Making at a Glance: Sock Puppets
Our kindergarteners made some awesome sock puppets last week. They measured and cut their own materials, and safely handled hot glue guns by themselves. What do you think of the “Creepy Carrot” puppet? We love it!
Stamp Making, DIY Ink Pads, & Gift Wrap
In a perfect world I’d sit them all in two long rows, facing each other, scissors in hand, able to look up, across, or over for help and we would walk through cutting tightly curved lines. But what world is perfect anyway? Welcome to making with first graders. As a fun introduction for making Making…
Shaping, Cutting, Connecting for Kids
What do words like woodshop and woodwork bring to mind? For me, it’s always been the hand and power tools one uses that I think of most easily. For kids in some of my afterschool classes, that’s been pretty much the same case. When I asked Kindergartners and 1st and 2nd graders what words came…
Adaptable Habitats: Integrating Curriculum into 2nd Grade Making
The 2nd graders at Lighthouse are spending the next few weeks learning about habitats of the Bay area and how animals adapt to live in them. Since we have a weekly making time, we decided to do an integrated curriculum making project. The kids (in groups of two) will build one of the four habitats…
The Three Little Pigs and Their Lesson on Material Properties
What’s the best way to get kindergartners thinking about material engineers and what they do? One strategy that’s worked for me came in the form of a fable: The Three Little Pigs. After an introductory discussion of materials and material qualities (i.e. a spoon is made of metal; and metal is hard, shiny, and heavy),…
Making Videos!
Check out what the Lighthouse Creativity Lab is up to by watching two new videos we have created to more easily share the making at Lighthouse model. The first video is of our 2nd graders, watch as they discuss making hand-sewn puppets and explore Lego WeDo kits. The second video focuses on how our making…
Making Puppeteers
Three instructions were given to our 2nd graders this week as they set out to construct puppets out of felt. 1. Draw our favorite design BIG 2. Cut out paper 3. Cut puppet out of felt – two times Working from a design they’d finalized during the last class, they were asked to transfer their…
Embracing Failure Through Bridge Building
Primary school students in the Creativity Lab are learning what engineering bridges is all about. From kindergarten to 4th grade, kids are taking on the role of civil engineering. They’ve looked at models, they’ve compared and discussed designs, and now, they’re using different building materials to span vast distances. Grade by grade, they have been…
Wall Climbing Whatsits
One of the Creativity Lab’s top priorities is to get our community comfortable with the idea of making things, and perhaps more importantly, to learn to be persistent when things get tough and to learn from mistakes made along the way, whatever the project. Take for example the challenges 2nd graders have faced trying to…
Kindergarten Sews
Sewing gives our students so many possibilities to create. This quarter, our Kindergarteners have been learning the basics of sewing using burlap, yarn, and a big plastic needle. Our Kindergarten teachers suggested sewing as the focus for the second quarter because they thought it would be an appropriate challenge for five year-olds and would help…