Having spent a good chunk of the afternoon over at DIYDAY on Saturday, I had to haul ass down to THEMUSEUM to just catch the tail end of Hacky Halloween 2013. Delightfully, this event has expanded beyond its creators, the ever-makin’ kwartzlab, and included Hackademy, Brick Works Academy, Maker Club.
When we dreamt up kwartzlab back in 2009, a question we occasionally got was “What happens if a bunch of other maker spaces pop up?” Our answer: “AWESOME! That’s the idea! More!” Four years later, there are more, and happily, there are more efforts focussed on engaging and supporting *kids* in making. If ever there was a noble cause and a smart investment in the future, it is shoring up and extending kids’ natural maker instincts.
Had a good chat with David Goodfellow from Brick Works Academy about his work in the Lego robotics space. Demo bots on scene including this beastie.
Saw some folks from Maker Club, but they were packing up so I didn’t get a chance to speak with them. I heard they had a bunch of old toys on site and kids were ripping them apart and rebuilding new cooler things. I can identify with that.
A ha! The kwartzlab crew…
guttin’ and carvin’ pumpkins here, and…
learning to solder and build the microcontroller/LED/blinky board over here to light up the pumpkins. Every time a kid learns to solder, an angel gets its wings.
Maker extraordinaire, Agnes Niewiadomski, of agnesmakes.com, can always be counted on for a cool, and in this case LED-lit, costume.
Pillar of kwartzlab, Mr. James Bastow, likely saying “apply the heat to the part first, and *then* the solder”. Good to catch up with Cedric Puddy and Doug Moen from the lab, too.
Siftin’ for seeds. Oh, the humanity!
Happy that Sean Yo (at left) introduced himself. Sean represents Hive Waterloo, which I understand to be a Mozilla-powered initiative that “brings together a community of civic and cultural organizations to hold events where youth can explore their interests in technology.”
I can get behind that.
Happy making,
DW