Top Ten Makerspace Favorites of 2017!

This year’s New Media Consortium/COSN’s 2017 K-12 Horizon Report deemed makerspaces the future of edtech and predicted full adoption in K-12 in one year or less! It is more important than ever that we plan and create GREAT makerspaces! Part of doing so is selecting the right materials, resources and supplies to support the experiences you want your students to have in your makerspace. In what has become an annual tradition, I am thrilled to highlight some of my favorite makerspace-related things for this year. As always, I am grateful to my friend and colleague, Travis Lape, for his input on this list! It is my hope that this year’s favorites encourage you to think ‘out of the box’ as you choose products to support your makerspace themes.

I am proud to present to you, the Worlds of Making Top Ten Makerspace Favorites of 2017!

POWERUP 3.0 – Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane
Flight has long been a theme in our makerspace, and that is what led me to the POWERUP 3.0 Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane. POWERUP 3.0’s durable, crash-proof design transforms ordinary paper planes into app-controlled machines. Controllable directly from a free smartphone app. Just tilt your smartphone to steer your airplane left or right, increase or decrease throttle to ascend or descend.

PodPi
The foundation of my work lies in storytelling, therefore I was thrilled to discover PodPi, which does a brilliant job of using storytelling as a way to teach children about concepts that many makerspaces include. PodPi is a comic book series that will inspire your kids to learn more about electronics and JavaScript coding. They will start with building their first simple circuits and end with WiFi enabled devices powering the Internet of Things (IoT). The engaging and immersive lessons use their popular comic book format.

Buildr TAPE
You can now turn almost anything into a surface that allows you to build with LEGOs! Buildr TAPE™ is flexible, cuttable, and wearable toy building block reusable adhesive tape. This peel and stick TAPE™ instantly transforms virtually any surface into a bendable base for building new amazing creations with your traditional toy building blocks. Compatible with LEGO®.

Thinkpak: A Brainstorming Card Deck

Looking for a unique invention, an untapped market for an existing product, or a new solution? Stretch and flex your mental muscles with Thinkpak, a creative-thinking tool designed by Michael Michalko, author of the groundbreaking book Thinkertoys. This deck of illustrated idea-stimulating cards distills Michalko’s proven methods, allowing you to view challenges in a new light. Shuffle, mix, and match the cards to spark fresh insights, then use the critical evaluation techniques to test, shape, and refine your original ideas into realistic creations. Filled with thought-provoking questions and examples of the techniques put to use, Thinkpak provides endless creative fuel to fire up the imagination.

Mockups
These cards are a great tool for getting your students, employees, and/or team thinking creatively. Pick 3 cards, one of each color. Arrange cards in order to establish the challenge. For example “Construction workers need a way to save water that works on the moon.” Come up with a new product or service that fulfills the need. Show to your friends. Pick the winner. Play again! Great to warm up both ideation and prototyping, as well as for rapid design cycles.

‘I Can Make Books’ by Kristina Holzweiss
My point of entry into the maker movement was through literacy, so I have long recognized the value of integrating related concepts and resources into a makerspace. Although I am not always a fan of makerspace project books, these ‘I Can Make Books’ written by Kristina Holzweiss and Amy Barth, are some of my current favorites. What I love most about them is how they are written for students to be able to use to guide themselves through the process of making and creating, allowing for a much more empowering and authentic experience, rather than the project ideas coming from an adult.

The Empathy Toy
Many school makerspaces integrate the Design Thinking Process into their spaces. Empathy is the first step in design thinking because it is a skill that allows us to understand and share the same feelings that others feel. Therefore, it is critical that we as educators find ways to nurture empathy in our spaces, and the Empathy Toy, created by Twenty One Toys , is one of my favorite ways to do so. The Empathy Toy is a blindfolded puzzle game that can only be solved when players learn to understand each other.

MackinMaker LEGO® Compatible Wall
With many schools creating LEGO® walls and tables in their makerspaces, why not offer a more customized experience that is unique to your school community? Thanks to MackinMaker’s LEGO® Compatible Wall service, you can now create walls and tables that reflect specific themes (some of which can be seen below) such as space, transportation and landforms. Don’t see a theme for you? They also offer a service that allows you to make custom-made designs that are unique to your space!

Edison Table
I have written before about how the future of makerspaces lies in mobility, which is one of the reasons why I love the Edison Table, created by Custom Educational Furniture, so much. The Edison Table, also known as the ‘Ed’ Table, offers many possibilities for school makerspaces, including Integrated Clean Up, Magnetic Stool Storage, Built-in Storage, and Integrated Power & USB. Maximizing creative time while minimizing the amount of logistical preparation work and clean-up was the driving factor behind the design concept. The table is also available in two heights.

Kids Invent Stuff YouTube Channel
Not everything that is GREAT for a makerspace has to cost money! Here is one that is FREE! Be sure to check out the Kids Invent Stuff Youtube Channel. where kids can get their own invention ideas built by real engineers!

Well, there you have it…the Worlds of Making Top Ten Makerspace Favorites of 2017!

Want to purchase these amazing makerspace resources from an approved classroom and Library vendor? Click here to visit my partner, MackinMaker.com!

Be sure to also check out my Top Ten Makerspace Favorites of 2015, as well as my Top Ten Makerspace Favorites of 2016, by clicking on the images.

I am already on the lookout for my Top 10 Favorites for 2018! Be on the lookout, for a chance to nominate your favorites!

Be sure to say congratulations on social media to my top 10 favorites using the hashtag, #worldsofmaking!

About

Laura Fleming

Laura has been an educator in the state of New Jersey for 20 years. She has been both a classroom teacher and media specialist in grades K-8 and currently as a Library Media Specialist for grades 9-12. She has played a prominent role in education as a writer and speaker and has served as an educational consultant on Next Generation teaching standards and tools. Laura co-hosts the Movers & Makers Podcast, and is the author of the best-selling, Worlds of Learning: Best Practices for Establishing a Makerspace for Your School (Corwin, 2015). Laura is also the creator of a digital badge-based professional development platform in which educators all over the world earn badges in acknowledgment of their professional learning. Her library Makerspace has garnered national attention and has served as an inspiration for schools across the country. She is also a recipient of the National School Boards ‘20 to Watch’ in Educational Technology Leadership for 2014 and was recently nominated as a White House Champion of Change for Making. Laura is also the creator of the ‘Worlds of Making’ Digital Academy, which provides makerspace professional development for teachers. Her goal is to create learning experiences that empower and equip students with the necessary skills to effectively produce and consume content across multiple media platforms. She is also driven to enable educators and cohorts in applying these innovative methods and cutting-edge technology in their fields of expertise. Laura is an educational consultant, thought leader and speaker on education, librarianship, and technology.