Maker Buddies

sbonish

Description

Maker Buddies is a drop-in STEAM and Literacy based program. Teen volunteers and children in grades 2-5 worked together to complete different STEAM activities. The program will run twice a week for a total of eight weeks at two branches in the system. While the program is drop-in, some days the number of participants may be limited due to the nature of the activity.

Maker Buddies Schedule of Activities:

Week One - E-Paper robot card
Week Two - Beaded loom bookmark
Week Three - Oz-bot
Week Four - Rainbow Loom
Week Five - Makey Makey
Week Six - 3D Doodler pens
Week Seven - Little bits
Week Eight - E-textile project

KEEVA Planks were always om-hand for passive programming
Source Library
Regina Public Library

Program photos

ECard.jpg

Program promotional materials

Maker Buddies - Handouts (Regent).pdf

Length of program session

30-60 minutes

Number of sessions

16

Frequency

Weekly
Audience

Primary Audience

Primary (Gr. K-3 or aged 5-8)
Intermediate (Gr. 4-7 or aged 9-12)

Secondary Audience

Middle School/Junior Secondary (Gr. 8-10 or aged 13-16)
Senior Secondary (Gr. 11-12 or aged 17-18)
Resources

Funding (grants/foundations/corporations)

$7500 From the Provincial Library

Resources required (materials/supplies; food/refreshments, etc.)

Materials/Supplies
- Ozbot Bit 2.0 (x6)
- Ozbot Washable Marker (x12)
- 3D Doodler Start 3D Printing Pen (x12)
- 3D Doodler DoodleBlocks (x2)
- 3D Doodler START Mix Colour Pack (x6)
- 3D Doodler START Red (x6)
- 3D Doodler START Blue (x6)
- 3D Doodler START Green (x6)
- 3D Doodler START White (x6)
- 3D Doodler START Orange (x6)
- 3D Doodler START Yellow (x6)
- LilyPad Button Board (x25)
- Copper Tap 5mm 50ft (x1)
- LilyPad LED light for textiles, set of five (x5)
- Conductive Thread 60g Spool (x1)
- 20mm coin cell battery (cr2032)(x13)
- LilyPad Coin Cell Battery Holder 20mm (x25)
- Diecutter machine. Silhouette (x2)
- Needle nose pliers (x6)
- Sewing needles
- Card Stock
- STEAM Student Set (x4)

Snacks
- Cookies
- Granola bars
- Juice boxes
- Water
Evaluation

Feedback from Participants

One parent commented that it was great to have something that appealed to the older school age kids since most of the summer programming seems to be for younger children.

Highlights - what worked well?

- The e-cards were very popular! They engaged kids for over an hour and everyone went home satisfied that they could make their project work well.
- The kids really enjoyed having a project to take home so the 3D Doodler Pens, Beaded Looms, Light Up Cards, and e-textiles were very popular
- The Beaded Looms ended up being easier than expected and will be used as a passive teen program in the fall.

What were the goals/objectives of your program?

The goal of the program was to:
- Get kids excited about STEAM and
- Encourage reading and promote the Summer Reading Contest

What would you change about this program?

One of the biggest challenges was that younger kids needed too much hands-on help. Going forward, the program will target a slightly older age group (starting at grade 3/4). The younger children just were not as interested in doing things for themselves or ready for self exploration.