Themed Maker Challenges
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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!
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!
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...
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...
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.
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...
Objective: Use this original d. School of Stanford Design Thinking Project to redesign a new wallet for someone in your life. MORE...
Objective: Visit this page to get so many more ideas for new products or processes you can reinvent using the Design Thinking method. MORE...
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...
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...
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...
Objective: Construct an instrument from one of the 5 "phone" families, using common items from around your home. 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...
Objective: Measure and organize a variety of water levels to create a cup xylophone. MORE...
Real-Time Map of Sunlight projection on Earth, 1:00 PM EST Sunday, April 19 2020
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...
Objective: Construct a solar cooker to melt, heat, or cook a food item by concentrating and focusing the sun's rays. MORE...
Objective: Use some DIY videos and models from around the web to construct and fly a simple kite out of easy materials. MORE:..
Objective: With help from a few tools, build your own press to dry and keep flowers. MORE...
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...
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:..
Share your project and making photos with us!
Email to makerspace@hawken.edu to feature on our Instagram
Tag @HawkenFabPlay in your photos/ instastories