Themed Maker Challenges

Brought to you by your Hawken Makerspaces

Themed MAKER Challenges

The Hawken School Fab Play Team has created and curated 30+ unique maker challenges we know our students will love. These are targeted activities for students to design, make and share with the greater Hawken Community. Work at your own pace, have fun, and share your designs with us. We will be adding to this space all the time as we continue to have students in remote or at-home learning settings.

With the help of a family member, take a photo of you and your work and email your maker process, projects, successes, and failures to makerspace@hawken.edu.

We will posts submissions to project pages and our Instagram (@HawkenFabPlay) as we receive them!

Getting Started - Your At-Home Makerstation

Setting Up Your Creative Maker Station At Home

Discuss with your parents an appropriate place in your home where you can get set up for making. this space should have:

a hard, flat surface (table area or floor)
be in close proximity to where a parent can oversee you - especially if you are younger than 4th grade
be a space you can get a little messy
be a space for ongoing creativity (some of your projects might be hard to quickly pack up and put away if this area in your home gets a lot of traffic)

Of course, this might also be a great opportunity to refresh the space you already use for creativity!

Gather creative maker materials from around your home. These can be everyday items like cardboard, cereal boxes, colorful paper, markers or crayons, tape, and scissors. Think of the green dot bins we have at school and see if there is anything you have around your home that seems similar.

Review safety and clean up with your parents. Are you allowed to cut materials on your own? What about paint or glue? How are small parts stored out of the way of younger siblings or pets?

Remember the green-yellow-red dot system from School and how this may apply to home, too. Perhaps come up with a list of items as a family that you may use on your own (green), when to let a parent know you are going to use something (yellow), and when your parent should be the one using the materials or tool with your assistance (red).

Organize your materials - break down larger boxes so they are make ready - sharpen your pencils.
Hang some inspirational photos near your space to guide your creativity.
Share your at-home Makerspace station with us and we will post it on our Instagram!

Setup a Maker Station

Watch Mrs. Delia set up her own Makerspace area at home

Creativity with Cardboard

All About Cardboard

Objective: Start here to learn the basics about working with cardboard and see a few helpful videos on common tools we use when working with prototyping materials. MORE...

Cardboard Attachments

Objective: Practice various attachment techniques that save you time and boost your craftsmanship. Your prototypes and designs will improve after making this simple poster to display in your home makerspace. MORE...

Box Flip

Objective: Practice observation, scoring, and construction though this box-flipping challenge. MORE:..

Cardboard Projects for Young Makers

Objective: Even our youngest makers can tackle these easy challenges to turn basic cardboard or chipboard boxes into an entertainment center or engaging new toy. MORE...

3D Letter

Objective: Construct a 3-dimensional letter out of cardboard or chipboard. MORE:..

Make A Stamp & Stationery

Objective: Create a custom stamp and decorate a letter or postcard that you can send in the mail. MORE:..

Bonus: Chipboard Collage Art

Create work inspired by artist and small business owner Michael Albert. Take your chipboard boxes from around your home and repurpose them into beautiful collage art.

Design Thinking 101

Design Thinking Intro

Objective: Start here to learn the basics and background to this essential process for designing and remaking the world. You will leave with more empathy, creativity, and build and design better products through using this process. MORE...

Wallet Project

Objective: Use this original d. School of Stanford Design Thinking Project to redesign a new wallet for someone in your life. MORE...

More Creative Redesigns

Objective: Visit this page to get so many more ideas for new products or processes you can reinvent using the Design Thinking method. MORE...

2D-3D Design, Spatial Reasoning, and Geometry

Make A Mailer

Objective: Create a custom mailer that can hold a letter. Think through how the envelope will fold up and how it will stay together through the mail. MORE...

Origami

Objective: Practice simple to complex designs as you learn to shape a 2-Dimensional square into a 3-Dimensional paper figure. MORE...

Welcome to Tinkercad

Objective: Begin your 3 Dimensional design journey with this fantastic design and modeling tool for all ages. MORE...

Paper Tower

Objective: Challenge yourself to build the tallest, sturdiest paper tower using a variety of geometrial shapes. MORE...

Snack Container Design

Objective: Design a new container to carry your favorite snack, and calculate surface area of the material needed and volume of snack you will be able to hold. MORE...

Breakerspace!

Breakerspace 101

Objective: Start here to learn why working in the "breakerspace" teaches us to be better thinkers, and how to set up and use your breakerspace safely. MORE...

Breakerspace Activities

Objective: Select one of our four recommended ways to work in the breakerspace. Watch videos on machines coming apart and learn what's inside a computer keyboard, too. MORE...

Making Music

Making Musical Instruments

Objective: Construct an instrument from one of the 5 "phone" families, using common items from around your home. MORE...

Makey Makey & More

Objective: Learn all about the power of the Makey Makey and see how you could build a simple instrument with an extension of your keyboard. MORE...

Cup Xylophone

Objective: Measure and organize a variety of water levels to create a cup xylophone. MORE...

Nature Makers

Real-Time Map of Sunlight projection on Earth, 1:00 PM EST Sunday, April 19 2020

All About Earth Day

Objective: Start here to learn a little about the history of Earth Day (2020 is the 50th year of earth day!) and see some of our Earth-themed challenges, as well as many more out there around the web. MORE...

Solar Oven Cooker

Objective: Construct a solar cooker to melt, heat, or cook a food item by concentrating and focusing the sun's rays. MORE...

Build A Kite

Objective: Use some DIY videos and models from around the web to construct and fly a simple kite out of easy materials. MORE:..

Flower Press

Objective: With help from a few tools, build your own press to dry and keep flowers. MORE...

Pinhole Camera

Objective: Keeping it simple with 2 sheets of bright paper, or building up to your own cardboard "camera," practice using the pinhole method to capture the shape of the sun. MORE...

Nature Sculptures

Objective: Great for our youngest makers and anyone craving outdoor art! Collect natural objects and use them as loose parts to create many, many more designs. MORE:..

Making Around The World

Papel Picado

Objective: Create beautiful tissue paper flags to hang in a banner, as seen during festivals in Mexico. MORE...

Chinese Watercolors

Objective: Practice this Chinese method of watercolor painting to create a springtime scene, then design your own frame we will construct when you return to School. MORE...