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After eight years of working at the Museum I am finally moving on to teach at a local school in Pittsburgh. The video above does a good job of demonstrating my experience at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. I spent a lot of time having fun, trying new things and meeting new people (and sitting on the floor). I have been around since before MAKESHOP started. From it’s humble beginnings in the Garage ex

It’s now the beginning of September and most schools are back in session. In honor of the new school year, I wanted to start sharing some videos we shot last summer with Pittsburgh-area educators. What does it mean to be a maker? Why make in schools? Why make at all? In this first short video, a middle school teacher, university professor, community educator and curriculum coordinator each present some of the c

YouthALIVE is an afterschool club for middle schoolers that takes place at the Museum. A few weeks ago, we encouraged the students to do some simple digital programming projects.  The students explored with 3D printing, our EggBot, and Scratch. Scratch (you can access their website here) is an amazing program developed by MIT.  Scratch is a a great way for children to explore simple computer programming.  The interfa

MAKESHOP is not a static exhibit.  It changes to accommodate a variety of activities and programs, such as schools groups, guest makers, play-testing, meetings, photo shoots, themed activities, etc.  Tables get moved, messes are made (and cleaned up), things are broken (and fixed), and everyone has fun. We made a time-lapse video of the workshop side of MAKESHOP over the span of an entire week.  We borrowed a special

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 kids and designed as hands on experiences in science, tech

We have finally gone beyond the prototyping stage of Light Painting.  Rebecca explained a lot about the process in this blog post.  I have had some more time to set up the workshop side of MAKESHOP to better facilitate light painting with our visitors.  The exploration of this technique is really fun.  I have had kids and adults of all ages try light painting and they have all enjoyed it.  You can get some pretty fun