Learn - Create - Innovate

Free Inventors Workshop: Vancouver, June 13

We will be hosting a fun, free, Inventors Workshop for 7-9 year olds to celebrate our first Vancouver Mini Maker Faire! During this workshop we’ll be playing games and exploring the properties of different materials alongside electronics.

Wanted: Inventors!

Maker Junior is thrilled to be partnering with researchers from the School of Information Technology at Carleton University. We will be hosting a fun, free, Inventors Workshop for 7-9 year olds to explore bendable materials and electronics. Young 7-9 yrs makers must have participated in past Maker Junior Workshops in order to attend the first phase of these workshops. During this workshop we’ll be playing games and exploring the properties of different materials alongside electronics. All participants will have a chance to build their own inventions and share with everyone what they have created.

At a later date, after the Inventors Workshop, we’ll be hosting sessions with our littlest inventors, 2-5 years of age, to see how they engage and interact with refined prototypes. During this session, participants will be able to play and interact with various prototypes to see what is the most fun! For this second phase siblings of past participants are welcome as well as friends.

Participants will be compensated with refreshments, materials and bus tickets with their parent to and from the location. This research has been cleared by Carleton University Research Ethics Board-B (16-083).

Workshop Dates:

The workshop dates are:
Phase One:
April 17th, 2016
1-3 pm
Room 1B, Nepean Centrepointe Library
May 7th, 2016
1-3 pm
Qualicum-Graham Park Community Centre

Phase Two:
May 28th, 2016
Group A 10:30- 11
Group B 11-11:30
Location to be announced

For more information, or if you are interested in participating in this free workshop please contact Alison at alison@makerjunior.com or 613-710-9427.

Researchers/Collaborators:

Dr Audrey Girouard
Supervisor, School of Information Technology, Carleton University
audrey.girouard@carleton.ca

Alison Evans Adnani
alison@makerjunior.com
Business Partner, Maker Junior

Layda Gongora
hybridmedium@gmail.com
Lead Researcher, Carleton University

Let's learn together

We've created an Ottawa #makered Facebook group for educators in Ottawa, Ontario to communicate and learn from each other. Our first task is planning a meetup. You are always welcome to join us. Follow this link to sign up!

EEWeb Engineering Site of the Day

We're excited to be featured as EEWeb's Engineering Site of the Day.

New! Our kits are now available at Creatron

This banner is so much fun!

Creatron has been our favorite go-to store for electronics for years. When we visit Toronto we always try to make a trip to the downtown location. The last time I was there I was excited to find all sizes of LEDs displayed in a rainbow of colors! It's so great to have a store that gets how we work. 

We were excited to meet with the Creatron folks at Maker Festival this year in Toronto and at Ottawa at Maker Faire! We thrilled to announce that Maker Junior kits are now available at Creatron.

A Summer Project: Starting a YouTube Channel

The boys have been talking about starting a YouTube channel for ages. Both of them choose to spend most of their screen time on YouTube. They are usually doing research. Nanik likes fish videos (he loves The King of DIY, full of aquarium projects) and Hari splits his time between BookTubers, GMM and Cole and Marmalade. It's funny, this generation is growing up on video. I've always been better with words and reading. But both boys start their research on YouTube.

When school ends they always choose a couple of projects to work on during the summer. This summer one of the projects they chose was to work together on starting a YouTube channel for Maker Junior. I was more than happy to have them take this on. They obviously know more about this medium than I do. 

Through their involvement with Youth Ottawa, they discovered Youth Active Media. YAM runs multi-week programs during the school year. This summer they started one-week programs at various libraries and community centres around the city. Nanik took the program early in the summer. (You can see his video The Book Quest on YouTube.) Hari's just finished his week. (Hari's video is Searching for Sasquatch.) They spent several weeks researching camera equipment. Maker Junior provided the budget.

[Note on summer projects: I discovered, this summer, that if you ask your kids to do something, and you agree with what they're doing, you gotta provide a budget to go with it. ]

They worked hard to get the equipment ready for Maker Festival in Toronto. They wanted to interview people and ask them some questions they've been thinking about: "What is a maker?" and "Do makers have to use tech?" I am thrilled with the end result.

 Working on the video at the Maker Festival helped them meet new people and explore more of the event. Asking the questions started some great conversations! From my perspective, Mom's perspective, I thought this project helped them:

• discover their strengths (So, um, Hari is a natural in front of the camera. Nanik loves research and equipment. Video editing software has been a challenge for both of them but Nanik is doing a great job of it so far!)
• continue to build their research skills, with real world results 
• gain confidence in their abilities to learn something new and apply it
• reach out and meet a community of people

And they've only just begun! It's been a pretty fantastic beginning though. On their first day of filming, ever, they managed to get an interview with John Tory, Mayor of Toronto. What a scoop! And John Tory has my gratitude for gracefully sharing his tips for conducting a professional interview and providing thoughtful answers to their questions. And for signing their release form agreeing to appear in the video.

uOttawa Mobile Makerspace

We love visiting the uOttawa Makerspace. Have you been yet? It's open to the community on Sundays and it's free to register and use their equipment. The people who work there are great! They are welcoming and happy to help you get started using one of their 3D printers. This is a fantastic resource to have in our community.

We were excited to learn that the Makerspace is going Mobile!

They had a prototype of the Maker Mobile at the university Alumni Week. Nanik and I went downtown to check it out May 9. All of the equipment from the makerspace was loaded inside the truck and outside on tables.

They were even showing off their new laser cutter! (Totally hard to see, but it says "Science Rocks!")

So why a mobile makerspace? The goal of the uOttawa Mobile Makerspace is outreach. In their first year of operations they aim to reach 1,000 kids in the Ottawa region from September 2015 - June 2016. The year after they want to take it across Eastern Ontario. Outreach to K-12 is a key factor in increasing enrollment in science and engineering. The more kids exposed to making (and science and engineering) the better! We're happy to support this initiative.

And the best news? I met Hanan Anis, Associate Professor and Faculty Coordinator in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, at an event yesterday and she showed me a photo of the new truck! It's happening. I can't wait!

New! Two March Break Day Camps

I am very excited about our two days of March Break day camp at Maker Space North next month. 

On Monday, March 16 we have Making Mods. A mod, or modification, turns something ordinary into something extraordinary. Join us to work with artist Petr Maur to mod your own ray gun. We’ll learn the basics from Petr and also get a chance to work on our own creations from parts and pieces and found objects. Registration for Making Mods on Eventbrite.

On Tuesday, March 17, we have Animatronics. Animatronics bring lifelike characteristics and movement to an otherwise inanimate object. Join us to work with local maker, Alan Rushforth, to learn the basics. Then we'll start work on our own creations. Have you ever wanted a pet dinosaur? Registration for Animatronics on Eventbrite.

Discounts for siblings and multiple day registrations. Use "Contact the Organizer" on Eventbrite for the coupon code.

Toronto Mini Maker Faire 2014: Hitchbot Jr meets Hitchbot

One of the things we were really excited about doing at the Toronto Mini Maker Faire was meeting

Toronto Mini Maker Faire, November 22-23

We are excited to announce that will be exhibiting at the Toronto Mini Maker Faire, November 22-23, at the Toronto Reference Library at Yonge & Bloor. Tickets are free! Come see what all the excitement is about.