As the former librarian at an elementary STEAM campus, I was always looking for useful read-aloud books to highlight books that illustrate creativity productivity. Whether it's the idea generation or research stage, building and refining prototypes, collaborating and exchanging feedback, or persisting in the face of struggles, there are a lot of skills involved with STEAM education and makerspaces. Here are a few titles that might be useful for classrooms, campuses, and families who want to explore maker concepts. Boxitects by Kim Smith Everyone who's ever known the joy of a group project can connect to this story, especially if you're a big ideas person who likes to be in charge. When you already have a vision about what something will look like, it can be hard to acknowledge other good ideas, much less incorporate them into your own work. This story respects and names this reality so that when team conflicts arise, participants can refer back to the story discussion for solutions and strategies. Pine and Boof Blast Off by Ross Burach A celebration of imagination and making that is sure to appeal to young students - and more than a few older ones, too. If you like Pine and Boof, there are more books in this series. And if you teach K-4 kids and haven't done any read-alouds by Ross Burach, run to your nearest library for guaranteed laughs. Be a Maker by Katey Howes The whole book is an invitation to engage in the creative process. It might be particularly helpful to read before brainstorming possible projects or building ideas. Made by Maxine by Ruth Spiro Maxine is shown trying invent something that will allow her pet goldfish to participate in the pet parade. Her persistence and clever re-purposing of recycled objects offer plenty of inspiration for additional projects. Meesha Makes Friends by Tom Percival Sometimes talented engineering students have difficulty convincing other people to try their ideas, or they struggle to communicate their visions or their needs. This book is helpful for young readers embarking on group work - not just for students who have trouble initiating friendships, but also for other students who can use the story to discuss strategies and practice including everyone in authentic ways as they work together. Jabari Tries by Gaia Cornwall I'm a fan of the first book, Jabari Jumps, for so clearly illustrating fears about trying something new. This title even more explicitly addresses the challenges of trying to make something work. As a bonus, Jabari's younger sister is really interesting in "helping," and her character is a great reminder that many different people can contribute useful solutions - not just the primary architect or leader. When Grandpa Gives You a Toolbox by Jamie L.B. Deenihan The main character wants a dollhouse, but is polite when he receives a different gift. This story shows his growing construction skills and how they contribute to needs of his neighbors, and even (spoiler) his own. It's an intrepid teacher who facilitates hammering with young students (ask me about the time my class string art project disrupted the reading-to-dogs program across the hall), but the use of measurement and tools - with appropriate safety precautions - are lifelong skills that open up many possibilities for creativity. The Perfect Square by Michael Hall This book has simple illustrations, and explores the mathematical idea that a shape retains its properties even if it is rotated. I don't know how you could read this and not take time to discuss - and build! - the different possibilities a square might become. This easily lends itself to expansion by exploring "what else" other shapes, from ovals to trapezoids might be, too. This concept of flexible thinking - what else could we use this for - is foundational to maker mindsets and accessible for our youngest students, yet still an interesting challenge for older ones. More-igami by Dori Kleber Joey is shown to be very focused and interested in practicing as he becomes better and better at folds, illustrating that practice is crucial for improvement at any skill. Although his mother gets frustrated with the extent of his practice (beginning violinist parents will sympathize), the multitude of attempts at different origami projects will resonate with readers who are passionate about new endeavors. Skater Cielo by Rachel Katstaller This book focuses on persistence in the face of difficulty, and I love that it features a female athlete for a younger audience. Everything about this book invites readers to get out maker supplies and design and build mini skate parks (tested with mini finger skateboards, of course), an activity sure to demonstrate what Cielo faces, too - the first time isn't always successful, so get up and keep trying! Maybe Something Beautiful by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell This title, based on a true story, explores the idea that what we make can improve the lives of others, in addition to being a personal interest or a process that builds useful transferable skills. Readers might be inspired to connect to their communities to create something beneficial - or even beautiful - after reading this book. Bridges and Tunnels by Donna Latham It's good to remember nonfiction titles for makerspaces, although we might not typically grab a how-to book for a standard class story time. Sharing selected portions of a book like this will not only be motivating and helpful before students try some hands-on construction, but it's a great model of how some reading involves scanning and selecting for a given purpose - we don't always read cover to cover. This book is good to have on hand for independent student use, but it could also provide project options to student groups to make in class. Crazy Contraptions by Laura Perdew Rube Goldberg machines take up a lot of space, but they are so much fun to investigate! It takes a lot of community trust, but if you've got a library schedule full of back-to-back classes, you might try having each class contribute their own machine steps that add on to prior machine motions. The last class of the day can engineer the final components, and a video of the completed machine in operation will be a satisfying record of all the collaborative creating and making! This book will get students excited to try their own independent projects, too. Finger Knitting for Kids by Eriko Teranishi There are many crochet and sewing craft books and websites available to try. Having a few beginner and intermediate resources available to students can be a great way to start a lifelong hobby. Even if teachers are not experts or even competent with a given craft, a little research and prep work with a carefully selected basic skill can make a new activity accessible to students - and often, a student will shine with some expertise that might not always stand out in other curricular areas. If you have volunteers (parents, community members, older students) who can offer support and modeling during craft activities, that can be a great way to build community relationships and mentorships, too. Finger knitting takes some patience and fine motor control, but very simple projects like bookmarks are possible for many students. After you introduce it as a whole-class activity, it can be available as a maker station option for students who are interested in improving their skills. Game Logic by Angie Smibert Although this book might work better as a guide for a small group or a club, it's a good resource for supporting students through the process of game design. Just as there are many "unplugged" hands-on activities to support thinking skills for coding, there are many different types of games that people enjoy - and even if coding a video game is the ultimate goal, understanding game mechanics and game play logic is fundamental. This is more of a resource book than a read-aloud recommendation, but it could be a useful addition to a maker station. A Super Sticky Mistake by Alison Donald and Rea Zhai, Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton, and Pizza! A Slice of History by Greg Pizzoli There are lots of picture book stories about the first person to make something, do something, or discover something, and all of these can be motivating to student inventors and researchers. The text features, like pop-ups, maps, timelines, inset boxes, cutaway diagrams, and speech bubble captions are frequently appealing ways to present new information, and exposure to these kinds of books might inspire students to tell their own stories about under-appreciated inventions and fun facts. This kind of activity celebrates kids' expertise and gives them a vehicle to share it, while conducting research to fill in knowledge gaps and pursue answers to questions. Books like these inevitably illustrate the concept that success rarely strikes the first time, so persistence and effort - not simply luck or unique talents - are worthwhile behaviors to cultivate, in any field. Growth Mindset and Persistence books There are a lot of picture books that refer to growth mindset and persistence, which factor heavily into the engineering design process and maker mindsets. Here are a few: The Knight Who Might by Lou Treleaven - an amusing story about a character who is not a quitter, even if nothing goes according to plan. A Thousand Nos by D. J. Corchin - Feedback can be daunting, and "no" can be crushing, but if you frame it as a "not yet," persisting might be a little easier until you work to reach a "yes." The Little Red Fort by Brenda Maier - This take on the Little Red Hen story might initially seem like Ruby doesn't have any help with the construction process - but a look at the illustrations shows a lot of family support. Yes (spoiler), the brothers come around eventually, but it's a good reminder that even if the people around you aren't interested in your idea, there are probably other people out there willing to offer guidance as you learn and work toward your goal. The Thing Lou Couldn't Do by Ashley Spires - Readers can easily identify the problem and the solution for Lou - but it's a lot harder to face our own fears and keep trying ourselves. This book can provoke some useful discussions about obstacles, particularly fear. The Questioneers Books by Andrea Beaty This still-growing series of picture books (and now, short novels) features a cast of characters with various maker interests. Rosie Revere, Engineer is a good example of the design process and running trials to make something work (and it includes a historical nod to women who built aircraft in WWII). David Roberts' illustrations are fantastically detailed, and all those who work on projects "just because" will be happy to see themselves - and those who don't yet might be inspired to start. Aaron Slater, Illustrator touches on the fact that some skills are perceived as more valuable, especially in school environments, than others. It's a useful reminder that people who might struggle with some things may also have superior skills in other areas. Other books in this series deal with leadership skills, experimenting, generating questions, using unconventional materials, and other concepts that support maker mindsets. Although the rhyming nature of the books might pull the text toward younger audiences, older readers can still appreciate and discuss the messages in these books in meaningful ways. The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds The quintessential book about celebrating the maker movement, this title is more than just an opportunity for students to dress up in circles or gather dots in a hallway. The messaging about "make your mark" and seeing where it takes you is powerful, even for adults and cynical older student audiences. This book would be a great introduction to any hands-on activity where participants might feel overwhelmed about getting started. Permission to try without knowing where it will go is a crucial aspect of creative thinking. The Dot is part of a Creatrilogy set which includes Ish, and Sky Color.
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I've worked in a STEAM-centered elementary school library and a traditional middle school campus library, and I often see questions from librarians about which materials to buy to support makerspace initiatives, so this post is my response to that question. Scheduling Time With a flexible elementary schedule, I was able to schedule weekly class visits for library read-alouds and check-out, and reserve either full or half-days for flex maker visits each week. These could be based on teacher sign-ups, where they bring the whole class, or it could involve a few students from multiple classes visiting without their teachers. On a fixed schedule, there would be more time for each class to explore the maker stations, but without time between classes, it's more difficult to change out the stations and materials if very young and older elementary classes are back to back. My favorite thing in elementary school was student-led maker workshops, where older students led select activities, and a whole class of younger students visited with the classroom teacher, who broke the students into small groups based on interest to visit those maker stations. It was a great experience for a very large school, because it helped students get to know each other, it built confidence and leadership capacity in older students, and it exposed younger students to a variety of different types of activities, so that when they encountered them as library stations, they were better able to use those materials. However, this was complicated to schedule, as it involved pulling the older students and the younger students at times when their classes were available, and emailing reminders to multiple people, and setting up lots of different materials in advance. In middle school, stations do not have to change drastically, because 6th graders can access the same equipment 8th graders can access (unlike in elementary school, where some supplies need to be changed out for 1st graders vs. 4th graders, for example). So maker stations can be out for library classes (it works really well leading up to a vacation break when students and teachers are exhausted and overwhelmed with demands), or part of a library club activity, reading challenge celebration, or before or after school in the library. What to Include in Maker Stations Logistically, I prefer to have too many stations per class, because I would always rather have extra room to spread people out than have too many people at a station, which means some people are waiting to use materials and have time to get off-task. I want everyone to be creating and busy, so having many options spread out across the space is helpful. It is okay to repeat stations around the room, but if I plan to rotate groups left to right, I make sure I don't have the same materials at stations right next to each other so students get to try different things. Generally, middle school students can be free to visit any station and move from place to place as needed, with three guidelines: 1) All materials at the station stay there, on the table at that station 2) Only 4 people per station at a time 3) If you move to a different station, clean up everything before you move I also walk whole classes through all of the station options (while they are seated away from the materials) before they choose where to start. Here are some of my middle school maker stations: 1) KEVA Planks If you have grant money, I would purchase these before robotics. They are incredibly expensive (the 800 piece kit is $400), but also highly flexible. Students can build elaborate towers, bridges, models, domino mazes, and all kinds of creatively engineered structures. The big kits include lightweight ping-pong balls for marble maze building, and easily keep four students busy at a time. This is a great station to "repeat" somewhere else in the room, and if you can get eight big sets, you can use them for whole-class activities so everyone can build at the same time. One example activity is building in response to a read-aloud; for example, after reading Jeanette Winter's biography of architect Zaha Hadid, The World is Not a Rectangle, students can engineer buildings that are not cubes or rectangular prisms, and share each building's intended purpose when they present their structures. Free play is also great, since students often construct highly creative, interesting things I would not have thought to prompt them to build. 2) Legos (or Lego, if you are outside the U.S.) You do not need an infinite number of kits to make this successful - just enough for 4 students to have plenty of building material. It helps if you have some wheels and Lego people. You can provide some challenge cards for specific things to build - including things that tie to their curricula, or encourage free builds, or invite students to build along a theme to add to a library display case. You can get donations from families with older students who might not be using their Legos as much anymore, and it's good to remember that some families have never had Legos at home, so that spatial awareness that comes with construction is helpful. 3) Marble Runs There are many brands and options, but if you don't have enough pieces for four hands to be busy at the same time, you may want to include two different sets at this station. Sets that include tunnels, trampolines, wheels, spirals, and multiple marbles for racing paths are great for experimenting and developing persistence. Pro Tip: establish a specific bag or container where the marbles always rest when they aren't in use for runs/trials, so that they don't get mixed up underneath a bunch of maze components, or lost underneath bookshelves. With younger students, distribute the marble(s) a minute or so after everyone has gotten to their stations, and collect them right before you give whole-group clean-up instructions. 4) Puzzles This requires some community trust to be successful, but it can be a big win, and many students don't have practice with this at home, so it becomes an exercise in logic (could this color and shape fit here?) as well as persistence and spatial awareness. Puzzles frequently draw teachers to come in to the library, too. It might be a station that many students ignore completely, but it can be a nice way to sit with students and chat and get to know them better. 500 pieces are better for upper elementary students, while 500 to 1000 pieces can work for middle school students. The key is to get a good puzzle brand where the pieces definitively fit in their spots. I like Springbok brand - some of the piece shapes are unusual, but it is always very clear that a given piece does or does not fit. With some cheaper brands, the pieces only come in a few different shapes, and multiple pieces might fit on 3 sides, but not match color or fit on the fourth side - this leads to some students placing pieces in the wrong spots, frustrating later puzzle workers who are trying to work with wrong solutions before they find the mistake. Another great tip for successful puzzles is to have a good puzzle board. I got mine from Amazon, and it includes a felt board mat that keeps pieces from sliding, as well as 4 drawers for sorting pieces. It also has a cover that fits over the whole board, in case you need to protect it for a while. 5) Giant Coloring Poster This also requires some community trust to be successful, since some students may enjoy writing "colorful" messages in permanent marker on the poster, but like a puzzle, it can be a nice thing to gather students together and have some calm creativity. You can provide regular markers or felt tip pens, and hang the poster in the library when it's complete. 6) Button Maker I bought some cheaper button makers on Amazon, including one with multiple sizes, but both machines jammed so often that it was really just an exercise in un-jamming the machine. My original idea with the button maker was to make them for students who participated in reading challenges and library events (like the brag tag bling idea), but since the machine jammed so much, it made me reluctant to keep up with button making. Fortunately, my PTA purchased a high-quality button making machine from American Button Machine, along with a graphic punch, and I highly recommend both of these tools as worth the cost. Some of our library club members design buttons which serve as rewards for event participation, and even invitations to reading challenge parties. We also invite students to design their own circles and then we finish up their designs to create finished buttons as part of our maker stations. I really love this activity and the buttons look really professional - the student-drawn ones are my favorites, but you can use Canva to create designs, too. Some middle school students are a little less impressed by completed buttons, but I think you can build a culture around collecting and making them (it's still new to my campus). 7) Perler Beads, or Fuse Beads I wrote an initial post about using Perler beads in the library, and a follow-up post with specific strategies for successful ironing Perler bead projects. This is consistently a popular station, but it does require a fair amount of prep and follow-up work. If you don't have at least 25 consecutive minutes, students are probably not going to have enough time to complete their designs. One way to support 20 - 30 minute time blocks would be to only put out smaller shaped peg boards, leaving the larger open-ended peg boards for maker times with 40 - 50 minutes. 8) Jewelry Making This is consistently the most popular maker station at my middle school. It requires a fair amount of consumable supplies - I have earring hooks, cord and wire, lobster claws and jump rings, small scissors and pliers, clay beads, seed beads, pearl and alphabet beads, bead spacers, and assorted charms. We also have a small rolling bead vacuum (like the one at the Perler bead station), a Misfit Toys bead container for small unsorted pieces, and small plastic containers for different types of beads that tend to come packaged in plastic bags that rip easily. 9) Rubber Band Bracelets Although my middle school students associate this activity with their younger years, it's pretty popular and accessible. I only know how to do one type of pattern, but it doesn't matter, because the students learn quickly and teach each other. This activity is popular with boys and girls, and students can create a finished product in 20 minutes, even if they're beginners. 10) Origami Origami paper can be a little expensive, so that's a drawback for this station. I included design ideas for a couple of different projects, but the most popular one involved strips of origami paper that can be folded into small stars. Students loved this activity, and, much like the rubber band bracelets, they tended to teach each other instead of relying on the written instructions. 12) Crochet and Amigurumi I'm still new to crochet (I can do counted cross stitch and basic knitting and sewing), so I don't feel super-qualified to support beginning students with this. I'm lucky to have a fabulous parent volunteer who comes in to the library on my craft mornings, and a small group of students work with her pretty regularly to work on projects. They store their ongoing work in separate plastic bags in the containers where we keep the yarn. This activity is a little too tricky for students to pick up as newbies without some direct support, so I don't have it in stations unless I have an expert who can be at that station and help students. That said, it is really popular and as we build capacity among students who know how to do it, we are more likely to be able to have it out. You will need different colors of yarn, scissors, and crochet hooks. You can also get some pin markers, stitch counters, and, if you want to make amigurumi, some fabric filler and eyes or other charms and accessories. I also have some pattern books. We discovered that getting students started with a project was time-consuming, so our volunteer created some special starter projects to offer students when they came in, and then they were able to continue with basic stitches without struggling with the start-up process at first. It's also helpful if you have some finished examples or at least some photographs of what it's possible to make. When in doubt, bookmarks are make small, manageable projects. 11) Shrinky Dinks This was a new station for me this year. I purchased several kits that included some little-kid (but some workable for middle school) designs that just needed to be colored in. The kits also included blank pages, key rings, hole punches, and loops to finish the designs, which can be made into earrings, keychains, and ornaments. I provide both markers and colored pencils at this station, and it's helpful to pre-cut larger sheets into smaller pieces - otherwise students tend to color directly in the center of a large page, wasting all the space around it when they cut it out. Like with Perler beads, it's a good idea to have students write their names on a sticky note, along with a brief Shrinky Dink design description if you plan to bake the designs for the students, so you can match the creator with the right project later on. For baking, you can cover a cookie sheet with foil and bake designs at 325 degrees for 1-3 minutes. Some tips: bake designs that are similar sizes together, because large designs need a little more time, and that way you aren't over-baking the small ones that are finished faster. Also, have some semi-heavy flat objects to place on top of curled Shrinky Dinks immediately after removing from the oven (damaged books are the perfect size and weight, although they can become more damaged after use this way). The designs are supposed to thicken and flatten in the oven, but some still have edges that poke up. If you wait 30 or even 20 seconds out of the oven to cover with something heavy and flat, the Shrinky Dinks are usually too cool to be able to flatten without breaking them. Of course, you could just have students take their own designs home to bake, and maybe provide the baking instructions (or a link to them) for students to take with them after the maker session. 13) Washi Tape Cards and Bookmarks This is another activity that's great if you have limited time for maker stations. You need some cardstock, different patterns of washi tape, scissors, and thin markers or pens. It's helpful to have some example projects so students can see that strips of tape can form tiered cakes, individual candles, buildings, or be arranged as frames or diagonal patterns. 14) Book Commercials and Podcasting My students have one-to-one computers, and they have those computers with them all day, so (lucky me with a great PTA again) I was able to get several Tonor microphones with USB cords and tripod stands. These are great for filtering out background noise, priced around $27 each, and reasonably sturdy. While I do this activity as a whole-class lesson, it can still work as a maker station, since students are invited to create their own book or library promotional videos. Set this station in a corner of the room, away from background activity and sound (bonus if you have green screen capability), and invite students to upload and share their completed projects with you when they finish. A 30 - 90 second time limit is helpful to ensure the project has meaningful content without taking forever to share and process digitally. If you are creating podcasts and interviews that will be longer than commercials, you can have students record and upload these in segments, and use a program like WeVideo to edit and create the final product. 15) Bonus Ideas: Spheros, Dash & Dot, Sphero Indi Robots At my former school, I had a cart full of iPads that students could use, which was really great for using iMovie, GarageBand, and robotics apps. Smaller robots, including Ozobots and Hex Bugs are at risk of disappearing if you aren't supervising very carefully, so they don't work as well at stations, while Lego and Vex Robotics require a little more instruction, so they work better as a small group club with dedicated time to skill-building. Sphero Indi Robots are fantastic for primary grade students - sturdy and fun - but older students and adults also find them interesting to use, and they don't require additional apps or devices to program them. Dash and Dot and Spheros also have fun programming challenges that are pretty quickly accessible to students, but they do require devices to program and operate them. My current school has separate STEM and robotics classes that use some of these tools, but they are still appealing maker stations for library students. Magnetic Kits Picasso Tiles are versatile and appealing building kits, but you can really only have a pair of students per kit. Some sets include marble maze components. You may want to obtain your own storage container, as it can be difficult for students to put away all the pieces exactly the way they need to go in order for the branded storage container to close correctly. Board Games This is another activity which can be a whole-class lesson (or club) if you have enough sets, but these work well as a maker station activity. If you are having a 4-person-per-station rule, some of the two-person games will require pairs instead of quartets per station.
Magnetic Poetry and Creative Writing Provide a few prompts, some paper and writing utensils, and/or magnetic strips and boards, and invite students to write. You can also provide a student writing showcase to display some of their finished work, either online or in the library. Reading
Although a big goal of maker stations for me is to help students connect to each other - I've been a librarian in schools with huge populations, so students don't always know each other very well - some students want nothing more than some free time to read for fun. I'm happy to provide this space to students for that purpose, of course! There are endless possibilities for maker stations, but I hope this post offers a couple of new ideas or strategies for you to make it work a little more effectively in your library. This school year, I moved to a middle school library position, in a school with over 1100 students. I had to start over collecting materials and building capacity for makerspace stations, but since older students typically have better fine motor skills and are generally more independent, I've been able to get it up and running faster than I initially could in an elementary school.. Take a look at my earlier post about using Perler beads for an overview about what to buy and why to use these in the library. This time, I didn't have as many parent volunteers wanting to hang around to help iron the projects, and I wasn't quite ready to turn it over to student volunteers, so I did the ironing myself. I wanted to add a few notes of advice to anybody out there who wants to add this to your library space. It might seem like a lot of detail, but if it saves you some trial and error, that's excellent. Materials for the Student Station Just as in my earlier post about Perler beads in the library, there are some supplies that make life easier when you set up a station for fuse beads. You will need: peg boards - more than you need, because when students in your first period class fill those design boards, those boards won't be free again until you have time to iron those patterns fuse beads - preferably sorted by color to allow students to be more creative and specific with design choices Note: it is infinitely easier to buy beads pre-sorted by color than to try to sort the cheaper multicolor containers, which is very time-consuming. Also note: stock up on extras of popular colors, especially red, white, black, brown, and yellow. You'll need a way to store and put out your beads - the small trays in many pre-sorted kits get mixed pretty quickly. Find some secure containers with lids and put out a variety of colors, holding some in reserve that you can put out for students who really want six different shades of green and ask for that. At The Station I keep my fuse beads at one table, with a few guidelines in a display stand. The fuse bead station includes:
The display stand directions ask students to
Time To Iron the Perler Bead Projects I don't pretend to be the most crafty person out there (see my No Sew Class Curtains post for evidence), so if you are very capable and/or meticulous, you're probably not my audience. If you have no idea whether you can do this and it's stressing you out, I'm here to tell you you can, and here's how: The Heat Press First, you are going to need a heat press to iron the designs (this melts the beads together so they stay in the shape of a keychain, earrings, ornaments, shelf decor, or whatever the intended purpose is. I got this heat press on Amazon (no affiliate link) - it's the same one I had at my old school, except that it's blue. I like it a lot because it has an automatic shutoff feature, and it comes with a special heat stand. It's not too heavy and the cord isn't a problem. I will say it does not heat perfectly evenly across the surface of the iron, so you will have to move the iron around a lot across the pattern to ensure all the beads in each design are fused. See how there are two green bars in the photo below? Level 2 is the perfect temperature for ironing bead projects. It takes about 2 minutes after you plug it in and press the button twice to reach that temperature. Don't start ironing until it's warm enough (or you'll have beads all over the place.) A Couple of Heat Press Things I originally wanted two or three of these, because I thought that parent volunteers could work at the same time and deliver the finished projects basically on demand. They are a bit pricey (around $45 - sometimes less if you catch a deal), and the ironing takes up a lot of space. I ended up preferring just the one since I do the ironing myself, and I never have enough space - I can't have a design station and two ironing stations all the time, along with everything else going on in my library. Also, you need some patience and a little time in between stages to finish the projects, so on-demand isn't the best plan for project delivery. At my last school, I had an ironing blanket (be sure to get a flat one, not one with a bumpy quilted surface) to protect the tables and countertops. I don't have one at my new school, but it works okay since the heat press has its own stand. I'm careful about the counter surface when I use the heat press, and I don't iron on wood table tops. The Parchment Paper At my last school, I bought a package of 6-inch square parchment paper to place on top of the beads right before I iron with the heat press. I can re-use the same parchment paper many times until it gets worn out. However, this time I bought 8-inch squares, and it makes a big difference in a successful outcome - if your parchment paper is slightly larger than the pegboard, it works best. Ironing Steps to Success I'm not a very patient person, so I rushed a lot of my early ironed designs - I just wanted to get all the projects done. This did not work well, so I wish you more patience than I had when I started! 1) Workspace Set-Up Have a large clear work space on hand for ironing, and 5-6 pieces of parchment paper nearby. It's also good to have one semi-heavy object (like a discarded middle grade novel) for each design nearby. Keep student designs in a secure location until you are ready to iron each one so you don't bump into them and spill beads everywhere (I like these flat plastic 12 x 12 inch cases, also from Amazon by Iris). 2) Ironing Preheat the heat press (mine works best at Level 2). Take one bead design and set it carefully on your workspace, and cover that gently with parchment paper. Caution: If you let one side of the design drop too hard on the surface, or brush the parchment paper onto the beads, or start ironing before the heat press is warm enough, you will have beads everywhere, and then you will either need to re-construct the design or deliver bad news to the student. Be sure the parchment paper goes around at least an inch past all parts of the design - and better yet - an inch past all edges of the peg board. (8-inch pre-cut squares of parchment paper can be re-used for many designs.) Once you place the iron on the parchment paper (which is on top of the beads), you don't want the parchment paper to shift until everything is melted together and stable. So use your finger and thumb of your non-dominant hand to anchor the parchment paper in one corner, and place the iron in the center of the design, gently gliding outward in each direction. Caution: Do not stop ironing and lift the parchment paper too early. You CAN lift the iron from the beads during that time to look through the parchment paper, and you CAN rotate the pegboard to get at tricky spots, but you DON'T want to lift the paper and have some partially melted beads pop up (stuck to the paper) and refuse to re-set again. It is trickier to fuse single lines of beads than to connect fuller patterns, so I try to discourage students from patterns with a single line (unicorn horns, stick figure legs, tower spires, etc.), Sometimes, as with the red heart outline below, it works, but these finished designs are more fragile than solid ones. Use the heat press, ironing in different directions continuously, for about 30 seconds on smaller designs and about 45-60 with larger designs. Don't just set the heat press on the paper and leave it, but keep the iron moving across the center and edges, making sure each bead is at least a little squashed. Then, without moving the parchment paper at all, cover the design with your heavy object, like a damaged book - this will keep the design flat. If you skip this step, the design is likely to bend a little as it cools. Move on to iron 3 or 4 other designs and cover them with books, too. After about 5 minutes (don't rush it), you can remove the book and check on the design. You can look at the beads through the parchment paper (but don't move it!) to see how the beads are fusing. Some people prefer to see the beads with their round holes throughout, and some prefer to have a more flat surface (as with the pink heart above). You can iron this side some more if you see anything loose, or if you want the beads to flatten a little more. Cover with a book to flatten and cool again before proceeding to the next step. After about 5 minutes of cooling under the book and parchment paper, if you remove the book and look through the parchment paper and everything on that side seems connected and sufficiently melted, you can remove the paper carefully. If it's still sticking to the design, it might be too warm and you need to wait a little longer. After you remove the paper, check again to be sure there are no loose beads and everything is connected before removing the design from the pegboard and placing it upside down on your workspace. So before it was pegboard, topped by beads, topped by parchment paper, topped by book. Now it's counter, topped by half-ironed beads (already-ironed side down), topped by parchment paper. Iron this side of the design by gliding on top of the parchment paper again, just like you did on the first side, making sure to get all the edges and skinny spots. It might take a little less total time on this side, depending on how cool the design is, how big it is, and how hot your iron is. When everything seems sufficiently melted (don't move the parchment paper), cover with a book on that side to let it cool. Continue to iron the back sides of your other designs, and after about 5 minutes of cooling time, remove each book, look through the parchment paper, and if everything seems connected enough, remove the parchment paper from the design. If the design is still a little warm, you might want to leave it covered by an old book until it cools, so that it doesn't bend and hold the bent shape. If any parts seem a little loose, you can cover them with parchment paper and re-iron them, but it is difficult to attach beads that have completely separated once they are off the peg board. When you look at the pink part of the tulip above, you can see that some of the beads in the lower center area are rounder and not yet connected to all the other beads around them, while the upper part has beads that are better connected on all sides. This is from a specific tulip peg board, and you'll find that some shaped peg board designs are more challenging to work with than others. Ideally, you'll have complete designs and be ready to distribute them to the students who made them. 3) Storage and Sticky Notes As soon as students finish a bead design, I keep the sticky note with their name and design description next to the pegboard inside the flat storage case. Do NOT let them leave un-ironed designs out in the open, even inside the cases. It's too easy to bump them and destroy the designs. When I'm ironing designs, I take the sticky notes and position them near my ironing space, replacing them on top of the books I use to flatten each design as they cool. When the designs are finished, I keep the sticky notes next to the finished designs on a pick-up table near the circulation desk. Usually kids come in and check for their designs and pick them up, but sometimes I email students to let them know their designs are ready. The sticky note step seems like an extra, but I'm always glad I know who the design belongs to if it's been sitting in the library for a few days. Space is always an issue, so I try to make time to iron in big batches once a day. It frees up the peg boards and it frees up space in the plastic storage cases. Then I need the students to get their designs to free up space on the craft pick-up table (where we also have completed student buttons and Shrinky Dinks), so having a system for this - and letting students know what to expect when they turn in their peg board patterns - has been helpful. Students come up with some really creative designs - even 3D patterns. Although some of my middle school students did these projects when they were younger (at home or at camp), many seem to enjoy working on them. The time to create and talk together is often a relaxing interlude in their busy schedules, and it brings them back to the library for other programs and opportunities, too. Makerspace Schedule and Station Management in Middle School A quick word about offering Perler bead designs as a station - I definitely don't have them out every day. Once a week I have a craft day before school, and I have the beads out as an option if I have enough parent volunteers that day. Students don't need help to do the designs, but the clean-up and turning in their designs gets a little rushed and I'll end with a mess if I don't have supervisory help. On the other days before school (days when I don't have club meetings), students come in to the library to study, read, talk with friends, or just have quiet time before going to class. The craft mornings are a special extra. I also had a crafts and treats party as a reading celebration for participants in a reading challenge, and the beads table was open for that. This gave students a little extra time than they could have during a typical before-school station session. And I did whole-class makerspace stations right before winter break = just as final exams and sports practices and auditions and performances were stressful and bunched together for students. This brought in a lot more designs than usual - we have over 1100 students. But not all of them chose to do beads, so it was still pretty manageable to iron all the projects, even in a busy season. The end result for me is more about the making than what they made - it's the process, the maker mindset that matters more than the product. I'm glad that they went home with designs they enjoyed, and it was fun to see others impressed by what they made. But all of it is a part of a bigger goal of building a welcoming place in school, where kids can meet and talk and create together, in addition to reading, researching, and writing. I introduced Perler beads as a maker option in the library this year, and I wanted to share some advice I wish I'd known before I started. Perler beads, or fuse beads, are very small cylinders that can be arranged on plastic peg boards. You can use an iron or heat press on the design to melt the beads together, and then you have a 3D design that can serve as a nameplate, bookmark, earrings, key chain, or decoration. I've seen this in secondary libraries (and I got a useful start from Kelsey Bogan's high school library blog tips), and I wanted to bring it to my elementary library, too. I wanted to have this as an ongoing station that's available all the time, but I see 800 students, ages 4 - 12 each week -- I would almost certainly have beads everywhere--so I needed more of a guided system. If you want to try them in your library or classroom, here's how I got started: Scheduling the Makerspace Time I started with an after-school craft club, made up of about thirty 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, who stayed for about 45 minutes after school. We did origami, rubber band bracelets, washi tape cards, and Perler beads. It was good to test drive the projects with a motivated group of students before I rolled it out to library classes. For our makerspace workshop days, full classes came in, and students could choose from a variety of table station activities, including Perler beads. Since we have such a large school, we needed a lot of materials prepped and available for back-to-back classes. Some crafts were ready when students left the library, but Perler bead designs have to be ironed (and cooled). I couldn't do that while I was also supervising classes, but having volunteers on hand to iron them right away would have been really helpful. As the designs stack up, all those peg boards are used up, and space becomes limited to safely store the (relatively fragile) un-ironed projects. I used sticky notes for student names and stashed them underneath the peg boards so that when I ironed them later, I knew which design belonged to which student. As students are building their designs, it helps if they don't use one single line of beads (these are too fragile and might not fuse together). They should also avoid going right to the edge of the peg boards if possible (this makes it easier to iron). What to Buy You need beads, peg boards, a heat press, parchment paper, designs, bead storage, designs-in-progress storage, and finished design storage. You might also want work trays, tweezers, and bead vacuums. Beads - So Many Beads My biggest, most crucial tip is this: if you want students to be able to follow design patterns (not just free-design), buy the beads in pre-sorted packages. I saved money by buying two giant tubs of beads like this: I don't want to confess to you how many seasons of various shows I went through over school breaks as I sorted 11,000 beads into fifty or so color containers - and I still wasn't finished. I had a very dear volunteer help with some of it, and very dear students come in over some recesses who sorted a few hundred, but it is not a sustainable process for a school as large as mine. Nobody has time to sort that many beads! I did also buy additional packages of pre-sorted beads, and we went through some specific colors very quickly, so it's a good idea to get a lot of red, black, white, yellow, navy, and brown, in addition to orange, green, tan, pink, and purple. The extra colors in some designs, with fun names like toothpaste and butterscotch, do make a difference for shading and detail, but you could probably get away with standard colors and more basic design patterns. Design Patterns I also bought a few design pattern books like this one, and some of the bead kits I bought came with design patterns. You can find designs online, and it would be a fun project to invite kids to make their own patterns on graph paper, too. Heat Press You will also need a heat press to fuse the beads together. It's a good idea to get one with a safety stand so you can rest the hot iron on it. Mine has a cord; it hasn't really been a problem, but a cordless one might be a little more convenient to handle. Parchment Paper Parchment paper protects the beads and the plastic peg board from the direct heat of the iron. I got 6-inch square pre-cut pieces, and because no library ever has enough money, I have been able to re-use the paper sheets multiple times before they wear out. They don't stick to the iron (of course you don't press it longer than a few seconds at a time). However, you do have to be careful about arranging the paper on the beads so you don't bump them off the peg board, especially at the edges, before they fuse together. An alternate method is to apply masking tape to the finished design and iron over that, and that is definitely easier when you flip the design over to heat press the other side, but taping it is a tricky business - easy to accidentally pull up beads the students have arranged. Parchment paper works better for me. Peg Boards Some of the best advice from Kelsey Bogan's blog (linked above) was to buy lots and lots of peg boards. If you have class after class building designs during one day, you need to have enough for each new student until you can iron the finished designs and remove them from the peg boards. Also, it's possible that you might warp some of the plastic boards due to heat from the heat press, so you might need replacements on hand. Peg boards are available in lots of shapes and sizes - I got a lot of these squares, as well as some circles and hexagons. I also got some smaller plastic boards in the shape of flowers, stars, and hearts (some of these are included in Perler bead kits or with design books). Bead Storage I tried two different sizes of food containers to store beads - larger tubs for storing colors, and smaller condiment cups for individual students at their work stations. The idea was that they could scoop out the colors they needed from the larger containers and take them back to their tables. In practice, the lids on the larger containers were unwieldy for lots of students (although secure when latched), so I wish I'd found a better solution. The condiment cups worked pretty well - I ended up just filling several of them with red or yellow or popular colors and scattering those (with lids on) on each table. I did have some multicolor tubs out, too. Some students were more invested in using specific colors, so having plenty available to refill was helpful. Storage It's really good to think about this in advance - storing the sorted beads, peg boards, and designs in progress takes up space. I bought some plastic containers with latching lids to store the sorted bead tubs, and I bought some flat plastic case containers to protect and store the student designs that were finished, but not yet fused. Originally, I planned to layer the designs on top of each other inside the cases, but I was too scared I would mess up the ones underneath, so I only used a single layer. I had to find space for the cases outside of the main library area so no students would accidentally bump in to the finished designs. Additional Items I did actually buy some recyclable trays for students to work on, thinking they could use them to safeguard their designs or bead cups, but they really haven't needed those - they just work on the table surface and it's worked pretty well. I also got some tweezers to help handle the beads. Some students really like using them - others prefer to use their fingers. It's not a must-have, but I also got the mini rolling bead vacuum, and it is so satisfying to use that students argue about who gets to clean the floor under the table. Of course, it collects all the beads together, so whatever falls will be mixed up and go in the multicolor bin. If I had only upper elementary or secondary students, I think this would work really well as an ongoing station that students could come in and access. However, because I have very young students and my library space is designed so that they can touch and reach everything, I schedule Perler bead design work as an activity that happens during designated times. Rolling storage carts - one for designs in progress, and one that holds beads, design books, and peg boards - works best so that I can wheel the supplies out while they're in use. This activity does require a lot of supplies, and it can get expensive for large numbers of students. Benefits My students were highly engaged in this activity, although it was challenging for a few of them. Many of them chose to come back during recess times to finish more intricate designs. Learning activities included reading and following diagrams with designs, experimenting with spatial awareness as they created their own designs, and persisting with an artistic activity from start to finish. How have you used this in your library or classroom successfully? Please share your tips and tricks in the comments! I've updated with some specific tips and directions for ironing Perler bead designs after moving to a middle school library position - let me know what else works well for you!
One of my librarian courses this semester was about instructional technology, and I loved getting to try new apps and tools. I have asked my students to use Book Creator before, but I had never made a complete project myself.
I'm sharing this short book, which can be read aloud to you if you use Chrome. I borrowed some vocal talent from a semi-reluctant teen for the complaining relatives in the story! I'm thinking of giving students the option to choose one of the four design challenges presented in this book for a maker exercise this week . . . and then extend it by having them design their own maker challenges in digital twisted fairy tales that they create. It might be a great exchange idea for our Canadian buddy class, too. |
Jamie Wright
I've had the privilege of working with hundreds of students and families in IA, CT, NC, MO, TX, and Canada. I love being a teacher-librarian! Categories
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