Start Making!: A Guide to Engaging Young People in Maker Activities

Start Making is a program developed by the Clubhouse Network to engage young people all over the world in Maker-inspired activities. With this guide, you will discover how to plan and coordinate Start Making projects in your home, school, library, community center, after-school club, or makerspace. You'll learn strategies for engaging young people in creative thinking, developing individual and team projects, and sharing and reflecting on their creations.

Each session includes a list of the supplies you'll need, step-by-step instructions for completing the projects, and prompts for stimulating discussion, curiosity, and confidence. These fun do-it-yourself (and do-it-together) projects teach fundamental STEAM concepts -- science, technology, engineering, art, and math -- while introducing young people to the basics of circuitry, design, coding, crafting, and construction. They'll make paper cards and creations that light up, play music using a MaKey MaKey keyboard and Scratch programming, join together to make paintings with light, design and construct 3D sculptures, build a vibrating art-bot that makes drawings, and sew fabric creations with wearable circuits.

Dip into the activities once a week, run them as a week-long summer activity, or go through the guide in any way that works for you. By offering your own Start Making program, you can inspire young people in your community to develop creative ideas, learn new skills, and share their creations.

The Clubhouse Network is a global network of community-based centers led by Boston's Museum of Science in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab.

Danielle Martin served as Knowledge Manager and led the Start Making! program across the global Clubhouse Network. She started her Clubhouse career as a Coordinator at the Charlestown, MA Boys & Girls Club and previously served as an AmeriCorps VISTA supporting community-based media and technology programs. After obtaining a Master in City Planning degree from MIT, she co-created a research group within MIT’s Center for Future Civic Media, Department of Play, mapping mobile technologies and youth activism methodologies. Now she manages programs for Team4Tech.org, focused on advancing 21st century education in underserved communities by engaging U.S. based technology volunteers and IT solutions in collaboration with local non-governmental organizations.

Alisha Panjwani is a designer and educator interested in exploring experiential and experimental ways of integrating storytelling, craft, wellness, play, and interactive technologies to create participatory learning practices. Her practice centers on nurturing children’s creative confidence with new technologies and encouraging their involvement in creative acts within their communities. She completed her Master’s degree in Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked as a research assistant in the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. Before coming to the MIT Media Lab she was working as a Design and Research associate at Project Vision, an international research initiative based in India that focuses on developing appropriate instructional strategies and technology-related tools that foster creative cognitive architectures in young children from urban poor communities.