Lewis and Clark Learns

Day 3 of Summer MakerKid's Camp was our cardboard creation day.  I truly think the entire week could have just focused on cardboard and the kids would have been thrilled.   (Something to consider for next year) Building a car for a mini figure Glue guns save the day Day 4 was a day of circuit exploration.  Kids worked in stations and really loved working with Mrs. Haynes' daughter in the LED card making station.  Anna taught the kids all about circuits and then using 3v batteries, LEDs and copper tape, they created a quick card that would light up.     Mrs. Haynes worked the littleBits station. LED cards with Anna Haynes littleBits with Mrs. Haynes Day 5 was a day of movie making.  Each pair of kids learned about stop-motion, selected/built characters, wrote a storyboard and filmed a great stop-motion video using the Lego Movie app.  This was a very busy day of wrapping up the week and unfortunately didn't get pics of t...

Today we started out with a building challenge where the kids could select their choice of materials. This is helpful to have going as the kids arrive at different times.    We then spent the next hour and a half working with a few different robots...we all loved Cubelets and our new BlueBots!  Sphero and Ollie were great fun also.  Mrs. Haynes and I have loved working with a smaller group of kids than usual.  We are noticing how differently kids approach the very same challenge and how they go about their work! Following those different stations, we all paired up and worked with Dash and all of the different attachments.  We were telling stories, launching catapults, writing songs with the Xylo app, and using legos to create cute Dash characters.   To end the day, we spent time on the kids' personal projects.  Time flies even though we have 3 hours.  We don't even stop to take any breaks!  Tomorrow we will be designing and ...

Today was the first session of a summer camp that Mrs. Haynes and I are running for Lewis & Clark Makers!  Each day this week from 9:00am-Noon kiddos in grades 2-5 are participating in a wide variety of experiences encouraging iteration, perseverance, thinking, creating, problem-solving and so many more life skills. We charged $125.00 for the week of camp and ALL funds will go right back into the MakerSpace via supplies and new materials. Our focus today was Lego Mania.  Kids worked with Lego WeDo and Lego Mindstorm (an 8 year old stated that the age requirement on Lego Mindstorm is wrong because you are supposed to be 10 to use them...he was currently on step 51 of 106 steps), Lego Movie Maker, Lego art, and wind powered Lego contraptions.  We are also building in time each day to work on a personal choice project.   Tomorrow's theme is Rockin' Robots.  We will be coding, problem-solving, and creating with our various robots...Dot, Dash, Sphero, Cu...

I am currently completing year two of running a MakerSpace in my library.  It is a constant struggle to make sure that materials are available and ready for upcoming builds and projects.  Here are a few ways that I have been able to keep up with the needs of our kids and the space.  Donations of recycled materials are an easy fix.  I have found that just letting families know what is needed at the beginning of the year seems to keep those materials coming in throughout the year.  Just today, there were 3 bags of recycled materials sitting by my mailbox in the office.  They contained tin cans, plastic water bottles, lots of paper towel and toilet paper rolls, and the ever popular duct tape.  I have also been gifted fabulous donations of yarn, fabric, and other craft materials.   Donor's Choose projects have been a great resource for our MakerSpace.  I have created and have fully funded 3 projects that range from sewing machines and ...