Make at Home Projects: Earth Day!

I finished up week 5 still working 1/2 from home and 1/2 at our library district operations center, printing Mask Strap Extenders for local healthcare workers in cooperation with our local Repair Cafe group.

While most of my projects focus on using recycled supplies, I challenged myself this week to try and use the same supplies several times. By the end of the week, I worked with the tiniest cardboard scraps, but I think it might be my favorite project! 

I have started creating the rough draft of my project in the video, then spending some time finishing it after the video, to have something a little more appealing to take a picture of to promote the project/video. While I have mixed feelings about providing a finished example because it sets expectations on the participant that may end up frustrating them, I'm navigating new waters with providing digital content and not relying on my amazing personality to get people excited to try a project. My observation from other videos definitely shows a pattern of having the "idealized" version of a project to entice people to keep watching. I have no ambition of creating the best craft, but I have been spending a little extra time on the project.  

Tiny Projector
This project came from a suggestion by one of my coworkers (Hi, Gen!). Toilet paper roll, plastic wrap (I used repurposed plastic from a box that had a cut-out window), cardboard and a bit of tape. I was kind of surprised that I didn't have a flashlight at home to use with the toilet paper projector, but my phone worked ok.

Toilet Paper Roll Flowers
I've always loved how this project looked, but hadn't tried it for myself.   I think I prefer the paper towel roll (more cardboard pieces to work with).

Display Box
I'm trying to think of useful things for my primary audience, kids ages 6-10. When I was a kid, and when I interact with kids at the library, they most often have some sort of little toy or knickknack in their pocket. I figured a nice place to store and display their little figures would be a fun re-use of some cardboard. The un-edited video for this project was over an hour. I really struggled to get this one right. My first attempt even involved a ruler and didn't fit my figure, even with the exact measurements. I'm kind of sad I couldn't keep all that failure content in there, but YouTube has a 15-minute limit. Maybe some day I'll make a bloopers reel...

 Abstract Art Faces
This project was suggested by my coworker (hi, Bonnie!). In the original post on Facebook, they used simple shapes and colored cardboard. I thought it would make a fun project to just use some of the colored cardboard. Another new project for me, but pretty cool!

Scrappy Garden
This project was inspired by the teeny tiny shards of cardboard left over from this week's project. It was really fun and freeing to just fill a piece of paper with random cardboard scraps!

3D Printing During Pandemic

My library district owns 7 Lulzbot Minis. Initially, we had plans to create a centralized makerspace in our large downtown branch. When that didn't seem feasible, several other branches received 3D printers. We then set about coordinating our efforts to create a consistent process for getting the technology into the hands of our patrons.

My library district has been closed since March 15th. I've been keeping an eye on the maker initiatives growing out the of the need to support local healthcare agencies with Personal Protective Equipment and other items. I had a lot of concerns about the initial enthusiasm for creating PPE. My biggest concern was over makers creating these items without any oversight from healthcare agencies or an  actual ask by healthcare agencies.

The NIH website has provided a lot of guidance during this process.

We were fortunate to be able to partner with our local Repair Cafe group, Repair Clark County. They started sewing cloth masks, and quickly expanded into other areas. We responded to their request for surgical mask extenders.

We're following safety best practices created by the Prusa 3D printing company. Wiping down the machines with disinfectant, wearing masks and gloves.

Our facilities crew has been keeping an eye on our branches, and they kindly rounded up all the printers and brought them to the Operations Center. I worked on getting them cleaned, calibrated and printing.

Feedback we received from the first batch of mask extenders was they were a bit short. I created an optimized version for the Lulzbot Mini, squeezing almost an extra inch out of the design by printing without build adhesion (no skirt).

I also created files for printing 7" and 8" extenders. We'll see what feedback we receive from the next batch. I uploaded all 3 of my resized files to Thingiverse.

 Original size (left). 8 inch size (right)

Original size (left). Optimized Mini print (right).

We've only been printing a few days, but have already printed over 100 and I think I've got a system figured out to print faster. It takes about 20 minutes to print an extender on our Minis.  Here is a timelapse of several hours' worth of printing compressed to 30 seconds:

Make at Home Projects: Week 4

Our library district has extended our closure through early May. We are forming work groups to try and work out what summer learning, ongoing programming and connecting digitally may look like. There are so many unknowns at this point, that I get overwhelmed. I appreciate having the Make at Home project to practice creating digital content, and to start thinking about how the content I've already created can be expanded and enhanced for a more interactive experience with our communities.

The entire Make at Home Playlist is available on my Youtube Account

4/6: Pixel Art, Part 1: Pen and Paper
My husband recommended this project to me. During Winter 2020 Girls Who Code @ Vancouver, one of my club member's presented on the pixel art she had created throughout the 4 years she has been involved with FVRL's Girls Who Code. It was quite touching. I'm also acutely aware of the digital divide in our community, so I wanted to create an alternative pixel art project, that only required pencil and paper. I/ve done this project as part of a 2-hour Unplugged Coding workshop, but I usually cheat and use Excel to create a grid and print it out. I usually extend this project with Perler Beads, but not knowing if that's something kids have at home, I focused more on the math of measuring out and creating your own grid on paper. It was quite satisfying, but I love measuring things. :D

4/7: Pixel Art 2: Digital using Piskel
Piskel is a really fun and easy-to-learn software. It's free, cloud-based, and pretty powerful for a free online pixel editor. I know people who have created game sprites in Piskel and then use them in their video game builds. Pretty cool.

4/8: Pop-Up Cards
I recently made pop-up cards with the students at the Juvenile Detention Center. I don't know why I had never done a pop-up card before, the basic design is really simple. I can tell this will be one of my go-to projects.

4/9-4/114: Tiny Diorama
I love tiny things! I wanted to do an Altoids tin diorama, but I guessed not everyone hoards tins the way I do, so I found a couple of good alternative boxes to turn into tiny dioramas, and even how to make your own. Due to Youtube's 15-minute limit, I broke this project into 3 sections.

Make at Home Projects: Week 3

I continue creating videos at home. I'm getting better at editing and adding in more information on what the finished product will look like early in the video. I'm loading them to the Youtube account linked to my work email.

3/30: Shadow Theater
Inspired by the puppet theater and a request from a coworker to do a shadow theater program a few years ago. I still haven't been able to do this as a public program, but it was a super fun project.

3/31: Resist Tape Art
Another recommendation from a coworker. I did this project during Maker Camp a few years ago.  My Sharpies are starting to wear out.

4/1: Luminary
Another Maker Camp project from a few years ago. We used copper tape and LEDs to make our own light source. Knowing those items aren't likely to be something people at home made this more challenging.

4/2: Triangle Art
A re-use for my building squares. It reminds me of tessellation's. I may try to do a more involved tessellation's project...

4/3: Constellations
An oldie, but a goodie. This was one of the first STEM projects I did during my time as a high school student working at a summer STEM camp.

Make at Home Projects: Week 2

Our library closure has been extended until April 6. I am back at making videos from home. I'm doing my best to reuse supplies to keep waste down. It's been a fun additional challenge. I think I've figured out a good work flow to keep myself from getting overwhelmed. My partner is also working from home right now and our Internet is super slow (I think because a lot of people are working from home right now). It takes forever to download content, get it edited, and then get it posted to YouTube. I record several videos at a time, then work on editing them throughout the week. I love that YouTube allows you to schedule videos, so I can upload a bunch of them during off-hours (like 10 pm) and they will post throughout the week. I'm loading them to the Youtube account linked to my work email.

3/23: Board Game
 I've actually never done this project, but I was inspired by a gift of a blank board game kit. I love the idea of being totally in control of the play, environment, and rules. I actually want to make a full-fledged board game now.

3/24: Offline Coding
A coworker recently replicated an offline coding program we did together a few years ago. One of the activities included building a life-size grid on the floor, printing out basic directions (turn left, turn right, forward, stop, pick up) and then having the kids program each other to retrieve objects on the grid (we used story time puppets). It ended upping a great activity. While working on the board game, I thought about that activity and realized I could scale it down to fit on a piece of cardboard.

3/25: Building Squares
I find myself making these cardboard squares a lot. I first did this project while working at my library in Idaho and then created some for my friend's 4-year-old while visiting a couple of years ago.

3/26: Puppet Theater
A coworker and I created this project for Maker Camp a few years ago. We used miniature pizza boxes, but a soda box worked really well for this project.

3/27: Cardboard Automata
We had a training on cardboard automata at a Staff Day a few years ago, but I'd been too scared to try and make one. After creating the puppet theater, I decided it was time to give it a go. Fun fact, I initially tried to build cams from pop bottle caps, but they did not work for me. Thank goodness these videos aren't live...or maybe it would be good to see me struggle more...

I have plans to continue repurposing my puppet theater design next week!

March 2020: Adapting to Shelter in Place Amid Pandemic

As with most libraries around the country, our library district is closed until our governor gives the ok for non-essential businesses to reopen. Our library district is in Washington State, one of the states hit early with COVID-19 and hit hardest. Conversations about how to handle the crisis began around March  9. By the end of the week, the decision to close our branches was put in place. Initially, we thought staff would be back to work after 3 days (the time it's thought the virus is viable on paper products) but the decision to stay closed until the end of the month followed.

One of our librarians had the great idea of recording some story time snippets to help families who have suddenly found their entire schedule disrupted. Due to copyright concerns, we decided to focus on some of our favorite finger play/songs/flannel stories, instead of reading books on camera for social media. I was asked to provide some easy do-at-home crafts, which are totally my jam.

Initially, we thought we would continue reporting to work during the closure, so had planned to record a lot of videos in the following week. The order to close came before we could get too much organized.

Even at home, it took me 3 days to get myself organized and the right equipment identified before I could start even making videos. I decided to focus on my favorite projects that are easy to replicate at home and to limit myself to common household items (no downloaded software, no copper foil tape, no Internet required, no corrugated cardboard, etc).

I've made my first week's worth of videos and have the feeling I'll be making quality videos by the end of the quarantine. Still working on coordinating posting with our social media team, but for now I'm loading them to the Youtube account linked to my work email.

3/17: Marble Run
3/18: Trash Car
3/19: Musical Instruments (for my favorite story time song: Wiggle, Wiggle, Stop)
3/20: Stop Motion

Girls Who Code Washougal 2020

Today I went to my 2nd...and last...Girls Who Code meeting at our Washougal branch. The library district has decided to cancel all public programs through the end of the month due to the spread of COVID-19 in our state. Hopefully we'll be back at the beginning of April, but who knows.

Two best friends dropped in today and asked if we'll be doing things every week. It was heartbreaking to tell them we're on break until April.
















Today's project:

Interactive art with Makey Makey
We used graphite pencils and markers to create a conductive piece of paper, then wired it up to MakeyMakey and used the apps to interact with our art.

and

Interacting with Art using PencilCode
I think I have standardized my program utilizing PencilCode.
1. We begin with the example (the turtle makes 6 off-set squares)

2. We examine the block-based code.
3. We switch to the text-based code. My basic prompts:
   How many squares does the turtle make?
   Can we change the code so the turtle makes one square?
   Can we change the code so the turtle makes an upright square?
   Can we change the color of the pen?
4. We erase the existing code and pull out the PencilCode Reference Sheet. We try out several pieces of code together to see what they do.
5. We take turns deciding what to draw: house, flower, boat, face, tree, skull, etc

I still find PencilCode to be an effective and fun way to get the kids off block-based code and into text-based coding.