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What is a Makey Makey?  It is actually kind of hard to describe in words.  Essentially it is a switch that uses anything conductive to replace the keys on a standard keyboard.  There is much more information on the Makey Makey website. The Makey Makey is our newest toy in MAKESHOP.  As I mentioned, the Makey Makey is a variable switch that replaces a standard keyboard and allows you to interface with a computer using

At the beginning of June, MAKESHOP™ welcomed four Maker Corps Members. This summer, you can find them working at Children’s  Museum of Pittsburgh and bringing MAKESHOP™ experiences on the road.  Through the Maker Education Initiative, they will engage children and families in creative projects, while gaining experience serving as leaders in the community.  Meet Maker Corps Member Lindsay, who creates beautiful miniat

We decided to do a big community project at the end of May.  The Museum sees a record number of visitors this time of year due to school field trips.  We felt that a big group project would be fun for all of these groups to add to.  We always have  a ton of recycled materials in MAKESHOP, and what better way to use these materials, than to build a giant cardboard city! We set up the workshop space as a landscape (wit

  First things first: The Andrew Bayne Memorial Library is an absolutely beautiful building.  I had the opportunity to visit this amazing location with our new Maker Corps Members (Sam, Lauren, Lindsay and Nick).  The library is located in an old mansion which is surrounded by a lovely park.  The entire second floor is dedicated to children’s education, and that’s where we spent the majority of our t

A couple of weeks ago we built a really big and a really interesting cardboard city in MAKESHOP.  The one thing the city was missing was a cardboard version of the Museum. A collaboration between Derek, Alison and myself helped create this miniature version of one of the most fun places in Pittsburgh.  I especially had fun creating a small version of Ned Kahn’s Cloud Arbor which resides in the new Buhl Park out

It was around three o’clock in the afternoon when Katie came into MAKESHOP with an old pair jeans in tote.  She explained to me that the jeans had holes in them and her mom wanted to throw them out.  Instead, Katie brought the jeans to the Museum to turn them into something new.  Katie has been to MAKESHOP before, so she was confident about what could be done.  She consulted me, Derek, and Amy about what she sh