Over the past few years, we’ve been developing and expanding our reach into the world of making, by offering both programs and resources.
What exactly is making? Well, we actually helped craft a formal definition for it for library staff across the nation. But the short answer is pretty simple: it is the process of being willing to get your hands dirty and learn while you create whatever you want to make to accomplish a task or just have fun. Do you cook? Do you craft? Do you invent? Do you build? Do you fix things? You are a maker!
In fact, some are even talking about making as at the core of a new type of literacy: invention literacy (i,e, the ability to look around you and figure out how human-made things work). Like any type of literacy, you can never be too old or too young to start your making journey and nurturing the growth mindset on which all making depends. You also can never have enough tools in the forms of books to get your creative juices flowing.
So, this year we plan to highlight all of the various making resources we have–which range from needlework to Legos to more. June is all about maker resources for kids! There’s no excuse to claim they’re bored this summer. 🙂 Thanks so much to Julie for helping me research this post!
Alison Buxton’s Maker Workshop: Amazing Projects You Can Make Today (2021)
This book is all about gadget making. Want to make a light-up backup? Determined to make your own robot? Or how about a mini motorized Ferris wheel or even a paper plane launcher? All of the above and more are featured, alongside explanations of the science behind them. It also is packed with photos and step-by-step instructions to make it as easy to use as it is fun.
Jonathan Adolph’s Cardboard Engineering: Cardboard Box Engineering: Cool, Inventive Projects for Tinkerers, Makers, & Future Scientists (2020)
Have cardboard, will make–at least according to this book. Written for nine- to fourteen-year-olds, this book features a range of inventive projects that kids can make from cardboard and other simple household items. They’ll learn how to make a marble roller coaster, a kaleidoscope, a robotic hand, and more, while also picking up important fundamental concepts from physics and engineering.
Fiona Hayes’s 51 Things to Make series (2016)
These books feature dozens of projects centered around paper plates and cardboard boxes, respectively. Many of the projects rely on having extra art supplies, especially paint and googly eyes (as we well know at the library, no craft has reached its full potential until it has a pair of googly eyes). But the results are eye-catching pirate hats, castles, and cats made from paper plates and dinosaurs, robots, and owls from cardboard boxes.
Yoshihito Isogawa’s The LEGO Power Functions Idea Book, Volume 1, Machines and Mechanisms (2016)
For LEGO builders, this book is a fantastic blend of fun and educational information. You’ll learn how to make hundreds of mechanisms, all rooted in basic foundational construction and mechanical principles. Pictures, part lists, and step-by-step instructions guide you along in constructing sliding doors, grasping claws, and more.
Analees Kim’s Recycling Crafts (2014)
If you’re looking for crafts that will let you recycle a wider variety of household items, this is the perfect resource. This book will show you how to repurpose plastic bottles and paper towel holders (and more) into everything from bracelets to pencil cases.
Anna-Marie D’Cruz’s Make Your Own Musical Instruments (2009)
This fun book profiles several instruments from around the world, highlighting their cultural role, in addition to providing directions. You will make everything from Spanish castanets to an Egyptian harp to an African thumb piano.
Martha Maker’s Craftily Ever After series (2018-2020)
If you know a kid who’s not quite so hands-on, they might really enjoy this series. Rather than an instructional guide to how to make crafts, these fun easy reader books are about a group of friends who love to craft. The books cover their various crafting projects as well as the ebb and flow of their friendship. Join Emily, Maddie, Bella, and Sam as they make friendship bracelets, tie-dye shirts, start an agua fresca stand, and more.
If you’re looking for more good maker resources for kids, also check out our January post, which features some fun kid-friendly books in its own right. There are also niche books for kids mentioned in most of the previous entries of this series.
P.S. Notice anything new around here? After 7.5 years and over 435 posts, we’ve upgraded to our own domain! Thanks so much, Julie! All our old links should still redirect you here, and hopefully you’ll also enjoy your new ad-free experience as much as we are! 🙂
Know any crafty kids? What are your favorite maker projects and resources for children? Tell us in the comments! As always, please follow this link to our online library catalog for more information on any of these items or to place them on hold.
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