Learning What It Takes
Last weekend the MAKESHOP was visited by Chris Bandy, a wooden toy maker. Visitors were able to learn what it means to be a woodshop apprentice. While I was in the MAKESHOP, Chris and the visitors were busy working on wooden “tic, tac, toe” boards. There were various steps in the process that visitors could help with. There was sanding and…
Prototyping Animation in the MakeShop
We have been discussing the idea of introducing animation or video into the MakeShop. Stop-motion animation is always fun, but how do we implement it so that visitors can easily use it and interact with it in meaningful ways? Well, we brainstorm and prototype. We already had a very crude stop-motion program developed by Greg W. of the Exhibits Department….
This Week! Meet the Makers: Wooden Toy Making
See “trees transformed to toys” in the MakeShop as we welcome special guest maker Chris Bandy of Bandy Woodworks. Chris mills fallen trees from his father’s vineyard to make all natural, classic handmade toys. This Friday and Saturday, Nov. 25-26, from 10:00-4:30, see live demonstrations of woodworking and try sanding, planing, sawing and finished wood with natural beeswax! The MakeShop…
Young Professionals
We had a great family come into the Makeshop today. It was a group of boys, some of them were brothers and some of them were friends. They came all the way from Ohio because their oldest brother had a class assignment involved observation in the Museum. This group ended up staying in the Makeshop for almost the entire day….
YouthALIVE!
For the past month, the MakeShop team has been working with the Museum’s YouthALIVE! after school program. This program provides youth with meaningful learning activities and experiences that help them discover their potential, develop their talents and abilities and explore their interests. The MakeShop spends one day a week with these youth. It is our goal to get these young people…
A little structure and a lot of creativity
ShopBots are not entirely new for the Makeshop, but I still enjoy the project. I have done this project in many different ways: by myself, with a group of teachers, and with several classes. The one thing that I have never done is facilitated this project with visitors during a regular day at the Museum. Well, last week, we decided…
A simple story
The picture above is worth a thousand words. This group of visitors was a lot of fun to play with. They came into the MakeShop as we were setting up for an after school group. We had the entire shop set up for sewing. This group came in and immediately set about exploring everything we had to offer. They explored…