Written by Last week I decided to ask our lunchtime Art Clubs what materials they would like to see in our ‘Makerspace’ (more about our Art Club below). The overwhelming answer was, you guessed it, SLIME. Nope! Not happening. On the other hand, there were some really great suggestions. Some students wanted knitting materials, stickers, buttons, and even a sewing machine. You can see some of these suggestions in the image below. I’ve been doing some research on the important items to have in a Makerspace. It seems like we’re on the right track but still have a long way to go. What do you love having in your Makerspace?
More about Art Club:
The art room is open from 12:15PM – 1:00PM three days per week. Students are invited to come to the art room on a specific day according to their grade (for example, Grades 4-5 can come on Thursday). Students signed up for Art Club at the beginning of the year but can choose which weeks they would like to come and which weeks they would like to go out to recess. Students eat lunch in the art room. They are allowed to use any of the materials on our ‘Makerspace’/materials shelf, our building cart, our fabric bins, and our recycled materials bins. There are a few items that students can only use if they create a sketch first of what they would like to create. Model Magic is one of those materials. At the end of Art Club, students can store whatever they are working on in our art room cubbies, or take their work home with them. This is the first year we have tried this and it gets better and better each week!
Andrea, I might be having a light bulb moment. My 3D Design club and Art club could potentially join forces to make a super club. I would love to drop by this week for Art Club and have a chat.
I also found this article on some “must haves” for maker clubs. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-07-13-what-to-put-in-your-makerspace-and-how-to-pay-for-it
Super club!!! I love it.
This sounds amazing, Afzal! Let’s talk!
@ahughes makes sure you talk to @ashaikh about tools and materials that might not be on your art radar. He has some awesome new “cardboard” cutting and fastening equipment you are going to want to take a look at.
Thanks, Justin! I can’t wait to check them out.
Hi @ahughes I think Justin is referring to the Makedo, our littles LOVE it – they have built cardboard cities! We have a few dash and dot robots, makey makey’s, a vertical lego wall, 3D pens, loads of Balsam wood, hand held cutters with degree measurement to allow for different cuts, wallpaper samples, carpet samples,
Bloxels – a board that kids create video games with using an iPad. These are a few of our Maker Space curator’s favourites!
Have fun!
Lisa, this is amazing information! Thank you so much for your help. I am currently opening many tabs on my computer to check out all of this awesomeness.
Not sure if this is reading too much into your post, @ahughes, but @sthompson just recently wrote a post about how our students aren’t necessarily always the best judges of what they need. (Read it here: https://cohort21.com/sarahthompson/2018/11/16/do-they-really-know-their-own-needs/)
Maybe asking for slime in art club isn’t the same as wanting to have no homework, ever, but it does raise an important question. To what extent do we encourage student choice and autonomy and where do we make the decisions as trained educators?
I love this, Jennifer. It’s very true. I think students and teachers are looking at these questions from very different perspectives. Many of my students had nothing to say when I asked them about their needs. It wasn’t until I began prompting them with ideas that they starting responding with “Oh yeah! That would be good”. I also wonder, maybe we don’t ask students enough what they need from us. They are not used to answering a question like that.