Are you a maker? With all the emphasis on high tech gadgetry, it can make you feel a little left behind if you can’t swing a 3D printer on your budget or lack the skills to wield some soldering equipment.
But, like the science-technology-engineering- math portmanteau STEM which added an “A” added to encompass art and become STEAM, the expansion of the “maker” trend to incorporate arts and crafts as a creative and productive use of time and space is a step towards recognizing the wide variety of material production that libraries have long been supporting. And it’s an easy way to get in on the making trend with supplies you likely have laying around.
We’ve had success with this sort of low-stress, drop-in crafting at our library.
Fairhope, a top-notch public library in south Alabama, coined the term “crafterfnoon” for this sort of activity, which I am appropriating.
Don’t have a dedicated makerspace? Crafternooning can take place from a cart, as Shannon Miller RTed:
Last month at the Library Technology Conference, I heard middle school librarian Jen Legatt talking about starting her makerspace with jigsaw puzzles and origami paper…so expand your thinking about making. Any space that gets people interacting and collaborating around a constructive activity works!
