Overall, I think maker day was a success for our group. Both the children and parents were engaged in the activity we presented them with. There were a wide variety of final hats and headbands that demonstrated how the children added their own ideas to the concepts and examples we provided them with. They expanded the basic concepts we introduced and incorporated their own interests as they created and decorated their hats. The students took the examples we had created and transformed them into their own while using and learning about circuits and motors at the same time. For instance, a number of children worked off of a top had design and used the materials we had to create hats that matched their personality by using fun and colorful fabrics, foam, and flowers. One young boy liked cars and incorporated wheels into his hat. One girl made headbands that became the face of a cat and another created one that was similar to something a princess would wear. I thought it was exciting to see children come up with such ambitious and inventive ideas and it was interesting to see them execute them.

There were a few things that really surprised me throughout maker day. One instance was that the children had very innovative and unique ideas they wanted to accomplish on their projects that there were even a few I had a difficult time getting to work. I was also amazed that some children knew how to construct and get the motors and lights to work without any guidance. A few of the children even took their projects to the next level, altered the way the circuits were constructed, and even taught me a few things through the mechanics of their projects. I was surprised how involved and enthusiastic some parents were with their children and projects. It was great to see how the parents were encouraging and helping their kids put together the parts of their creations. Parents also contributed good ideas and solutions to the activity and even offered to help their children at home if they did not finish. It was nice to see the parents and children bonding over this experience and learning from each other. Additionally, something else that I did not anticipate was that some of the children decided they wanted to use the motors and lights, but did not want to make something wearable. For example, one young boy used the motors to make an airplane and another made something for his hand.

There were a few challenges that came about during the workshop. There are a few things I would do differently if we were to complete this workshop again. I think that we could have had more precut cardboard since I felt that cutting and gluing the cardboard was something that was more time consuming than having the children design, decorate, and add the circuits to their hats. Something that I did not anticipate was there to be language barriers with students and parents. I found this to be a small struggle to communicate with the children to understand how they wanted their projects to look and work. However, I found that when I was able to break things down into simpler words and incorporate hand gestures, the children understood better and together we were able to accomplish their visions and goals. Moreover, next time I would plan and think ahead more with safety and clean up. Our materials were very organized prior to the start of the activity, but afterwards there were supplies all over the tables and floors. I think it may have been helpful to periodically clean up or to confront children to clean their spots after they were done working before they moved to the next station. Also, a few children felt they could handle working with the hot glue guns and razor knives. We tried keeping them away from them, yet they kept attempting to use them themselves. We resulted to asking the parents if this was okay to ensure that they were aware of the situation and were supervising their own children. One thing that could have been useful would be a few extra volunteers in the group to walk around, assist, organize, and supervise the children and materials.

In general, the children appeared to have fun creating their wearable works of art. The children were able to be inventive, explore with different materials, and think in new ways. They were really excited and proud to show off their finished products and many seemed to enjoy having their parents helping and involved. I felt that I learned a lot just by working with the children about their thought processes, their motivations, their developmental cognitive capabilities, and their interactions with others. This workshop was an enjoyable and value experience through which I gained many new insights that will be useful to me in the future.