By Amy Cowen
on December 4, 2023 4:00 PM
Level up your makerspace with these activities and STEM expeditions for students prepared to take next steps in robotics, circuit building, shows, electronics, and more!
Take Your Makerspace to the Next Level!
Our initial jump-start your makerspace collection highlights 26 maker-inspired STEM activities to encourage and support hands-on creativity, engineering, and development. This brand-new collection develops upon the initial to feature 16 STEM activities to take your makerspace to the next level. These next-level makerspace activities assist you scale your makerspace to support makers and students prepared and excited for more advanced obstacles and cutting-edge exploration.
Students can likewise use the How to Use an Arduino tutorial separately. An Electronics Kit for Arduino is readily available for students working on electronic devices, coding, and physical computing jobs utilizing Arduino.
Level Up Your Makerspace with These Projects!
Integrate BlueBot + Arduino: the core BlueBot set can be utilized to build 4 various sensor-based robots. Add Arduino to present shows and exploration of other kinds of sensing units and real-world connections. (Learn more about the BlueBot 4-in-1 Robotics Kit and the Electronics Kit for Arduino.).
Included Next-Level Makerspace Projects.
STEM Kits.
The following science and engineering kits are utilized in numerous of the jobs highlighted above:.
Develop a soft robotic: design an air-powered soft robotic gripper that can pick up various kinds of materials.
Weave a patch that reacts to touch: integrate touch sensing units while weaving a custom-made spot and use Arduino to program the sensing units to light an LED when touched. This is an e-textiles job that uses Arduino programs for a TinyLily mini processor board.
Stitch a light-up unicorn horn: make a wearable unicorn horn with a sewn circuit that features a programmable LED in the tip that alters colors. This wearables task utilizes Arduino programming for a TinyLily mini processor board.
Design 3D printed material: use computer-aided style (CAD) tools (like Tinkercad) to design and 3D print a flexible mesh type of fabric.
Make a robot move in various ways: level up a cardboard robot job by exploring various kinds of movements that can be produced by altering the shape of the system. See this video for more information.
Develop an infinity mirror: use LEDs and mirrors to construct an infinity and create mirror. Look within, and it looks like you are peering into a limitless lit tunnel. This is an engineering style task. No programs is needed.
Construct a clever home device: explore the Internet of Things (IoT) by building a clever home gadget to make it possible for voice control of a light (or other device). Task utilizes a speech recognition module and Arduino programs.
Program a self-driving vehicle: explore the innovative science behind self-governing lorries with a BlueBot + Arduino shows project.
Check out altitude control with a mini drone: after developing the basic DIY popsicle stick mini drone, utilize a simple circuit to investigate altitude control. (For a series of activities you can do with the standard mini drone, see Drone Science Projects with a DIY Popsicle Stick Drone. The DIY Mini Drone Kit has actually the parts required to build the standard tiny drone.).
Develop a steerable robotic: construct a robot with two motors (to manage the wheels separately) and a wired push-button control for steering. This intermediate robotics project doesnt need programs.
Make an adaptive video game controller: utilize Raspberry Pi to style and build an adaptive game controller that enables someone with minimal movement to play a particular video game.
Design your own 3D illusion shapes: utilize MATLAB and Python in this math-based project and design (and 3D print) your own “impossible” shape that produces an anomalous mirror symmetry visual fallacy. When rotated in front of a mirror, the reflection constantly points the other method! We reveal an arrow example, however what 3D shape( s) can you develop for this impression? (See The Impossible Arrow Illusion for the starter activity or the The Ambiguous Cylinder Illusion activity for a similar illusion.).
The following STEM videos show some of the activities highlighted above:.
Make a levitating water fountain: produce a visual fallacy of water falling “up” by combining a DIY water fountain with a strobe light. As an extension, make your own strobe light utilizing an LED strip and Arduino.
Make a wearable air quality sensing unit: style a wearable air quality sensing unit to keep an eye on and notify when particle contamination in the air is alarmingly high. This project explores stitched circuits (with conductive thread), sensing units, and Arduino programs for a TinyLily mini processor board.
Make a flower pot from mushrooms: check out the use of mycelium composite to make functional things like planters and light tones. (Note: growing the mycelium takes two weeks, and the molding procedure starts in the second growing stage. See the timeline offered in the instructions.).
Stitch a light-up wearable circuit: explore wearable circuits and e-textiles by sewing the circuit to include LEDs to a glove. This project is a good introduction to using conductive thread and creating soft circuits. Extend the expedition with the Wearable RGB LED Unicorn Horn activity, which features a sewn circuit that has a programmable LED that alters colors.
Next-Level Makerspace Learning in Action.
Develop a basic walking robot: build an easy robotic that strolls on 2 legs however uses a support for stability. (For a more sophisticated project to develop a strolling robotic with four legs, see Build an Arduino Walking Robot.).
Develop a robotic arm: style a robotic arm that can select up and move a particular kind of things.
Simply Getting Started with a Makerspace?
See 28 Projects to Jump-start Your Makerspace for recommendations on starting your makerspace with jobs and activities that (primarily) require simple materials.
Note: A subset of the tasks highlighted listed below use Arduino. Students can also use the How to Use an Arduino tutorial independently. An Electronics Kit for Arduino is readily available for trainees working on electronic devices, coding, and physical computing jobs utilizing Arduino. Build an infinity mirror: utilize LEDs and mirrors to construct an infinity and create mirror. Design your own 3D impression shapes: utilize MATLAB and Python in this math-based job and design (and 3D print) your own “impossible” shape that produces an anomalous mirror proportion optical impression.
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