One Saturday, 3/23/19, the library will be hosting activities for NJ Makers Day 2019! Every March since 2014, New Jersey makers and tinkerers have come together to celebrate maker culture, which is all about inventiveness, community-wide education, and hands-on learning. The goal of Makers Day is to encourage community engagement and interaction among New Jersey makers by exploring new and interesting opportunities to create and learn. A cornerstone of Makers Day is STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and math), which participants will experience first-hand by learning basic programming, circuitry, problem solving, and more!
Here are a few activities we hosted for NJ Makers Day 2018 that will be returning this year, as well as a new one!
Sphero Robots
These spherical robots are programmable and controlled remotely through one of the library’s iPads! It can follow programmed routes, jump, spin, change colors, and more!
Snap Circuits
These connecting sets demonstrate how to complete a basic circuit in order to power a light bulb, an electric fan, and more!
Straws and Connectors
This set of brightly-colored connecting pieces can create structures big and small.
Quilting Squares
Participants will make colorful designs on fabric quilt squares that will be made into one giant Makers Day quilt!
Cat and Dog Toys
With help from the Second Chance for Animals shelter in Franklin, participants will make custom pet toys!
Makey Makey
This kit sends commands to a circuit board using open and closed circuits, allowing for any object that conducts electricity to be made into a controller. You can use bananas, graphite pencil drawings, Play-Doh, and more!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfQqh7iCcOU&w=560&h=315]
We hope to see you there! Thanks for reading!
-George, FTPL
