Makerspace Wishlist Part 4: DIY and Crafts

When it comes to Makerspaces, many prefer to think of all expensive, whiz-bang technology and equipment.  While that’s perfectly fine and great for students, there’s a lot of benefits that can come from low-tech making as well.  The art of creating something from scratch, of taking something from concept to finished product, doesn’t have to be expensive or even digital.  Giving students a space to make things by hand, to put together different materials, is a valuable thing.  If you doubt the ability of students to make amazing things from such low-cost tools, just check out Caine’s Arcade.

This is meant to be an exhaustive list, and I don’t expect every school to buy every single item on this list  This is just a way to get you thinking about different types of supplies you could make available to your students.  A lot depends on the age level of your students and the main goals of your space.  My plan for my space is to create a crafting cart with lots of different supplies available for students.

Art and Crafts Supplies

• Duct tape – get a mix of solids and patterns.  SO many possibilities
• Yarn – Students are getting back into the fiber arts.  Provide some books on the basics of knitting, crocheting and weaving to get kids inspired.
• Knitting needles and crochet hooks
• Hot glue gun – With supervision of course.
• Construction paper
• Origami paper
• Mod Podge
• Popsicle sticks
• Rubber bands
• Pipe cleaners
• Markers, crayons, colored pencils
• Rainbow Loom $17.25 – These are HUGE right now.  It’s easy to learn how to make basic designs, and students love to teach one another the harder ones.
• Perler Beads 22,000 Count Bead Jar Multi-Mix Colors $14.99 – we had a station set up with these in my library for a month and my students LOVED them.  Great way to introduce the concept of pixels
• Die cuts – Most libraries already have these.  Why not make them available to your students?
• Paint/paintbrushes
• Felt
• Foam
• Glitter
• Sequins
• Feathers
• Fabric scraps
• Recycled items: bottle caps, soda tabs, plastic bottles, cardboard tubes, old magazines, cardboard

Fun crafty accessories

These are great tools to have in addition to a bunch of craft supplies.

• Makedo 33-Piece Free Play Kit  $10.95 – These kits allow students to create movable works of art out of cardboard and other recycled materials.
• Rolobox Reuseable Wheel Kit for Boxes $13.95 – lets students create vehicles out of cardboard
• LilyPad Beginner’s Kit $64.95 – A version of the Arduino that can be sewn into fabric, this is a great way to bring computing into crafting.  Make a jacket for cyclists that blinks when they turn.  Sew a shirt that plays a piano.  There’s lot of amazing possibilities, although this will probably require more of an introduction as students might not get it intuitively.
• BarePaint – Conductive Paint (50ml) $39.95 – Paint your own circuits!