LIBRARY AS MAKERSPACE

Recently the Children's Room hosted a Tinkering Tuesday that focused on electronic Mother's Day cards using conductive tape, a 3V battery, and a LED. The goal was to make something extra special for mom while learning about simple circuits. Science = Fun! I had practiced on a few cards beforehand experimenting with conductive paint and tape but only 1 LED. I had no problems except when using the paint (which I made myself). It takes a while to dry and it won't light up until it is.  Honestly I'd recommend the already made paint from BARE instead because the graphite I used to mix my own was expensive and unreliable. Due to drying times,  I concluded that the tape would be the easiest option available for our 1 hour program. I had gone into this feeling rather confident that we could tinker around and I would not limit the kids to certain design principles when making the circuit. I was quite surprised by the amount of difficulty and frustration the kids had felt...

Although I'm not a big home decorator, I have fallen in love with chalkboard and magnetic paints in my home.  Plain mugs, message boards or picture frames are getting a personal touch this holiday season. How does this fit into libraries? With the growing popularity of collaborative spaces between museums and children's rooms in libraries, there is a call for more interactive spaces between parents and their children with or without a librarian present. Old cork boards can be turned into over-sized refrigerator door art displays from patrons with magnetic frames and construction paper. What about making a chalk board to ask a question like what everyone is thankful for this year? and just leave out some chalk (in a well supervised area of course!). We all probably have some magnetic alphabet letters lying around. Why not re-create Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin? Just this past week I learned about taking it to a whole new level with conductive paint, which turns...