Hello fellow Maker-librarians! I wanted to share a little program we just had here at Nesmith. We turned one of our drop-in SRP crafts into a “Little Maker Morning” for ages 4-11. We had a variety of projects including a DIY popsicle stick catapult. I had also sliced up a whole bunch of pool noodles and cut little cardboard squares with notches. So, there were two free build projects where I did not give much instruction. The sliced pool noodles were joined together using colored toothpicks. I provided some stickers for the kids to decorate their sculptures with. The cardboard project was similar. The kids could just color and decorate the pieces, then join them together into a free-form sculpture. These two projects were very low cost and the kids seemed to really be concentrating and considering what they were making.

I also displayed our new Maker Items: Magformers with a gears extension kit, Brainflakes, Snap Circuits Jr. and Snap Circuits LIGHTS. The Snap Circuits were the biggest hits, especially the LIGHTS set. I was excited to see the interest in the Maker Items. Even the adults were getting in on the action! Our cataloguer generously barcoded the items so they will now be checked out for in-library use. If you have any questions, please email me! Happy making! -Kari, Nesmith Library