Free Programming Workshop! Saturday February 4

Maker Junior is thrilled to be partnering again with Dr. Audrey Girouard and her team of researchers from the Creative Interactions Lab at the School of Information Technology, Carleton University. We will be hosting a fun, free, Inventors Workshop for 9-14 year olds to explore programming in Snap with the Arduino, bendable sensors and electronics. Participants must have some exposure to programming in Snap or Scratch to participate in these workshops. During this workshop we’ll be building cardboard games and increasing the interactivity of these games with programming. All participants will have a chance to build their own inventions and share with everyone what they have created.

This workshop is funded by the Ministry of Ontario through an Early Research Award.

Workshop Dates:

Saturday, February 4, 2pm - 4pm

Pre-registration is required. 

Registration will be held at 50% male/ 50% female participation.

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.

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

Meet Ottawa Maker, Andrew Pelling

Andrew Pelling's opening talk at TED Live 2016. Using unprocessed natural cellulose, i.e. plants, as scaffolding for muscle growth is definitely out of the box thinking. Here in Ottawa, we've been lucky enough to watch as this thinking takes shape.

Inventor Workshop Creations, 6-8 yr olds

We're wrapping up our latest session of the GNAG Inventors Workshop and we've started working on our inventions.

This year we started an afterschool class for the  6-8 year olds. It has been very popular! It is a very different class from the 9-12 year olds. More spontaneous. Some of the kids are really interested in the inventors notebook we keep and fill it up with ideas. I explain that we're creating prototypes. I bring in the tech we've worked with (motors/LEDs/etc), materials I've found, and pieces we've discovered during a Make and Break.

One of my youngest inventors wanted to make a tablet computer and kept their focus on that all year. This is the result (it's currently running a Minecraft "app"):

Other creations are more spontaneous. This one combines an LED and battery with some of the found parts.

Other inventions solve problems. This is a money hat, you can carry your money with you in a concealed pocket and look fashionable too!

And some are just following artistic expression and the joy of working with your hands. With this creation he wasn't sure what it was until the very end, he was just enjoying creating a pattern and working with the materials. It wasn't until the very last minute he decided it was a picture frame!

Meet Ottawa Maker, Alan Rushforth

Earlier this year I was introduced to an Ottawa maker, Alan Rushforth. Alan is a retired Aeronautical Engineer and a prolific maker! If you've ever ridden the snowmobile simulator at the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology, you are familiar with his work.

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.

What is an Inventors Workshop?

I've blogged about the Inventors Workshop that we offer through the Glebe Neighbourhood Activities Group  before .  But what I haven't shown you are the results! This fall we have two sessions of the Inventors Workshop. Mondays after school for the 6-8 year olds and Thursdays after school for the 9-12 year olds. We have a longer session so we have a chance to cover more aspects of the inventive process. The workshop starts next week and there's still spots available so register now!

Fall 2014 Workshops and Events

Fall 2014

Imagine Eddy, September 20, 10 AM - 5PM

Join us for Imagine EDDY at the Espace bidouilleurs et << Makers >>. We'll have tables set up with some of projects and kits, and we'll be building Doodlebots too! imagineeddy.ca

GNAG Inventors Workshop, September 22 - Dec 15

We're running two afterschool Inventor's Workshops this fall through the Glebe Neighbourhood Activities Group. Mondays for 6-8 yrs old, and Wednesdays for 9-12yrs old. In this fun class we learn how to keep and inventor's log book to write down our ideas as work towards creating our own inventions. Registration starts September 5.

New! ABC Ottawa Take-off, October 25

This fall we have a 5 week Maker Workshop through the Association for Bright Children's Take-off program on Saturday mornings. We'll be working a series of five projects exploring conductivity and simple circuits. Registration night is October 2, 7:30pm, at the Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre.

Bruce and Grey Counties: 8 Libraries, 5 Days

The kids and I are just back from our whirlwind tour of Bruce and Grey counties last week. We managed to visit 8 libraries in just 5 days - Meaford, Port Elgin, Tara, Chesley, Lucknow, Teeswater, Walkerton and Owen Sound. We introduced kids to conductive paint, basic duct tape wearables, and vibration and movement with our doodling robots. Many thanks to  Young Maker for lending us their 3D printer - we were excited to bring 3D printing demos in to some of these libraries as well.

Eureka! See what we've made this summer

We've had a busy summer so far giving workshops in libraries as part of the  Eureka! TD Summer Reading Club . We're not done yet!  We have more to go - but we thought it would be great to share what we've made so far. Check our schedule to find a workshop near you.