Soldering with Middle School

Having a dedicated MakerSpace gave me a safe place to experiment with soldering in my Middle School classes.  Students were introduced to soldering through several different projects. We started by watching soldering tutorials from Adafruit which were great! (Collin's Lab: Soldering https://learn.adafruit.com/collins-lab-soldering?view=all)
My 6th graders started experimenting with the Weevile Eye soldering kit from Sparkfun. (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10723) 
While this was a fun project, it was a bit more precise than I would have liked for a first project.  Other middle schoolers in my club soldered together random electronics parts to make various characters.  This was a better project since it allowed more flexibility and freedom of choice.  Once they got the hang of it, they were more apt to want to take on projects that required soldering for more of a traditional purpose.