Family-Style Making for the Cambridge Science Festival

Families and K-5 students design terrariums out of recyclables for their airplants

Lesley STEAM Learning Lab welcomed over 50 families into the makerspace on Friday, April 19th to engage in a wide variety of making challenges. “I Love Trash” kicked off the morning session for K-5th graders and the “Digital Making Playground” rounded off afternoon for 6-12th graders and their accompanying adults.

Students design upcycled CD case mazes with wiki sticks and tiny ball bearings.

The morning session was all about celebrating our very favorite maker material: trash! No…not your everyday stinky, smelly garbage, but more like upcycled hanging terrariums, CD case mazes using wiki sticks and tiny ball bearings, and a vibration motor “junk bot” challenge.

Family members and students design activity trackers using Scratch programming and micro:bit controllers.

The afternoon was dedicated to the digital realm, with a littleBits text-based engineering challenge, stop motion animation, and designing activity trackers (think “FitBits”) using Scratch and micro:bit controllers. The programming station was a testament to lifelong learning, as our Scratchers ranged from age 8 to 80!