Author: woodshopcowboy

Classroom Project, Education, Home Makerspace, Maker Project, Small Projects, WoodworkingLeave a comment

Home #Makerspace: A DIY Carrom or Marbles Game Board!

woodshopcowboy

This week, we built a game board which you can customize to play marbles, skittles, carrom, billiards, pool, shuffleboard, crokinole and more!

My game board features two games, marbles and carrom.  Marbles has been played for thousands of years in various forms.  Carrom is a “strike and pocket” game that evolved in East India.  Both games provide hours of entertainment for young kids during rainy days and family game nights.  Carrom Company of Ludington, MI has a 100-in-1 version of this board that many, many grown kids remember.

This game board uses vinyl stickers for decoration, 45 degree miters reinforced with pin nails and grooves.  This construction technique can be used to make large playing surfaces.  I used the same technique to make The DIY Knock Hockey project a few weeks ago, and it will show up in next week’s project.

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3D printing, CAD Lab, Computer Programmning, Maker Eduation, Making a Makerspace, This Week In the ClassroomLeave a comment

#MakerEd in the Classroom: Exploring #3DPrinting FAQs & Resources

woodshopcowboy

This week I will answer some of the most common questions about 3D printing I get asked as a Maker Educator by administrators and classroom teachers.  Last summer, I published a similar guide for the Home #Makerspace!

3D Printing FAQ

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Home Makerspace1 Comment

Home #Makerspace: DIY Drain Pipe Regatta (or Rain Gutter Regatta)

woodshopcowboy

On a hot summer day, nothing beats a cool, breezy scientific adventure.  The Drain Pipe Regatta is a great investment for a classroom or backyard exploring space, as it helps teach the basics of fluid dynamics, buoyancy, motion and transfer of power.  Connections to the great sailing ages in history, from the Polynesians exploring the Pacific, to Columbus’s crossing of the Atlantic, to the great whalers and galleons of Napoleonic Europe abound.  This project is the base for a great mix of artistic creativity and scientific inquiry.Drain Pipe Regatta

Boats can be made with nearly any craft material.  I have made origami boat challenges, foam board & skewer boats and water bottle boats.  Tweaks can be made with each regatta to reflect learning goals, materials or kids interests.  The Cub Scouts of America hold a raingutter regatta every year.  Scouts design small sail boats and race them down a 10 foot section of rain gutter.

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Pirate-themed get-togethers optional.

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Home Makerspace, This Week In the Shop, Tool PrimerLeave a comment

Tool Primer: Understanding Common Glues for #Maker Project

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GLUESooner or later during a Maker project, you have to stick it together.  You need glue.  Better yet, you need the right glue.

 

Some glues are formulated to work best porous materials such as paper, wood, or leather.  Some are made to work between two different substrates, say plastic and metals.  Some are made for smooth, hard materials.  Knowing the difference can be the difference between a success and failure in the Home #Makerspace. Continue reading “Tool Primer: Understanding Common Glues for #Maker Project”

Home Makerspace, Small Projects, Woodworking, Woodworking1 Comment

Home #Makerspace: DIY Knock Hockey Set

woodshopcowboy

When the ice melts from the first burst of spring, the hockey fun doesn’t have to stop.  Take hockey inside with DIY Knock Hockey, a wood table-top game which makes for hours and hours of fun.

DIY Knock Hockety

This tutorial utilizes a table saw to create the necessary rabbets and miter joints.  These are great intermediate table saw skills to learn, practice and utilize in your work flow.  Strong, clean joinery really sets your project apart from the pack.  While kid-focused, this project isn’t really designed to be made with young maker help.

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I use this game to help teach basic concepts of physics, such as momentum, rebound angles, and friction.  Game play teaches turn-taking and sportsmanship.  Lastly, the rules are incredibly simple…but “house” rules unleash cooperative play and teach fairness.

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Home Makerspace, Outdoor Projects, This Week In the Shop, WoodworkingLeave a comment

This Week in the Shop: The 2×6 #Bike Rack

woodshopcowboy

diy-bike-rack-1

This week I designed and built a quick bike rack to store my young children’s custom bikes from two 2×6’s.  You can check out the two bikes in the DIY Bike Build.

 

 

This project uses the table saw, miter saw and impact drill.  A very basic design, it uses a number of my favorite “great-to-have” materials, such as 2 1/2” exterior wood screws and 2x pine for quick construction.

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Home #Makerspace: Slingshot #Scouting Project

woodshopcowboy

sling-shotHere’s a project that comes with a liability warning: a child can get hurt, very hurt, using this project.  The slingshot is a weapon and should be treated as such.  This project is only appropriate for outdoor use, closely supervised by an adult.  While young children are more than capable of physically using a slingshot, that doesn’t mean they should.  You have to judge your child’s readiness. By building this project, you are accepting responsibility for anything that happens.dsc_4547

But when you are ready…dsc_4579

…fire away! (Down range, away from people and property, with appropriate safety gear on.)

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