LIBRARY AS MAKERSPACE

After our leap into LED wearables with the candle bows, I thought it might be best to take a step back to the basics. Last month, I went to the Eliot School in Jamaica Plan for an Introduction to E-Textiles Class.  If you haven't ever been to the Eliot School, I highly recommend it if you are looking for something a bit out of the ordinary in crafting and hobby classes. What I also love is they do one day weekend classes, in case the weekly driving commitment is too much. Our goal of the class was to make a battery and bulb experiment. Don't know that is? Neither did I but it didn't involve hand sewing so I was pretty happy about that. I also thought it was funny that we were using the telephone wire that I bugged the AT&T guy to give us when I was younger for my wire bracelet business. Here is my video explanation: Photos: View from the back Tilt switch housing LEDs with compactors Tilt switch: The fish weight covered in steel wool and some e...

Just when I thought they couldn't surprise me any more, my Middle School group did it again. We held an Electronics Open House this afternoon to show the world the kinds of projects and areas of discovery we have been exploring this year in our Makerspace. They rose to the occasion by being ambassadors of making things and seemed to have fun, too. Soldering badges, Stop Motion with our ipads and iStop Motion software, Scratch programming, MaKeyMaKey goofiness (asparagus game controllers anyone?), how to build a basic electrical motor, and the ever-present "Take Apart Table"rounded out the activities. We had parents, kids, staff members, librarian friends from other towns come to see what we were doing.  Of course we hung our club banner by the door. Now if we could only interest some girls to join us.  But I'm working on a plan......!

For a full year, we have held a weekly tech session for young teens - mostly eighth grade boys. We played with Little Bits, Legos, MaKey MaKey, soldering, construction projects, programming challenges, and more. Though we regret girls haven't participated, we have some plans to grow in a more inclusive direction. More about that in another post. What we DID accomplish by holding weekly sessions,  was an experiment in content and form. We tried a variety of skill-building sessions, physical and intellectual challenges and learned a lot about what we can and cannot do in an after school setting at the public library. Today, we did a "dress rehearsal" for the Open House we are planning for next Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. - to which we hope many kids and adults come! Learning how things work is, ultimately more important to us then magically assembling things that fly, move, interact, etc. It's super seductive to merely assemble cool stuff, but we feel it is a...