Student Resources
We've curated a list of maker-centered learning resources for you to explore on your own. We're excited to see what you can tinker, make, create, and design. Click on the grade level tabs below to start making!
Elementary
Creative Stems
Author Jarrett Lerner is creating a collection of unfinished art for you to tinker and design with. What will you end up making and creating? Visit https://jarrettlerner.com/activities/ to find more creative activities
Maker Creations
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Design Spinner: What can you build with stuff around the house?
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Curiosity Machine: A collection of maker challenges
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Spark!Lab: Try your hand at these fun maker activities from the Smithsonian Institution!
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PBS Kids Design Squad: Join the Design Squad to build, design, and explore to make a global difference
Maker Exhibits & Camps
- Explore, Play, and Discover new sites and sounds with these online exhibits from the Exploratorium.
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Wonderopolis Camps: Explore one of the many Wonderopolis camps that's full of fun, interactive STEM and Maker experiments!
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National Geographic Kids: The NatGeo Science Lab is filled with experiments and videos to inspire you to make something awesome!
Lego
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Lego Building Instructions: Find inspiration and get creative with these creative easy-to-follow building instructions
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Mini Builds: Check out Lego monthly mini model builds to foster your imagination
Coding
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Tynker: Learn computer programming the fun way
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Scratch Jr: This app lets you program your own interactive stories and games
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Code.org: Begin your computer science journey with drag & drop blocks. Create your own drawings and games.
Animation
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Pixar in a Box: Pixar in a Box is a behind-the-scenes look at how Pixar artists do their jobs. You will be able to animate bouncing balls, build a swarm of robots, and make virtual fireworks explode.
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Toontastic 3D: With this app, you can draw, animate, and narrate swashbuckling adventures, breaking news stories, science reports, and all your other wacky ideas
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Computer Animation with Stickman: Draw a stickman and watch him come to life.
Storytelling & Music
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Chrome Music: Explore learning about music through fun, hands-on experiments.
Secondary
Maker Creations
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Curiosity Machine: A collection of maker challenges
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Spark!Lab: Try your hand at these fun maker activities from the Smithsonian Institution!
Lego
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Lego Building Instructions: Find inspiration and get creative with these creative easy-to-follow building instructions
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Mini Builds: Check out Lego monthly mini model builds to foster your imagination
3D Printing
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Tinkercad: Discover tutorials and free tools for 3D design & printing.
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Master Builder with Tinkercad: Take your prints to the next level and turn it into buildable brick models
Imagineering
- Imagineering in a Box: Imagineering in a Box is designed to pull back the curtain to show you how artists, designers and engineers work together to create theme parks. Go behind the scenes with Disney Imagineers and complete project-based exercises to design a theme park of your very own.
Coding
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Alice: an innovative block-based programming environment that makes it easy to create animations, build interactive narratives, or program simple games in 3D.
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Code.org: These short, self-paced modules for middle and high school students are a great way to learn concepts that span all programming languages and tools.
Animation
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Pixar in a Box: Pixar in a Box is a behind-the-scenes look at how Pixar artists do their jobs. You will be able to animate bouncing balls, build a swarm of robots, and make virtual fireworks explode.
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Toontastic 3D: With this app, you can draw, animate, and narrate swashbuckling adventures, breaking news stories, science reports, and all your other wacky ideas
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Computer Animation with Stickman: Draw a stickman and watch him come to life.
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Blender: Creative freedom starts at Blender. Make your very own 3D mini-short or film.
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Animaker: Create your own animated videos and short films
Storytelling/ Remaking
Watch this animated film Francis - a tense tale of the unexplained happenings on a lake in the middle of an Ontario nature reserve.
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Then create a sequel - What happened to Francis Bradywine?
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Or draw out the doodles and illustrations in her diary
In the nineteeth century, a fisherman teaches his son the family tradition of whale hunting. Unfortunately, natural abilities sometimes skip a generation.
- After watching, practice creating the dialogue for this story
TAIKO Studios presents the story of Luna, a Chinese American girl who dreams of becoming an astronaut.
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Practice writing some dialogue. Find a scene that really speaks to you and create the dialogue that is shared between the characters.
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Continue the story. Where will Luna’s dream of being an astronaut take her next?
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When Rock stumbles upon the magical Paper, it's love at first sight. But when the wrath of Scissors threatens the well-being of Paper, Rock must stop at nothing to save what he loves most, no matter the cost.
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After watching the short film, write the Origins stories for each of them. Where have they come from? How where they created?
Additional Storytelling Maker Ideas
Make a Found Story
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To begin, you will want to find a basket to store your found objects. If you do not have a basket, a box, container, or even a small bag will work.
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Next, you will want to go on a hunt for small objects and trinkets around your space and place them into your basket. Try to collect anywhere from 7-10 items. It’s important not to search for the perfect story creating items. It doesn’t matter how simple or uninteresting you think the items in your space are, I can guarantee whatever you find will have a great story to tell.
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Once you are done collecting your items, you will want to find a comfortable place to sit and write your story. You’ll need your basket of items and a writing utensil and paper, or your computer if you want to type.
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Go ahead and pick up an item out of your basket, place it in front of you, and use it as inspiration to begin writing. As you look at the object, you can choose to write about the literal item in front of you or take a more metaphorical approach.
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For example, if the object in front of you is a clock, you could start your story like: “My clock chimed midnight as a spine-tingling scream echoed off the walls of the decrepit, abandoned house across the street.”
- Since this example includes the word of the item in front of you, it would be a literal approach to the object. A more metaphorical start to the story could be:"Time always seems to slip through my grasp. No matter how well I plan out my day I always seem to lose track of reality.”
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- Either way of looking at the item will work. Choose the one that sparks the most inspiration.
- Try to spend no more than three minutes writing about the object. If you find that you’re spending too much time on an object, take out a timer to help keep you on track.
- When the time is up, reach into your basket and pull out another item. Use this new item to continue to craft your story. Repeat this process with all items in your basket.
- After you make it through all 7-10 objects, read through your story to see if there is anything else you need to add.
- And finally, share your completed story with us. We'd loved to hear what you made.
This Virtual Makerspace was created by Rachel Mainero, Information Literacy Specialist (ILS) at Reuther Middle School in collaboration with Julie Rains, Technology Program Consultant at Virtual Campus. Additional resources were provided from Lisa Mele, ILS at Van Hoosen, Kristi Trimboli, ILS at Hart, and community partnerships.