Maker Corps is Back!
Hello there! We are Kai (left) and Caide (right), your new Maker Interns this summer. Today we completed our first week of pop-up workshops and we are already having so much fun. Between playing with the maker kits on our own (for practice, of course), and leading our first library workshops, this summer is shaping up to be a great one!
We were a bit nervous at the start, but everyone at the libraries has been friendly and welcoming. We began our week at Pinney Library where we tinkered with the Mystery Boxes maker kit. A handful of kids and their guardians showed up. Someone made a “thingamajig.” One girl made a spinning top game:
And someone else made a robot with a cup holder for a hand:
It was great to watch the kids engage with the random objects (pipe cleaners, paper fasteners, packing peanuts, cardboard, etc.) in the boxes, and create interesting artifacts with them. Kai’s favorite part of the day was hearing kids wonder aloud about how to fix or change something on their creation before they tried it.
The next day, we split off to our different locations. Caide went to Hawthorne Library to make paper puppets. The crowd at Hawthorne was much younger, but most kids were still able to fold their paper into all kinds of creations. There were pirate puppets, puppets with rainbow feathers, twisted pipe cleaner tongues, and even a puppet with a fancy hat.
It was incredible to watch the materials come alive and watch the puppets develop their own personalities and skills. Caide loved how excited the kids got about their own creations, wanting to show everyone their newest additions and making up the puppet’s natural habitats.
Kai spent time at Alicia Ashman Library on Tuesday in the children’s section. We played with the Things that Fly maker kit, and made paper airplanes and catapults out of popsicle sticks. There were a lot of beautifully decorated airplanes that we took turns flying toward a paper target. The catapults were more difficult to make than the airplanes, but that challenge led to problem solving and collaboration. Some kids decided not to make paper airplanes or catapults at all. One girl made the letters A, L, and T, to represent the first initial of her and her siblings. Another girl made little popsicle stick people. Kai was amazed by the kids’ imaginations and ingenuity. She can’t wait to be there next week with the Paper Puppets kit!
On Thursday Caide went to Lakeview to make things with keva planks- thin, long, wooden blocks with endless possibilities. Although the crowd was small, most kids who filtered through the teen room built incredible towers, houses, roller coasters, and a structure that controls the sky.
One of Caide’s favorite moments was when a long chain of blocks set up like dominoes fell before the kids were ready, but instead of getting frustrated, the fallen dominoes became a slanted wall that gradually flattened to the floor.
And of course, there was the mighty Wonder Tower with an amazing outside and inside structure. We can't wait for the rest of the summer! Check out our full schedule of locations and times at http://madisonbubbler.org/make-something-at-your-library/
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