.

To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or leave the list".
VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ANNOUNCEMENTS-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-announcements-l.html to subscribe.