tinker, tailor, maker, librarian

, Tailor, Maker,

Librarian

Laura Antolín

Katie LaMantia

Janet Piehl

#ilakick #tinkergroup

Technology networking group for library staff

who work with children and teens

Tinker Meeting Topics

Raspberry Pi

Minecraft

3D Printing

Scratch

MaKey MaKeys

Soldering

Arduino

Artbots

Squishy Circuits

More!

Librarians and library staff from over 15 area libraries have presented, sharing

knowledge and ideas.

● 40-60 attendees per meeting

● Members from 65 libraries

● 71% of members used an idea

or bought equipment

mentioned at a meeting

Hands-on activities are the key!

Science and Engineering

Take-Apart Night

Lego Mindstorms EV3

Roller Coasters

Squishy Circuits

Take-Apart Night

Budget: Audience: Difficulty:

Gather discarded

electronic equipment

wherever you can

get it!

● Library staff

● IT department

● Maintenance

department

● Patron donations

Invite maintenance, IT, and other

techy staff members to help at the

program.

This is a great opportunity for

interdepartmental collaboration.

Team up older teens with younger kids!

Let the kids explore on their own!

Lego Mindstorms Ev3

Budget: Audience: Difficulty:

What can you do with the robot?

• Recognize color,

sound, and light

• Make the robot move

and talk

• Touch sensor- hit a

wall, reverse!

The Software

● Drag and drop

● Color categories

● Easily changed

● No coding

language

Roller Coasters

Budget: Audience: Difficulty:

STEM buzzwords:

Engineering

Science

- Physics

Build Night

Passive

Programming

Partnerships:

● Local amusement

park

● Great Americao Physics Day

● Jr. High and High

Schools

Skills Achieved:

● Teamwork

● Cooperation

● Problem Solving

Final result

Pattern templates for paper roller coasters

are challenging!

Squishy Circuits

Budget: Audience: Difficulty:

Kids of all ages can learn about basic, series,

and parallel circuits, and more using a Squishy

Circuits kit and Play-Doh.

Encourages cooperation and

creativity

Electronics

Touchscreen Gloves

Light-Up Art

LED Greeting Cards

Touchscreen Gloves

Budget: Audience: Difficulty:

● Buy one-size-fits-all stretch

gloves.

● Paint AnyGlove on the inside

of the fingertips.

● Decorate the outside of the

gloves with puffy paint.

● Dry carefully!

LED Greeting Cards

Budget: Audience: Difficulty:

Supplies

Overview

• Create a colorful greeting card

• Fashion a simple circuit with the copper

tape, battery, and LED

• Check connections before gluing or taping!

Light-Up Art

Budget: Audience: Difficulty:

Art

Artbots

Light Painting

Artbots

Budget: Audience: Difficulty:

Pool noodles, electric toothbrush motors,

markers, decorations, tape, scissors

Light Painting

Budget: Audience: Difficulty:

Turn out the lights and capture the designs made by light trails in the dark.

Use a camera set to long exposure or an iPad loaded with LongExpo.

Contact

E-mail: tinkerfolks@gmail.com

Blog: tinkergroup.wordpress.com

Twitter: @tinkerfolks

Facebook: facebook.com/tinker.folks

Laura Antolín: lantolin@cityofevanston.org

Katie LaMantia: klamantia@stdl.org

Janet Piehl: jpiehl@wilmettelibrary.info

Please download our handout from the ILA website.