Junk Pile Party!
Sunday, March 11, 3:00 pm One man’s junk is another man’s fast and furious maker contest! Two family teams will face off to build the most exciting solution to this month’s challenge – SHELTER – from a ramshackle supply of drills, duct tape, junk, treasure and a sewing machine! Hosted by hilarious maker Dave English and filmed before a live…
An experience in animation
I decided it was high time to start prototyping our stop-motion animation program once again. To be honest, I really wanted an excuse to play with the program myself. I decided to do some stop-motion drawing with a dry-erase board. The setup I built for the activitiy wasn’t pretty or professional, but my crude setup did not detract Thomas and…
Youth Alive: Survival Kit Project
Over the past several weeks, students from the Museum’s YouthALIVE after school program worked on a very interesting design challenge. The kids were tasked with creating a “survival kit” for someone stranded on a deserted island. They were afforded time in the MakeShop to design and create the objects for their kits. The students worked in teams and were given…
Inspire Young Makers!
The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, with funding from the Grable Foundation and support from The Sprout Fund and The Pittsburgh Foundation, will provide “Maker” micro grants to organizations who work with children and youth. Micro Grants of up to $5,000 are available to support programs that engage Youth Makers, children aged 7 to 17, in the hands-on design and production…
Craft Stick Explosions
The staff of the MAKESHOP loves to have fun with our visitors. A couple of weeks ago, a bunch of us were introduced to a project known as a “Craft Stick Explosion.” We were trying to do some simple weaving with craft sticks for some of our younger visitors. We discovered a project that allows you to weave craft sticks…
Behind the Scenes of WHEELS
A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about the prototyping we were doing for some of the components of our new exhibit Wheels! The pictures above give a behind the scenes look at the exhibit being constructed. The little plastic skate ramp we prototyped has transformed into a massive installation. Our workshop is full of wheels. I cannot wait…
Persistent Sculptures
A couple of days ago a brother and sister visited the MAKESHOP several times. They created a couple of interesting projects. What was really interesting was the amount of times they visited the MAKESHOP in one day. They continued to work on their projects on and off throughout the day. The younger brother worked on an “on-going” sculpture that posed…
Functionality
During one of our open woodworking sessions, a young girl approached me and explained that she wanted to build an hour glass. I asked her why she wanted to build that specific project. She told me about how her younger brother broke the hour glass from one of her board games. She was hoping to create a new one in…