Maker day was a very interesting and fun experience, if not a bit hectic! For my groups project, we developed some examples of sculptures relating to either light or motion in order to offer students a wide variety of avenues to follow. As expected, the children really enjoyed all of the LED light aspects of the projects. Many of them immediately wanted to create their own LED and cellophane lanterns, and sat down excited to create their pieces.

As the day progressed, we realized the time constraints of our largest project- especially for smaller children. As new students came in, we would show them the cool effects that our other projects created so that they could see the other options of experimentation at our table. Some students really took an interest to the light effects that could be created with the cellophane light tubes, while others were really interested in how the motors worked. As maker day got busier, I was glad at how much preparation our group had done before hand. We flew through a lot of materials, but luckily we had prepped enough of every supply except tape (which we then solved with the help of Andrea running downstairs to grab us more).

In the end it turned out to be very helpful to have various levels of projects for different age groups. One problem I noticed however, is how difficult it was to take the time to explain the ideas behind circuits and motors to each student when there was so much going on around us and new kids joining us at various times. There was a lot less room for experimentation with these project than I would normally prefer for an art experience, and it was difficult not to put our hands on the students projects to help them get it to “work” with the circuits- especially under the time restraints and amount of students at our station at a time. Overall, it was a fun experience and I was glad to see how proud and amazed the students were when they finished each piece.