Mindful Makers: 3 Ways to Encourage Mindfulness in the Makerspace
The benefits of mindfulness can be found in the makerspace. What can we do to unlock them in our schools?
“What is a makerspace?”
A long pause while I kick myself for not preparing an elevator pitch to this inevitable question.
I get asked this all the time, so I’ll just say it’s the place where my nephew Dawson gets to make, play, learn and discover. He’s a high energy 1st grader at Birch Lake Elementary School who loves to cook, build, sing and be a big brother. When I got to visit his school for Maker Day last month, I was surprised by how focused he was. He was using a loom to create a work of yarn art and his fingers were moving patiently through the pins, eyes glued to his work. He wasn’t thinking about his upcoming spelling test, the math problems he had to work on or even what was for lunch that day. He was creating art and, in that moment, that was all that mattered.
The Maker Movement is a growing trend in schools and other public spaces to incorporate traditional and cutting edge technologies to allow creation and fabrication in shared spaces with access to a variety of tools. In White Bear Lake Area Schools, we have codified a mission for our makerspaces: dynamic spaces where everyone can make, play, learn and discover. I’m lucky that I’m able to devote a portion of my work to creating and maintaining these resources throughout my district. Unlocking the creative potential of young people is a pretty great job.
Before I worked in makerspaces, I taught music full-time. It’s through an artist’s lens that I usually think about kids in these dynamic spaces. How will they grow in sensitivity? How can they work together to create works of lasting value? How might they develop their personal style? When students are mindful, they can dive deep into themselves to answer these questions. And mindfulness is an inevitable byproduct of makerspace learning.
Emphasize the Process Over the Product
Often students will see a variety of tools and materials and get overwhelmed by the possibilities. “I don’t know what to make!” is a common refrain in the makerspace. As the facilitator, remind students that it’s okay to create for the sake of creation. Ask them to consider the physical sensations they experience as they create and to suspend judgment.
Muscle memory is built by repeating physical gestures in processes like crochet and origami. Not only will students improve as they continually do, but their awareness will shift from everything bouncing around their heads to the physical process in their fingers. By focusing their minds on the sensation of yarn in their fingers or cutting the right shape out of a piece of cardboard, students are able to live in their bodies more fully.
Amy Maricle of Mindful Art Studio shares her advice on how to be mindful when making art:
“No matter how skilled or unskilled you consider yourself, approach your art with a beginner’s mind: Focus on the process of creating rather than the outcome on the page.
Start by drawing or painting something you see every day, such as your coffee mug, or try doodling a repetitive shape such as circles or triangles. Don’t worry about making it perfect, just settle into the process.”
Create a Gift
Creating a gift can solve the problem of a student not knowing what to make. It has the added benefit of shifting one’s focus to a place of love and generosity. The act of making shifts from a display of one’s skill or creativity and toward an act of service for another.
I run a makerspace for juniors and seniors and I was thrilled to see a 3D doodled butterfly a young lady made for the media specialist. She came to the makerspace to take a study break and ended up building a stronger relationship with a trusted adult in the process. She has since gone on to teach other students how to make amazing 3D creations!
As facilitator, you can pause students as they create gifts to explore the emotions they feel when they think about the person who will receive it. Does this person make them feel safe? Happy? Cared for? What other ways can we express these emotions besides creating gifts?
Let the Process Unfold
As the facilitator, sometimes the best thing to do is simply let it happen. Kids are creative and contemplative. Work with your students to create a series of norms for your makerspace. White Bear Lake Area Schools makers are safe, clean and aware. We practice a “Show 5” protocol that works well when it’s too noisy for an aural cue and I need their attention. But we also keep our hands to ourselves and never talk to other makers when using a power tool.
When you’ve laid the groundwork for this style of self-directed learning and practiced its implementation, you will find that students are curious, kind and deeply focused on their work. They help one another, they challenge themselves and they set high expectations.
Learning in a makerspace is a mindful activity in and of itself. No direct intervention on behalf of the facilitator is required to reap the benefits of mindfulness. Let kids navigate their tools, materials and work to see them create intuitively and skillfully.
It’s Not Just About STEM
Students always create and apply their knowledge of STEM in the makerspace. They also get to engage in the work of intense introspection, deepen their relationships to themselves and others and hone artistic and design principles. They do this all while engaging with their emotions and the physical world around them.
What are your favorite makerspace and mindfulness activities? Let us know! Reach out to me to talk about starting a makerspace in your school. We can be found on Facebook and Twitter and you can comment below. Follow along with the hashtag #Innovate624 for more conversation!
