Putting Gears on the Wall
My gear prototype has now gone vertical. A project is never finished, you can always change something or introduce a new variable. I decided to try out our gear setup in a different location in the MAKESHOP. I ended up mounting the entire structure to the wall with some hangers, zip-ties, and magnets. I don’t like it when things stay…
Animation in the MAKESHOP
Each month, MAKESHOP decides on a theme to help us pick and develop activities. This month our theme is “time.” Stop-motion animation takes time to experience. It also lets you manipulate the timing of pictures, so we decided to do some stop-motion animation this month. Our stop-motion machine got a little bit of an upgrade. The controls are still housed…
Masks!
Our theme for the month of October is identity. We’ve decided to explore this theme by creating masks and costumes. A mask is a great way to change your persona. We’ve spent the past couple of days experimenting with different materials and designs. As usual, we invite our visitors to share in this prototyping process. You can learn a lot…
Halloween came early…
We started prototyping some projects for October acouple of days ago. It was really hard not to go with a Halloween theme. Alexis and I spent the morning creating some DIY decorations for the MAKESHOP. I figured that it would be really cool to add some electronics to some simple cardboard decorations. As always, this process of prototyping programming is…
Andrew’s Shield
Andrew is an interesting visitor. He typically has a plan for exactly what he wants to do or make at the Museum. The really fascinating thing is that his projects typically span the course of several visits to the Museum. He brings his projects back to improve them or build newer versions. He has a real knack for prototyping. This…
Circuit Experiments
We have been working on some new circuit block prototypes lately. Christian is working on a motorized generator that is constructed out of an old bike. Nick built a really cool circuit puzzle using conductive tape. These projects have really got us thinking about the future possibilities of our circuit blocks. I attempted to build a matching game that utilized…
Playing with Gears
I was asked by a fellow teacher to create something that facilitates the exploration of gears. Gears can be tricky for children to understand, so I thought it was a great challenge! After an extremely informal brainstorming session with Christian, I came up with this activity. I have to thank Christian for passing by during the day and suggesting that…
Robot Fabrication
Robots are a common theme here at MAKESHOP. We have robot sculptures overlooking our area. We live in what is ostensibly the robot capital of America. On her last day, one of our summer interns made a robot pillow to remember us by. Robots are, let’s face it, just plain awesome. Unfortunately, they also get repetitive after a while, which is why I’m always…
Prototyping New Programs
The MAKESHOP staff likes to prototype our programming. Sometimes this step can be the most fun part of developing new activities for our visitors. Our theme for the month of September is “Books and Bags.” We set out at the end of August to figure the best ways for visitors to create these two things. Along with the best ways…
MakerBot in MAKESHOP
We have a new toy in MAKESHOP — a MakerBot Replicator 3D printer! It’s on loan to us from the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, and we finally broke it out to play with it! Calling this machine a “printer” isn’t entirely accurate: this isn’t a printer like the one on the corner of your desk or even…