A Summer of Making
How The South Florida Maker Movement Celebrated Summer 2019!
It has been a busy Summer for Makers — with so many incredible programs, events, and developments — we’re just so excited to share it all with you! From Summer Camps to Combat Robot events to National Maker Challenges… Summer has been non-stop!
Summer STEAM Maker Camp 2019
Moonlighter Makerspace hosted 10 weeks of maker camps for 7–12 year olds. With a new challenge each week, our young makers had to design and build their ideas using critical thinking, creativity, and a range of cutting edge technologies!
Little Architects
Kids had to invent living structures of the future! They learned about 3D modeling, floor plans, and renderings. They prototyped structural designs that resist earthquakes, mixed and poured concrete foundations, and built full scale furniture using GIANT Everblocks!
Eco-Materials Lab
We experimented with recycled, reused, and sustainable materials to create new eco-friendly objects! From Laser-cut corrugated cardboard lamps, paper making using recycled newsprint and magazines, eco resin jewelry using plastic and wood chips from the cnc, bottle cap art, and tesselation pattern pillows using upcycled textiles to creating organic planters using used rags and cement! It was eye-opening to see such amazing things being created from materials that would have ended up in a landfill!
Gizmos & Gadgets
After learning the basics of circuitry and robotics, campers created their own combat bots using littleBits and 3D printed armor.
Campers learned how to solder their own series circuit, use solar panels to power a fan, and created their own battery powered cars!
From sketches to moving object s— each camper learned how to make their ideas come to life using 3D printers, laser cutters, and open source electronic components.
Design Thinking
Children followed the 5-step methodology to create a product for their character client. They empathized with their client, taking note of the specific needs for their character’s lifestyle. They defined the challenges that needed solving, iterated different ideas, prototyped their designs, and finally tested them to see if it solved the problem!
Movie Makers
Prop-Making, special effects, stop-motion and more! We challenged our little Spielbergs to direct and produce their own short films. They story boarded, created their characters, wrote their scripts, green screened their special effects, and edited their movies — all in just 5 days! See their work below:
Game Makers
From coding their own pong game, to building their own board games — children designed and developed in both digital and physical environments and then got to play each others games at the end!
Every detail was considered: the rules, the cards, the dice, the “special tile” cards, the 3d printed game pieces and characters. They thought of every way they could tie in the theme of their games to every aspect of the gameplay!
Makers to Mars
Campers built their own designs for a Mars expedition — from rockets and solar powered rovers, to 3D printed habitats and LED plant growing pods — they envisioned every step of what it would take to live on Mars!
Fun Fact: They built their own bases on a CNC milled topography of the Mars surface — using the actual landscape scan data from Mars!
Little Innovators
Creating their own product, designing their own logo — and pitching their ideas to the “Sharks!” In this week — makers meant business, turning their ideas into sustainable ventures!
They started with a business model canvas, identifying their customer base, their materials list, and how they want to promote their products.
Then they got a loan with play money and they had to pay for all of their materials and machine use! Each day, our “clients” would make their orders and the campers had to track their sales to profitability!
Makers are Superheroes
In this week, the campers used science and technology to invent their own superpowers. They 3D printed props, sewed their own light-up capes and masks, and made their own comic book about their Superhero character.
Science Meets Art
The Kids used chemical reactions, circuitry, and different materials and elements to create beatiful works of scientific art!
They learned how to patina copper, visualize magnetic fields with ferrofluids, and even create their own lava lamps!
As an end of Summer treat — we took the campers on a field trip to Fun Dimension where they got to experience a 7D theater, virtual reality, and tons of fun games!
Fairchild Innovation Studio Maker Camps
We hosted four Maker Camp sessions at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Work is still under way on the brand new Innovation Studio and Makerspace there, so we set up a pop-up lab in their Science Village. There were two sessions of Makers to Mars and two sessions of Gardenscapes: Designing with Nature.
Children got to work with a wide range of materials, tools, and technologies — from vacuum forming resin molds and mixing concrete, to soldering circuits and 3D printing prototypes. We can’t wait until the makerspace opens next year and welcoming back all of these incredibly creative kids!
The BASS Museum STEAM Sessions
For the third consecutive year, we’ve partnered with The BASS Museum to bring our STEAM sessions to their renowned Art Camps.
10 hands-on projects were developed to complement the educational topic of each week. From art bots, and electronic sound sculptures, to 3D laser cut critters — there were lots of fun projects merging science, technology, and art!
Maker Apprenticeships — Summer Youth Internship Program
This year, we welcomed our fourth cohort of Maker Apprentices from the Summer Youth Internship Program in partnership with The Children’s Trust. Six exceptional high school students were trained on the digital fabrication equipment, lead student groups for our Maker Camp program, managed daily Fabrication Lab activities, and worked on their own personal projects over their 5-weeks with us. We’re proud of all the skills they learned, the challenges they’ve overcome, and the wonderful creations they built while they were here! They all have a very bright future ahead of them!
Combat Robot Events
This Summer, we collaborated with MakeMIA Makerspace and Team Witch Doctor from BattleBots to host a range of exciting robotics events! They were so much fun and lots of new bot builders joined this amazing competitive sport! We look forward to doing even more of these events together.
- Build and Battle your Own Combat Robot with Witch Doctor
- Robot Riot at Coral Park
- BattleBots Watch Party with Team Witch Doctor
NOMCON 2019
Maker Space founders from across the country gathered in Chattanooga, Tennessee to discuss the state of the maker movement, best practices, new technologies, maker space programming, and so much more! The Nation of Makers organization did a wonderful job bringing leaders and experts to host informative break out sessions that provided inspiring and practical conversations! It was really exciting to meet Adam Savage (of Mythbusters and Savage Builds) in person, as he serves on the board for NoM. We also had a chance to host a Lunch and Learn session with Fairchild, who sponsored the event, to unveil the National Growing Beyond Earth Maker Challenge!
Growing Beyond Earth Maker Contest
Growing Beyond Earth (GBE) at Fairchild is extending its reach nationwide as they call on makers across America to submit their designs for gardening systems to be used aboard spacecraft. The Growing Beyond Earth Maker Contest is a three-year multidisciplinary endeavor to leverage the ingenuity of minds throughout the nation to reinvent the systems used to grow edible plants on the International Space Station and beyond. As NASA looks toward a long-term human presence beyond low Earth orbit, they face specific science, technology, engineering, and mathematics challenges related to space crop production. Through this contest, we aim to harness the creativity and talent within our local community and throughout a national network of makerspaces to address those challenges, which include (1) how to efficiently use three-dimensional plant growing space aboard spacecraft, (2) how to maintain plants without human intervention, and (3) how to design a fully automated robotic planting and harvesting system. Entries to the contest will be assessed and judged by NASA engineers and botanists, and winning proposals will be considered for implementation on future NASA missions. Take the challenge and help NASA’s mission for long-distance space exploration with this critical component for sustaining life beyond Earth — growing edible plants.
The first national challenge is LIVE! Head over to Instructables for submission details and to the Fairchild GBE Site for more background info and data for the challenge!
Innovation Studio at Fairchild
We are helping Fairchild build the first ever makerspace in a Botanic Garden! Development of the new space is under way — stay tuned for updates and for the grand opening!
If you are interested in taking some innovation workshops in the meantime, you can enroll in classes on the Fairchild website.
Reimagining Cities at The Idea Center MDC
We’ve partnered with The Idea Center at Miami Dade College and Makers Lab MDC for a unique 8-week program that introduces students to the foundations of Tactical Urbanism and teaches the basics of digital fabrication — empowering our community to build their ideas for a better city! We’ve hosted two info sessions, one at Venture Cafe and another at the Idea Center and we we’re so impressed to see how many engaged citizens showed up and expressed interest in shaping their neighborhoods! Join the first cohort of urban innovators: More information on the program can be found at http://theideacenter.co/reimaginingcities/
Other Summer Maker Events
- World Oceans Day at Frost Science
- Dora and the Lost City of Gold Family Maker Day
- Soldering Masterclass at Urgent Inc. Youth Economic Development Conference
- Mad Scientist Meetups for Kids
- Brickell International Academy: Gizmos Field Trip
Did You Know?
The custom “Key to the City” that the City of Miami Beach honored Jennifer Lopez (J-Lo) with on her birthday last month, in appreciation of all of the community work she has supported through her charitable giving, was fabricated by your local makerspace, Moonlighter! This is our first ‘celebrity’ project — thanks to the City of Miami Beach for entrusting us with such an important project!
Moonlighter FabLab Miami Beach
We’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with the City of Miami Beach to provide STEAM programming, Professional Development Programs, and other Maker enrichments to the city! Starting in late 2019/early 2020, we’ll be expanding to a new 7000 square foot innovation lab in the heart of South Beach! This new space will serve as a hub for Maker education, Innovation, and STEAM organizations across South Florida. If your organization is interested in partnering to expand your programming with access to a full fabrication lab and our STEAM Learning Center, contact admin@moonlighterfablab.org
If you are interested in volunteering at the new space reach out to info@moonlighter.co
Stay tuned for the official press release and more info on the exciting developments to come!
Maker Faire Miami 2020
The cat’s out the bag — Moonlighter FabLab is officially producing Maker Faire Miami, lead by the incredible Mario the Maker! We’re already planning some special things to make it truly unforgettable — if you want to get involved, reach out to mario@mariothemaker.com
We thank all the kids, parents, teachers, organizations, and makers for making this such an incredible Summer! We look forward to even more maker fun as we head into our Fall programming schedule!
