Makerspace in a Box is a STEAM Kit made only of creative reuse materials. Nothing in it was ordered or bought from a store, which is exactly why it suits wide-open, creative work rather than one prescribed outcome.
Each challenge comes as a Maker Brief, a short story with a problem in it, followed by the actual challenge. Read the brief out loud, hand over the box, and get out of the way.
The Stacking Challenge
The brief: Ms. F. Nexidough keeps getting too much afternoon sunlight in her bedroom during her nap. She wants something to block it, with one unusual condition: it has to be a permanent statue in her garden.
The challenge: create a design that stacks the items in your box as tall as possible while blocking the most light.
The Connection Challenge
The brief: it is dinner time, but your friend Sam does not want to go home because he will feel lonely. He asks whether you could make something to keep you connected from far away.
The challenge: make an original design that lets you stay connected with a friend when you cannot be in the same place at the same time.
Transport Vaccines Through the Air Safely
The brief: delivering vaccines to islands, mountaintops and hard-to-reach places is genuinely difficult. A safe way to move them through the air would make the world safer.
The challenge: develop a new way to transport a “vaccine” through the air.
Make a Fantasy Story
The brief: your younger brother and baby sister are annoying you so much your face is turning an odd shade of purple. They are only doing it because they are bored and want you to play.
The challenge: build a fantastical story with science, magic and wonder, using what is in your box.
Why these work
None of them has a right answer, and all of them start with a person who has a problem. That is the whole trick: children design for someone rather than for a rubric. Young or old, first time or hundredth, the box has what you need.