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In February, we began working on a collaborative quilt in MAKESHOP. I wrote about it almost two months ago here. Here’s our update: it’s finished! It has been a true labor of love shared by so many people and an amazing learning experience. I wanted to share some updated photos of the process and getting it hung on the wall. We began by cutting 5×5 inch squares out of scrap fabric. We provided fabric

Every once and a while we decide to totally transform MAKESHOP to meet the needs of a specific activity. For the past couple of months we had been brainstorming some way to play around with ramps and “Rube Goldberg Machines” in our space. Around the end of December we were given a donation of hundreds of cardboard tubes. We took this as a sign that we should come up with some kind of ramp activity soon. O

Over the last couple weeks, MAKESHOP began a quilting project. Everyone was invited to create a 5×5 inch square to add to our collaborative quilt. It has been a fun opportunity to learn all kinds of sewing techniques: from learning to thread a needle to operating a sewing machine. The response has been amazing; it looks like it’s going to be a big quilt! There are so many different ways to embellish each square

A couple of weeks ago we let our visitors explore ramps on a very large scale. We cleared out a large space in MAKESHOP and let adults and kids explore with cardboard tubes, tape and ping pong balls. Photos don’t really do this activity justice. Below are several videos highlighting some of the more interesting creations during our ramp experiment. This was a ramp that I assembled with the help of several kids.

MAKESHOP is an exhibit at the Museum.  It is primarily a space for visitors to use.  But it is used for other things too.  The space is often used as a meeting place for educators and community leaders here in Pittsburgh. These meetings are a great way for people from various schools and organizations to share ideas and plan for the future.  Topics range from creative curriculum creation to teacher professional devel

A couple of weeks ago a group of Kindergarteners and their Eighth Grade Buddies visited the Museum to explore the process of weaving.  They were furthering their exploration of the history of Native Americans by learning some of the culture’s creative processes. The Eighth Graders and Pre-K students built their own cardboard looms and practiced weaving with pieces of yarn.  They also got a chance to explore our