Easy Makerspace Challenges for Elementary Age Kids With Materials

3 Great Projects for a New Makerspace

Kick off a new makerspace with starter projects that familiarize students and faculty with the tools at their disposal and ways to use the space effectively without overwhelming or scaring them off. Here are some simple projects that can help set the tone for your makerspace!

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Back to the Makerspace!

Before the back-to-school rush starts, there are a few simple but important steps you can take to ensure that your classroom makerspace is ready to go for the start of a new school year. Clean, connect, arrange and stock your way to a successful shared space.

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Teach Your Students with Virtual Reality

With a small collection of increasingly powerful and affordable hardware, a virtual reality lab can offer students immersive experiences that can open their eyes to innovative ideas and ignite their desire to learn even more.

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Big Solutions for Small Pieces

Makerspaces are tailored to the community that uses them, so everything, including storage and cleanup procedures, is based on that community's needs. Here are some best practices for organizing your makerspace that can be modified as needed to support broader makerspace learning communities.

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How Makerspaces Support Social and Emotional Learning

Makerspaces offer students the space and the opportunity to develop critical 21st century skills, but they also play a part in students' social-emotional development. Find out the key benefits that makerspaces offer and how to maximize their impact on student development.

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4 Reasons You Should Create a Makerspace

Your reasons to create a makerspace should be as unique as the needs of your teachers and students. Use these ideas from master maker Nick Provenzano to help you think through why you want to build an amazing resource for makers in your school or library.

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Getting Started with 3D Printing

Have you been thinking about introducing students to 3D printing but you're not sure where to start? Get tips from master maker Nick Provenzano about why and how to bring 3D printing into your curriculum.

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Start the School Year with Maker Education

Get the school year off to a great start with these ideas for incorporating maker activities into back-to-school events (and get even more ideas for keeping the momentum going throughout the year).

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Practical Strategies to Connect Making and Literacy

Looking for fun ways to boost literacy learning? Look no further than your makerspace! Dr. Jacie Maslyk shares strategies for integrating maker learning with literacy and helping students demonstrate their understanding in language arts through something they design, make, or engineer.

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How to Make Plans for Your Makerspace Over the Summer

Great educators are always looking for new things to try and ways to enhance their lessons — but who has the time to do all the research? Diana Rendina suggests resources you can take advantage of over the summer — or anytime you have free time — to upgrade, reimagine, or enrich your makerspace.

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Why Maker Learning Works for Our English Language Learners

The enrollment of English language learners is rapidly growing, and it's important to explore strategies that will support the development of both their language and social skills. Maker learning is one pathway you should consider to achieve this, says Dr. Jacie Maslyk.

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How to Define Success in Your Makerspace

Formal school assessments drive everything from funding to curriculum decisions, but should they have a place in your makerspace? Learn why maker educator Heather Lister thinks evaluating maker projects can provide valuable information to both educators and students and gain resources for creating your own rubrics.

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4 Strategies to Find Your Makerspace "Why" and 3 Reasons You Should

Do you have good a good reason behind why you want to start a makerspace? Taking the time to craft a vision for your space will ensure that it's successful. The question is, how do you find your "why"? Seasoned maker Heather Lister gives you four strategies to help you define your vision and makerspace goals, as well as ways to measure your success.

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I Have $1000 to Start a Makerspace: What Should I Buy?

Are you applying for a grant to start your makerspace? Or maybe you've already won a grant or received a donation. Regardless of how you received the funds, chances are you need to make some quick but thoughtful decisions about what to buy. To help you decide, maker educator Diana Rendina recommends some tried-and-true tools for your makerspace.

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4 Must-Have Furniture Products for Your Makerspace

When it comes to furnishing your makerspace, it can be tricky finding the right pieces to meet all of your needs. Sometimes, it's hard to know what you need until you get your space up and running. That's why we've done some of the homework for you. Check out four innovative makerspace furniture products available only from Demco that provide creative work surfaces and mobile seating and storage while helping you keep your space organized.

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4 Ways to Build a Maker Culture in Your School

Having all the goodies is great, says educator Diana Rendina, but to build a thriving makerspace, you also need to spend time on nurturing the maker culture in your school. Read on for practical ideas you can implement right away.

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Makerspace Tour: University Liggett School

[VIDEO] Maker educator Nick Provenzano teamed up with Demco's interior design experts to create three separate spaces for making that follow the design process. Read about his schools' new tools and furnishings and take a video tour of the space.

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How to Choose the Right Makerspace Cart

You've got all the maker stuff, but where are you going to store it? Whether your supplies are on the move or stay in one place, the right makerspace cart can make all the difference. Find out how to choose a cart that work best for your space and discover six educator favorites.

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5 Space-Themed Makerspace Activities

Learning about the mysteries of outer space appeals to all ages. Pair these five space-themed makerspace activities with a research lesson or create stations for STEM night to spark imaginations.

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Top 5 Coding Products for All Ages

Computer programming is now considered a skill that is necessary for success in the 21st century workplace, and many schools and libraries are taking the lead in giving everyone an opportunity to learn this critical skill. Meet five creative, inclusive products that make it easy to introduce coding to kids and adults alike.

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3 K'NEX Design Challenges

Looking for ways to ramp up the STEM learning in your library or classroom? Take a closer look at K'NEX. K'NEX are a popular and versatile building tool for all age groups, and they allow students to quickly design, prototype and iterate. Get students' gears turning with three quick K'NEX challenges from Diana Rendina.

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Creating Authentic Design Experiences for Students

The real-world design challenge Diana Rendina gave her students resulted in a maker cart that is now manufactured by Custom Educational Furnishings (CEF) and offered through Demco. Read on to learn how you can offer your students authentic design challenges in your makerspace.

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5 Reasons Makerspaces Belong in School Libraries

If you're looking for validation that makerspaces belong in libraries, seasoned maker and librarian Diana Rendina has got you covered. Explore these 5 important reasons and share them with stakeholders to help them understand how a makerspace can benefit your school community.

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4 Design Challenges for Sphero^®

If you're familiar with Sphero®, you know that this tiny, highly engaging robot will have kids coding and creating in no time. Get students started with four popular design challenges from Diana Rendina.

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How to Elevate Cardboard Projects in Your Makerspace

Cardboard is the perfect medium to get your kids started with making – it's free, it's abundant, and what kid doesn't see potential in a cardboard box? Learn how makerspace veteran Angela Rosheim helps her students take their cardboard creations to the next level with Makedo™ tools and connectors.

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4 Keys to Organizing Your Makerspace

Makerspaces can get messy! Do you have a strategy to stay organized? Angela Rosheim offers ideas to keep your school or library makerspace materials in order and easy to find. You'll also get storage tips, ideas for handling works in progress and advice on how to get students to help keep your makerspace in order.

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Teach Math and Engineering Concepts With Rigamajig

After using their geometry skills to create string art, Winnetka fourth-graders supersized their projects using the hands-on makerspace tool Rigamajig. Learn how they created a giant-sized protractor and took their string art experience outdoors to apply engineering, math and art concepts.

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5 Autism-friendly Maker Activities + Programming Tips

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects one in 68 children. You can use your makerspace not only to bring awareness to ASD, but also to engage children of all abilities. To celebrate Autism Awareness Month in April, Gina Seymour provides you with five maker activities and tips on how to offer programming that's both inclusive and fun year-round.

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#DemcoMakerChat Roundup: What Is Meaningful Making?

Did you miss the Feb. 22 #DemcoMakerChat about meaningful making? No worries! You can still learn from your peers about how to promote meaningful making in your makerspace. Here are some of the great responses shared during the chat. For the full archive, search #DemcoMakerChat on Twitter.

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Let's Talk Makerspaces in Schools

In this first installment of the Demco Master Maker blog series, expert Nicholas Provenzano, aka The Nerdy Teacher, shares his background, talks about the importance of makerspaces in schools, gives a preview of the topics he'll be addressing in future posts, and invites you to join the conversation during the monthly #DemcoMakerChat on Thursday nights.

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Massapequa School District, NY

When Massapequa school officials got an idea, they made it a reality in a big way. See how they updated 6 of their elementary libraries with modern makerspaces and started seeing positive learning outcomes as a result.

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Making Music With littleBits^™

Looking for ways to use the littleBits Synth Kit? Director Mary Glendening shows you how to emulate one of the most popular littleBits programs held at CreateSpace@MFL, located in the Middletown Free Library. Learn the step-by-step directions for running the program at your own library and encouraging kids and teens to invent music with littleBits.

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Source: https://ideas.demco.com/tag/k-12-makerspaces/