Here's a list of our past workshops. Let us know if you're interested in joining an encore experience.
Workshop - Introduction to Stage Lighting:
Using the Obey 10 DMX-512 (DJ Class) Lighting Board
Date: Wed Jul 02, 2025
Time: 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Duration: 2 hours
Place: incubator13 (room 124) at the Rideau Community Hub, 815 St-Laurent Boulevard
Prerequisites: (none)
Age range: 12+
What to expect:
The bare basics of DMX-512, the ubiquitous lighting control standard used in theatre stages and by DJs for stage lighting.
You'll learn enough to become comfortable with wiring together, and configuring, lighting fixtures.
How to configure lighting fixtures.
How to program lighting cues using stage wash lights and Spark-fx.
How to operate the Obey 10 board during a show.
Workshop Series - Introduction to Soldering Electronic Circuits (3-part workshop)
(This is a free build-it-keep-it workshop)
Date: July 09, 2025 - Jul 23, 2025 (weekly on Wednesdays)
Time: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Duration: 3 x 2 hours per session
Place: incubator13 (room 124) at the Rideau Community Hub, 815 St-Laurent Boulevard
Prerequisites: (none)
Age range: 12+
What to expect:
Some basics of working with a soldering iron that is intended for electronic circuits.
Practice soldering some LEDs, testing the circuits along the way. This will be done on a blank, copper-padded breadboard.
Next, you'll move onto soldering DIY circuit boards, starting with a very simple board and becoming progressively challenging. Each board is (should be) functional.
The final circuit board will be a robotic firefly, complete with undulating LED and small vibrating motors that respond to light.
Workshop - A Taste of Computer Programming & Electronic Circuits:
Arduino and Physical Computing
(This is a free build-it-keep-it workshop)
Date: Wed Jul 30, 2025
Time: 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Duration: 2 hours
Place: incubator13 (room 124) at the Rideau Community Hub, 815 St-Laurent Boulevard
Prerequisites:
It will be helpful, but not necessary, to have had exposure to computer programming (including Scratch).
Age range: 12+
What to expect:
This workshop will introduce you to a tiny computer platform that is used globally by artists, and youth and adults who like to tinker. It's an approachable way to learn about physical computing, in that it uses a simplified software development environment, affordable computer (microcontroller) boards and add-on electronics, and numerous global online support communities. The workshop is intended to give you an introductory feel for the Arduino microcontroller, its programming language (essentially C/C++), and some basic prototyping of electronics that interface with the Arduino. You will actually be practicing some quite advanced ways of working with Arduino microcontrollers. It will provide you with some hands-on experience by taking small steps toward solving a small, but real-world prototype that you can take home with you. If we get it right, the workshop will be enough to whet your appetite about "the possibilities" without being overly daunting:
You will write a progression of simple Arduino microcontroller sketches (aka computer programs) and learn a little bit about the C/C++ programming language.
You will build simple electronic circuits that allow the Arduino to interact with the real world. You will be doing this in the manner in which an electronics designer / tinkerer would prototype a custom built electronic circuit.
At the end of the workshop you will have built your own wellness device--a mindful breathing coach--to take home with you:
Using an on/off pushbutton, an LED will begin fading on and off at a slow, regular pace.
By slowly breathing in and out to the pace of the LED you can entrain yourself to lower stress and anxiety.
(Some people call this yogic breathing; others call it meditative breathing. It all has the same intent: reduce stress/anxiety, and lower heart rate and blood pressure.)
Workshop (free) - The Secret of Life DNA
A hands-on DIY approach to extracting DNA from a strawberry
Date: Fri Sep 05, 2025
Time: 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Duration: 2 hours
Place: incubator13 (room 124) at the Rideau Community Hub, 815 St-Laurent Boulevard
Prerequisites: (none)
Age range: 10 - 100
Seating limit: (Please register in advance on eventbrite.)
Workshop Series - Introduction to Soldering Electronic Circuits (3-part workshop)
NOTE: This workshop series is currently full. You can still ask to be added to a waiting list in case there are cancellations.
(This is a build-it-keep-it workshop)
Date: January 14, 2026 - January 28, 2026 (weekly on Wednesdays)
Time: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM OR 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Duration: 3 x 2 hours per session
Place: incubator13 (room 124), Rideau Community Hub, 815 St.Laurent Boulevard
Prerequisites: (none)
Age range: 12+
Cost: Pay as you can. Suggested contribution is $30 for the 3 sessions.
(All contributions go toward cost of materials for STEAMakers Guild public workshops and projects aimed at improving the Rideau Community Hub.)
What to expect:
Some basics of working with a soldering iron that is intended for electronic circuits.
Practice soldering some colourful LEDs, testing the circuits along the way. This will be done on a blank, copper-padded breadboard.
Next, you'll move on to soldering small DIY circuit boards, starting with a very simple board and becoming progressively challenging. Each board is (should be) functional and can be tested as each piece is completed.
The final circuit board will be a robotic firefly, complete with undulating LED and small vibrating motors that respond to light. This one will be more challenging, but also provides some enhanced amusement.
If you enjoy this workshop and would like to solder more cool, advanced DIY soldering kits, consider joining us for Flux & Friends sessions on the 1st Wednesday evening of each month.
Workshop - Making a Scribble Bot:
Build and take home an artistic little robot
Date: Tuesday March 17, 2026
Time: 12pm - 4pm
Duration: 1 hour, at an easy pace
Place: incubator13 room (main floor), Rideau High School community hub,
815 St.Laurent Boulevard
Prerequisites: none
Age range: 5 - 8 with adult accompaniment
What to expect:
In this workshop, we will take you step-by-step thru the process of making a simple robot that draws its own colourful creations using washable felt markers. Most of our materials can be found around the house. In fact, the remaining components (a toy motor, a battery holder, a switch, and a gear) could possibly be salvaged from old, worn out electronic toys. This workshop provides a hands-on experience in electricity and magnetism. But, we won't tell anyone; just enjoy.
Workshop - Citizen Science Demo/workshop - Looking for Strange Galaxies:
Help identify strange galaxies as part of a global citizen science project
Date: Thursday March 19, 2026
Time: 9:30am - 11:30am
Duration: Drop-in anytime
Place: Incubator 13 (Room 124, main floor), Rideau Community Hub,
815 St.Laurent Boulevard
Prerequisites: none
Age range: Family-friendly
What to expect:
In this demo/workshop, you will participate in an exciting citizen science project hosted by the world's largest citizen science platform "Zooniverse". We will work together in identifying strange looking galaxies to assist scientists in deciphering clues to the origins of the universe. No prior cosmology knowledge needed.
Workshop - Visual Programming with Scratch:
Create a video game using the Scratch visual programming language
Date: Thursday March 19, 2026
Time: 4pm - 6pm
Duration: Informal drop-in (as brief as you like, or for as long as we can accommodate)
Place: incubator13 room (2nd floor mezzanine), Rideau High School community hub,
815 St.Laurent Boulevard
Prerequisites: none
Age range: Suitable for age 7+, adults and elders alike.
What to expect:
[To accommodate the drop-in nature of this session, we'll be running this in a more casual and interactive fashion. You can quiz, query, and stump the 'experts'.]
Scratch is an amazingly fun way to learn how to program a computer. This is a hands-on workshop in which we'll take you step-by-step thru the process of programming a video game using the Scratch visual programming language. Elements of a Scratch program are graphical and colour-coded in nature and virtually snap together in different, but constrained ways. The programming language was originally developed at the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab with its primary aim being to democratize coding and make programming accessible and engaging for everyone, especially children and beginners. The same approach had been used in the Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System. In fact, there is now even a more affordable kind of Lego-like robotics system that uses a Scratch-like programming language that is used to program a BBC micro:bit microcontroller (a child-friendly programmable computer board) and its interactions with sensors and actuators. So, we hope that this simple introduction to computer programming becomes for you a launching point for further exploring computer programming and the world of physical computing, whereby you design your own electronics and computer-based systems that interact with the world around us. (In fact, physical computing, and the hacking and Making that often tend to go along with it, is what makes STEAMakers and STEAM-fx tick.)