40 or so students from  Avondale Meadows MS Grades 5-8 came to IU for a campus tour. We started them out with a little maker activity, the projectile launcher from TeacherGeek. Kids love making, and they had fun. Some groups were able to finish in our time, some did not.

Since 2018, IC3D Printing has sponsored & supported a 3D printed Toys for Tots program. They crowd source “elves” around the country to use their personal/work printers to create toys. The models have been created and donated by experts. 130,000 toys were donated in 2023. The goal for 2024 is 150,000. I did some toys… Read more »

I spent Halloween with a 2nd grade class at Linton-Stockton. They each had made a haunted house out of a cereal box. They were bringing them to us to use the iRobot Root bot for Trick or Treating. They worked in pairs, put 1 house on the mat, then coded root to go to the… Read more »

Monroe County Fairgrounds held their annual “Safe Trick or Treat” on October 26th. There are about a hundred groups & organizations that participate and at least 1000 kids. It goes on for three hours with some busy times and some lulls. I had laser cut some gnome & fairie charms that could be used on… Read more »

Bloomington Parks & Rec held their annual “Pumpkin Launch” (better known as punkin’ chunkin’) on October 26 at Monroe County Fairgrounds. They had 3 launchers this year, 2 long time participants and a newcomer (we tried to get some interest at SoE to build one, but were unsuccessful). There were several hundred people in attendance…. Read more »

Orange County has a “Manufacturing Day” where they take 8th graders from the 3 schools to tour some local manufacturing facilities to see some STEM and career opportunities. This year they decided to add a couple of hours to get some more up close/hands on experiences like you might have at a conference vendor hall…. Read more »

We set up 5 stations for 8th grade STEM class to get a sampling of STEM tools. They recently got 3D pens for the FabLab and some micro:bits. I tweaked my ” micro:bit intro ” slides tutorial. We also had a Tinkercad station, some had already intro’d Tinkercad, so they didnt follow my beginner tutorial…. Read more »

I will be doing an activity or two at Orange County’s Manufacturing Day for 8th graders. I thought if I could make some rubberband cars, they could race them and experiment with how to make them go faster/further.  (I also plan to have a geodesic dome building table and of course some batteries and bulbs)… Read more »

I got to work with some Kindergarteners to build a model of a playground that would be the center of their “community” learning. It was literally, the center of the map of their community. They talked about what was next to, nearby and around their community. They had to describe “where” the nearby things were… Read more »

Makevention is a celebration/showcase of makers in the Bloomington area organized by Bloominglabs, a local makerspace. There were over 2 dozen exhibitors. We had several things for people to choose from. We had a 3D printer going and were instructing people (kids & adults) on how it works. We had a butterfly making station (cardstock… Read more »