Category Archives: Maker Project

Home #Makerspace: The Bench Hook is a Secret Weapon for #Woodworkers

Bench hooks are portable work surfaces used to make basic woodworking tasks, such as crosscutting boards and drilling holes, easier to perform.  As a bonus, they help protect the surface of your woodworking bench from bumps and dings. In the makerspace, bench hooks can be used for numerous tasks and roles (such as a surfaceContinue reading “Home #Makerspace: The Bench Hook is a Secret Weapon for #Woodworkers”

Home #Makerspace: Halloween Pumpkin String Lights #3DPrinting #makered Project

Here’s a great “getting started” 3D printing project for young #MakerEd students. It combines rudimentary circuit knowledge, gross motor skills and safe tool use. It costs about $5 to make (excluding the cost of a 3D printer) and can be modified to fit any holiday, not just Halloween.

Home #Makerspace: Simple Kid’s Game Boards for Young Makers #Woodworking

This week, we made a quick foldable checkerboard inspired by my youngest child’s love of the game. This basic folding design can expanded and modified to play any board game. Just let your imagination run wild!

This project incorporates measuring, marking boards square, using a hand drill and hand saw, and an all natural, no-fuss stain (although it is stinky!). Super quick, super cheap and super easy for young makers between K – 3rd grade.

Home #Makerspace: Making Geometric Nets with Vinyl Cutter

In this project, young makers use a vinyl cutter to cut and score geometric nets, connecting 2D shapes to 3D prisms, polyhedrons, etc.  They learn to recognize the difference between two and three-dimensions, while also seeing a relationship between the two.  Lastly, this is a great opportunity for fine motor skill practice.  The plastic requiresContinue reading “Home #Makerspace: Making Geometric Nets with Vinyl Cutter”

Home #Makerspace: Miter Boxes for #Woodworking #Makered

Sometimes, young (and old…) woodworkers can use a little help sawing a board accurately, especially if the board must have a specific angle or length.  A miter box helps a woodworker saw a 90 or 45 degree angle into a piece of wood.  They are cheap to make, easy to modify and cut accurately. MiterContinue reading “Home #Makerspace: Miter Boxes for #Woodworking #Makered”

Home #Makerspace: The Bread Box Project #woodworking #makerEd

This quick project makes a great starter box for grown woodworkers, but it especially shines as an approachable young person skill builder.  This slick box teaches three major skills: measurement, accuracy in manufacture of parts and joinery.  A teacher or parent can use this simple project to differentiate between beginning, intermediate and expert woodworkers byContinue reading “Home #Makerspace: The Bread Box Project #woodworking #makerEd”

Home #Makerspace: Two Tools to Teach #CompSci & #Coding to #MakerEd Youngsters

The last five years have seen an explosion in Maker Edu-themed products geared for the younger set.  Young kids make enthusiastic makers.  They love challenging puzzles, approachable crafts and as long as you put flames on it, they think everything you do is amazing!  What’s not to love about teaching the pre-K through 3rd gradeContinue reading “Home #Makerspace: Two Tools to Teach #CompSci & #Coding to #MakerEd Youngsters”

Home #Makerspace: Decoupage #makered Treasure Boxes

My sons love treasure boxes.  It doesn’t matter if the boxes are big, small or medium-sized.  Nor do they care to actually keep track of their little treasures or can they be bothered placing stuff in them.  They have far more fun collecting, designing and imagining treasure boxes. Over the last two weeks, we’ve exploredContinue reading “Home #Makerspace: Decoupage #makered Treasure Boxes”

The Home Makerspace: The Autodesk 123D Suite

Update: On Dec. 16th, Autodesk announced they would be shutting down the 123D App family in “early 2017”.  Most apps will become incorporated into their 3 powerhouse apps: Tinkercad, Fusion 360, and ReMake. This week I took some time to explore Autodesk’s 123D family of CAD/surface modeler/maker-magic software.  123D uses cloud-based social community and project storageContinue reading “The Home Makerspace: The Autodesk 123D Suite”