Before The End Of The Year...Here's Some Other Stuff We've Made

This semester has flown by and as we look back, a lot has gone on in the Lab. Here are a few of the projects done over the last month or so. 

This second grader wanted to 3D print a trophy. After a quick into to Tinkercad (we use to use 123D Design but Autodesk stopped supporting it and phased it out while pushing Tinkercad and Fusion360...but that might be a post for next semester). After drawing out what he wanted to make, this young maker took to the computer. After a week or two of working at recess and at home (one of the nice things about Tinkercad is that it's web-based so kids can log into our Lab account and work from any computer) he was ready to print.

Afterschool circuit class continued to solder. Here was the final soldering project...an LED strip, wires, circuit board and battery connector. The next step if for them to design something to put this into...some students want to make lamps while others want to put it on a sign.

The construction wall mural project got students from a variety of grades involved. As part of the science curriculum that deals with the local water shed, including native and endangered species, students were challenged to research and create animals for the mural. 1st graders, drew their creature, teachers traced them on Inkscape so the laser could cut them out. Our 4th graders drew theirs but they were charged with tracing their own drawing. After all the creatures were cut out of wood, the students painted them. We had so many animals, that we enlisted other grades to help paint. Students, parents and teachers gave up a Saturday to paint the mural and over a few weeks, the creatures were put up. We'll have more about this project after the first of the year.

We offer mini-lessons to different grade levels to introduce making topics or tools to the students. In first grade, one of the lessons is on attaching things. After we show students to make tabs, slots, flanges, L-Braces, and brass fasteners, they are given a variety of materials and are asked to start attaching things together.

 Since we are talking about 1st grade, here is the 1st grade Christmas ornament project. After talking about different shapes in class, the students head over to the Computer Lab and use KidPix to create a closed shape Christmas ornament. The picture is printed out and take back to class. Then we come in with an iPad that has the app Vectorize It (by Autodesk...however, they haven't offered this app in about 2 years...which is a shame because it's great). Using the app, students take a picture of their KidPix drawing, crop it, vectorize it, and email it (to our laser cutter). In the Lab, we arrange all the ornaments and laser cut them.