Papercraft & Chemistry

Week of 4/20/2015

Consider this an open request for ideas using Minecraft as a vessel for making and learning new things. There is so much potential within the game itself, but the way it has captivated so many young minds is truly fascinating. We have a few young Makers in our ranks that are obsessed with the game and this paper craft from pixelpapercraft.com was a fun way to practice fine motor skills during imaginative play. The website offers hundreds, maybe thousands, of characters, mobs, blocks, and items that the user can print out. The 2D creations vary in difficulty -- I believe the Ender Dragon is about 5-6 pages -- but are not easy by any means. All four Makers showed extreme patience and perseverance while snipping and gluing the creatures into shape. By the end we had a creeper, Steve, a pig, 2 wolves, and the head of a zombie villager. I encourage you to check out the above website if you have a Minecraft maniac in your home or are one yourself.

Later in the week, the Maker workshop got a little bit messy. We were making elephant toothpaste from a website I found off of Pinterest. Similar to many, kid-friendly science creations (see Oobleck or Gak) this was all about the sensory experience and having fun! In doing so, everyone was successfully using measurements and actively participating in the scientific inquiry process. What's going to happen when I mix this substance with this substance? We had so much fun doing this activity, we had to do it a second time. Check out the link above for all the necessary materials and an explanation of the chemical reactions at work.

See you next week!