Crafting as Making

Maker Spaces are popping up all over, particularly in independent schools.  Some have more of a robotics engineering focus, some incorporate projects more typical of an art classroom.  In my middle school classes at Dana Hall, I wanted my students to begin to see themselves as makers, and I gave them a wide range of materials to work with.  They had some instruction where they needed it but they also had time to explore and make what they were interested in.  

Crafts: 

My students loved to make things with craft materials.  We went through a LOT of popsicle sticks, glue sticks, ping pong balls and material. I wondered sometimes if they were taking full advantage of the space, but then I saw their projects begin to take on more detail, more complexity and more importance. Upon returning for a visit this year, a former student ran up to me very excited to tell me she had finally mastered her fear of hot glue.  This seems a small victory for some, but this had been a milestone for her.  I believe craft materials have their place and makes for a non-threatening way for some to get into making.

LEDs and Simple Circuits

Students incorporated LED lights and created simple circuits into their craft projects as a next step in their making process.  Some of these projects were done as a group in class or in a club while others were done independently with free time in the MakerSpace.

Monsters and Plush animals with LED circuits
This project was inspired by a posted MIT project. (http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~emme/monsters.pdf)
Students designed their own plush toy and incorporated LED lights in some way.  The tutorial from MIT was helpful, but it skipped over the fact that the circuit would need to be turned off and on, and the battery needed to be accessible for replacement.  Students found several solutions for this such as a removable patch on the back, or a simple snap sewn into the circuit as a switch.  Sewing was difficult for some and getting wires crossed while sewing with conductive thread caused some frustration.  We experimented with using thin wire instead of thread for some of the circuit and incorporating some other Lillypad sewing products from Sparkfun (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14528)in addition to the Lily tiny specified in the MIT materials. (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10899)

Paper/Velum and LED Designs
5th graders were tasked with incorporating simple circuits of coin cell batteries and LED lights into a paper project of some kind that would be enhanced with a single source of light. We used Lillypad parts from Sparkfun to keep things as flat as possible.