Mouse is an which organization strives to “empower all students to create with technology to solve real problems and make meaningful change in our world. Additionally, they are “committed to creating more diversity in STEM and opening opportunities for students from underserved communities across the country.” (via their website)
I was lucky enough to attend Maker Day on November 19th — these Maker Days happen twice a year and are a family-friendly celebration of creativity, problem solving, problem finding, prototyping, and making open to middle and high school students.
Maker Day gives you twice the time as our regular Maker Night to spend creating alongside professionals. More time so you can dig deep into coding, 3D design, or crafting something to take home. It’s a great experience to get your hands dirty with technology for an afternoon and get creative. A perfect day trip for a tech club, Maker Day will feature activities from content on create.mouse.org and more.
At the event, there were many different stations of activities peppered around their space. Upon entering, one could assemble and decorate a Google Cardboard VR headset.
Another station encouraged attendees to construct a DIY Operation game out of cardboard, tin foil, LED light, wire, and a coin cell battery.
I spend a lot of time at an activity chatting with Deren Gruler of Teknikio. She and some volunteers helped attendees create a light-up superhero cuff that could test for conductivity — if you close the circuit with an object and the LED lights up, then the objective is conductive!
There were additional stations set up to explore wind power, coding, MakeyMakey video games, Arduino circuits, breadboarding, and more.
I also spent some time reading the inspiring words and Mouse mission statements printed on the walls…
Karen Blumberg 