Glowing Bots!
Every month we have a theme that helps us to decide on new activities for MAKESHOP. We spent the month of December making projects and exploring materials that GLOW. We had glow-in-the-dark fabric, UV LEDs, lots of holiday lights, light painting, and some glow-in-the-dark paint. I had the brilliant idea to combine some of the GLOW activities with a ShopBot…
Meet a Maker!
Meet Christian, the master of puns! Christian is one of our MAKESHOP Teaching Artists. Name: Christian Favorite color: Red (and black) How long have you been working at The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh? September 2011 When did you know you were a maker? I don’t think I identified myself as a “Maker” until recently. I’ve always made, tinkered, and disassembled things though. I…
Aircraft Carrier
Joseph was a really fun kid to meet. He was one of those visitors who seemed to fit right in at MAKESHOP. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted to create, but he came to a decision after he spent some time tinkering and exploring the materials. He first tinkered around with lighting up small LEDs with batteries. He eventually…
Re-purposing Old Parts
I decided to drastically change the xylophone that I built for MAKESHOP. While prototyping some ideas with a group of preschool students, some teachers and I noticed that they really enjoy filling up containers and dumping them out. They also really like to put things through holes and fit different size pieces together. I was unofficially commissioned to create a simple prototype…
MAKESHOP Show
Did you know that there is a MAKESHOP Show? The MAKESHOP Show is an online resource hub for kid makers ages 6-10 years old. They help YOU to get into maker culture through originally-produced project ideas and videos from the MAKESHOP™, links to exciting content elsewhere and downloadable resources for kids, parents, and teachers. All projects are voted on by…
Giving back
Here at MAKESHOP, we know it’s the season to give back to our community. If you are a regular reader of our blog, then you know that we have a floor loom, a machine that weaves fabric. Last year, a lovely couple donated their loom to MAKESHOP. We dusted it off, and with some light care, have been able to…
MAKEnight, December 6
MAKEnight is an event held after hours at the Museum where adults can visit the museum to make things and meet new people while enjoying some food by Bar Marco and drinks from Wigle Whiskey. We held our second MAKEnight on December 6, 2012 with a sold out crowd! If you missed it, then mark your calendars for the next one on February 7!…
FORTS
The weekend after Thanksgiving can be really, really busy at the Museum, so we decided to try something a little different with our visitors in MAKESHOP. The entire exhibit was cleared to make space for several forts. We split the exhibit space into four separate, specifically themed fort building areas. We also provided a walk way for visitors and…
Planning
The Museum can be a very busy place around the holidays. We generally try to have themed or special programming for our visitors to enjoy. The weekend after Thanksgiving, we decided to let the visitors build forts in MAKESHOP. The picture above is a good example of how we typically get ready for a weekend full of special programming in…
Family Fun
Ty and his sister spent a lot of time exploring animation. Actually, their entire family spent a lot of time exploring all of MAKESHOP. Their older brother was fascinated with the loom and spent most of his time weaving. Their siblings also had a blast exploring light painting. We experimented a lot with different light sources and different movement techniques….