Uplands Maker Mobile visits local library

0

The Indiana University School of Education Uplands Maker Mobile’s recent visit to the Jackson County Public Library was all the buzz.

On the first day, all ages were given various sizes of cardboard boxes to assemble and use in the construction of a city.

Bees were the focus on the other two days. First, children painted cans and filled them with bamboo to make a bee house. Second, they created a larger bee habitat that will be placed at Westside Park in Seymour.

The latter two activities were all about collaboration.

Andrew Woodard, maker education specialist for the Uplands Maker Mobile, manned a laser cutter to help kids make other small bee houses featuring images they drew by hand.

With the bee habitat, George Good, 10, of Seymour, a member of Cub Scout Pack 526, received help from Webelos den leader Marty Schwab in building the frame. Caylin Davis, 12, of Seymour drew bees that were etched onto a thin piece of wood to use as a panel on the front of the habitat, and Kaytlin Stout, 13, of Seymour helped fill the slots with bamboo, sticks, straw and wood.

The library reached out to Stacy Findley, director of the Seymour Parks and Recreation Department, and found out the habitat could be placed at Westside Park. Findley in turn worked with Charlotte Moss with Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, who has a group of teens wanting to add a butterfly garden, pollinator plants and a bench near the habitat.

“We were going to keep the bee habitat here, but honestly, we don’t have enough pollinator plants,” said Lola Snyder, head of youth services for the library. “We wanted it to be someplace where the bees can actually use it, pollinators can actually use it.”

Findley said Westside Park was chosen because it’s “a blank canvas” and underdeveloped and needs more amenities.

The teens reached out to the Vallonia State Nursery to see what kinds of plants could be placed in the butterfly garden.

Findley said she is excited to see what the teens are able to do there.

“The idea is that the group of teens will have ownership,” she said. “Initially when they plant them, we can be there to help them, but the idea is that it would be their garden, they’ll do the maintenance, they’re going to have to weed the garden.”

The bench will be similar to the powder-coated ones around downtown Seymour, and the teens will pick a logo for the back of it. The bench will be set in concrete.

“The idea is to pull resources from all different avenues because I don’t think any one entity would have been able to do everything all themselves,” Findley said of the project.

Snyder and Janet Hensen, information services manager for the library, were glad Woodard reached out about bringing the Uplands Maker Mobile to the library for programming.

“When we found out about it, I was like, ‘Yes, our kids would love that. Let’s get them down,'” Snyder said.

Launched in 2020, the Uplands Maker Mobile was a project that came out of IU’s Center for Rural Engagement designed to support Indiana educators in engaging youth in technology-rich maker education.

The vehicle is loaded with a full suite of maker tools, including three-dimensional printers, laser cutters, Cricut machines, sewing machines, CNC routers, electronics, hand tools and crafting and carpentry tools. It brings making to schools and organizations through workshops with children or adults, development and training for professionals or teachers or assisting with events and projects.

“Pretty much any group or organization that really wants to focus on making or add making into their curriculum or their project or their summer camps,” Woodard said.

The bee habitat project was the first of that type for Woodard, but he has a couple more planned at other locations this summer.

“This is one of the bigger projects that we’re starting to offer,” he said. “We’re really interested in bringing making to the community as a whole, so making with your hands, using technological tools as well as a cardboard cutting tool. It’s not just high-tech technology. It’s also low tech, just getting dirty, rolling up your sleeves.”

The habitat will attract solitary bees, including ground or mason bees, that live in ledges, in the ground or in sticks and piles, Woodard said.

“Mason bees essentially are solitary, kind of wild bees. They’ll come in and take nests in these holes or in the spaces in between,” he said of how they will use the habitat. “They’ll bring mud in and create a mud wall, and they’ll lay their eggs and they’ll put more mud, so they’ll make about six to seven chambers in one of these.”

The youth who helped with the project were happy to get the opportunity.

“I have bees at my house, and I wanted to learn more about them,” Stout said of what drew her to the library. “It helps out the population so much because they collect pollen and move it around, so you can get more flowers and all of the plants won’t just die off.”

Davis said she likes the variety of programs offered at the library, including the bee habitat.

“It’s just helping animals and everything. I love animals, so it’s just good to help them … knowing that I was able to help the community and help (the bees) repopulate,” she said.

Snyder hopes to have Woodard return to the library with the Uplands Maker Mobile.

“Once we are allowed to be inside, he’s got different things that he can show,” she said. “There are all kinds of things we should be able to do.”

[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

For information about programs offered at the Jackson County Public Library, call 812-522-3412, option 2, follow the library on Facebook or visit myjclibrary.org/events.

For information about the Uplands Maker Mobile, email Andrew Woodard at [email protected] or visit education.indiana.edu/community/maker-education/maker-mobile.

[sc:pullout-text-end]

No posts to display