Makerspaces have finally hit the mainstream. Even churches, schools, and libraries are incorporating makerspaces into their facilities so that community members; especially kids, can tinker, build, and hack toys, devices, and more to make something new. A Google search confirms the craze– the term makerspace returns 44,800 results. Beyond makerspaces, though, is the idea of [...]
Posted in Activities, Art, Back to School, Homeschool, Make, Online Tools 
Tags: Art, DIY, hand-made, homeschool, make, makerspace, Project-based learning, tinkering 
Comments OffWhat a fabulous idea! DIY.org is an online community solely for kids (and their parents) to showcase their maker chops. Free to join, DIY.org gives kids tools to collect everything they make as they grow up and a place to share it. Founded by a group of young men who make all sorts of things, the [...]
Posted in Activities, Make, News, Online Tools Tags: craft, DIY, Do-it-yourself, homeschool, make, Project-based learning Comments Off
Yoonseo Kang was a member of his high school Robotics team. He thought he might like to study engineering and economics in college and his family was looking forward to his successful college career. However, according to an interview by MAKE, Yoonseo watched the Open Source Ecology’s (OSE) founder Marcin Jakubowski’s TEDTalk and decided to take [...]
Posted in Back to School, Design, Economics, Electronics Tags: alternative education, invent, make, MIT, Open source, TED, Thiel Fellowship Comments Off
Regardless of your plans this summer, its always fun to make stuff. We’ve found several really easy Origami projects that even younger children will enjoy. Best of all, the resulting art is functional and beautiful. Our favorite project is the box with lid. Not only are these little boxes attractive, they are great for gift-giving, [...]
Posted in Activities, Art, Back to School, Make, Math Tags: Art, make, origami, paper crafts, summer crafts Comments OffCheck out some of the cool projects we’ve collected (from Spottybanana and beyond). We created a tidy Pinterest board for our reader’s convenience. What is Pinterest? If you don’t know, you should probably head over there now and find out about the fastest-growing social sharing site on the internet. If you know about Pinterest, head [...]
Hacking with electronics is an important part of the maker culture. With the open source Arduino prototyping platform, young people are creating increasingly sophisticated and interesting “hacks” that deal with cameras, computers, and more. What better way to learn about design, engineering, and technology than through electronics! As fans of both the maker culture and electronics, [...]
Posted in Design, Electronics, technology Tags: Adafruit, Altoids tins, Arduino, binary, Breadboarding, Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, make, resistor color codes Comments OffUnschoolers are radical mavericks who approach learning 180 degrees in the opposite direction from traditional education. Unschoolers learn in an unstructured environment almost completely devoid of teachers, separate subjects, grades, tests, or quizzes. Instead, unschoolers hack together their learning palette from many sources to create a truly personal learning experience. Unschoolers are active learners who [...]
Posted in Crowdsource, Eclectic Homeschooling, Economics, Electronics, Interdisciplinary, Learning Methods, Make, News, social change Tags: DIY, Hack, make, maker, Maker culture, Open source, Tim O'Reilly, UnCollege, Unschooling Comments Off
SpottyBanana loves project-based learning. We can’t think of a better way to showcase project-based learning than through chronicling a maker project. MAKE’s Zero to Maker column is chronicling newbie maker David Lang’s project-based learning approach to gaining Do-It-Yourself (DIY) skills. Follow David as he progresses from novice to maker phenom! At the bottom of the [...]
Posted in Back to School, Interdisciplinary, Learning Methods, Make Tags: child-led learning, DIY, hands-on learning, make, maker, Project-based learning Comments Off4th Generation iPod touch devices are amazing. The latest version of the iPod touch comes standard with a built in microphone, digital camera and a video camera. If the camera and video camera weren’t cool enough by themselves, just attach an inexpensive mini microsope to create a portable, inexpensive scientific exploration tool any young learner [...]
Posted in Eclectic Homeschooling, Electronics, Make, Science, technology Tags: Apple, Biology, Hack, How-to, IPod Touch, ipod touch microscope, make, microscope, mini microscope, Science Comments OffIf you are a reading family or just have tons of reference books for your home learning library, you’ll like this project. It’s a fun project, so don’t make just one bookmark. Get the family to make their very own bookmarks, or just have the kids create one for each family member. The great thing [...]
