Hosting a Maker Day

Programs

Over spring break this year my library focused on maker and STEAM based activities – we called it Make Your Break! The highlight of the event was a drop-in all ages Maker Mania day where we let library users test, tinker, and try some tech tools and maker stuff. Our event was very successful, bringing in a crowd on a Wednesday afternoon.

What we did:

  • Set up stations for various hands-on activities. I provided a menu of what tech tools were available for tinkering.
  • Allowed for all ages, so families could come together.
  • Made it a drop-in event over two hours so families could come when it was convenient for them.
  • Had back up staff available in case of crowds or technology trouble shooting needs.

Successes: 

  • The menu and the stations worked really well. We had tools that would appeal to a wide variety of ages: Bee-Bots and the Osmo for the younger set – Sphero and Lego WeDo for older kids. Kids were able to check out what they were interested in and we had enough stuff for there never to be long lines (except for Sphero).
  • Having the event be for all ages worked wonderfully. That way families could attend the event with all their kids. I’ve found that parents and caregivers are very curious about anything STEAM related. This lets the parents try the tools with their kids and do a little tinkering themselves.

Challenges:

  • The Spero! Our library Sphero is having trouble holding it’s charge. Luckily we had a back up, which worked great, for an hour. But our program was two hours! Those who came at the end really didn’t get to try out the Sphero and well, that is just a bummer.
  • Staffing this type of even can be difficult. Luckily we had staff who was ready and willing to lend a hand. But if you are solo on your own, two hours of eight hands on activities might be a little overwhelming.

Overall this was a great event, and I’m really glad it went well. We also made sure to promote the Make Your Break activities to the schools and through our other outlets. This was key! Patrons who attended appreciated the opportunity to tinker and many asked if the materials would be circulating soon. Circulating STEAM and maker kits is the next step at my library and I can’t wait to get started on the project!

My Program Failure

Programs, True Confessions

To my great shame, my most memorable program failure involved my first attempt at robotics. I had heard about Bristle Bots (or brush bots), I read as much as I could find about them, and I had talked to staff at other libraries who had fun and successful Bristle Bots programs. It seems straightforward enough; adhere a little motor and battery to the head of a toothbrush, glue on some googly eyes, and watch it run around the table.

What went wrong

Things started going wrong in the days leading up to the program as I received the supplies and tried to make a sample project. The motors we had were too big, and the dollar store toothbrushes could not support them. In trying different methods to attach the batteries to the motors, I ended up draining some of the batteries and needed to go to the store to buy more.

At the time of the program, I still wasn’t happy with the project. I made the best of it by telling program attendees the problems with the design, and presenting it as a challenge to design a way to make it work. The closest we came to success was by fastening two toothbrush heads with adhesive foam strips, but we only got the tiniest of scoots before the batteries died or it tipped over. It wasn’t devastating, but it was disappointing.

Look at this sad thing:

Bristle Bot

What I learned

Having the right supplies is pretty important. We purchased the smallest motors we could find locally, but we should have gone online and perhaps bought these or these. By the time I realized the motors we had were too big it was too late to have smaller ones shipped. The whole thing was a learning experience for me, and after almost two years I will be attempting DIY robots again this summer. I’ll let you know how it goes!

What about you?

At Robot Test Kitchen we believe that learning is at its best when you are ready to fail forward. Do you have a program failure you’d be willing to share with Robot Test Kitchen readers? Contact us and tell us about it.

 

Ten Dollar Tuesdays: Engineering Challenge: Marble Runs

Guest post, Programs, Ten Dollar Tuesdays

We are happy to feature a guest post from Ann Carpenter!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Ann Carpenter is the Youth Services Librarian at the Brooks Free Library in Harwch, MA. Among many other programs, she runs a monthly Engineering Challenge for school aged children.

  • Program:

Engineering Challenge: Marble Runs

  • Age range:

Around 15-20 school aged kids can participate. More can be accommodated if you have them work in groups. Each group should have at least two pieces of foam.

  • Cost:

10 6 foot pipe foam pieces at $1 a piece. You will also need marbles and masking tape, but those are things I had around the library anyway.

  • Activity:

We talked about momentum demonstrating that a marble rolled along a mostly flat track will stop, but a marble rolled down an inclined track will keep going, and that marble rolled down a very steep track can build up enough momentum to keep going even uphill. Once they had the general idea, I gave them the first challenge: to build a roller coaster that allowed the marble to go up and over a hill. I purposefully make my first level of challenge relatively simple so that every child participating will have at least one success by the end of the program.

To accomplish their challenge the children were given pipe foam that I had cut in half lengthwise, forming a channeled track. The pipe foam was perfect for our purposes: very flexible for young hands to manipulate and very cheap at about $1 for a 6 ft tube, which provided 2 channels. I also OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAgave them access to lots of tape. Our second level of challenge was to create a loop-the-loop. I told the children who completed the second challenge that they could either do a free design, or they could try for two loop-the-loops. Most chose to try for two loops.

  • Difficulties and challenges:

One thing I noticed during this program was that it was not enough for the children to accomplish the task: they needed me to be a witness to their success. This meant running around the room quite a bit so that I could personally watch marbles rolling around the tracks. The looks of delight were definitely worth it. Emphasize that engineering is a process, and they may need to try out their design, then go back and make adjustments based on results.