top of page

Maker Stuff

Back to Top Menu

Sites to make stuff

Creative Commons: Search page for finding images licensed for free use in projects.

Fotor: A photo-editing and collage-making app.

"How to Work with Cardboard": Info on types of cardboard and ideas for joining it. 

Cardboard Attachments: a useful image from The Art of Education

Hstry: A powerful timeline-creation app with many possibilities.

Juxtapose: create before/after-style slider images. 

My Maps: Google's tool for making custom maps with text, images, links, and videos on the places, lines, and shapes you create. So choice. 

Pixlr: photo editor web app.

Scratch: Super introduction to coding.

Thinglink: Insert "tags," links to text, web pages, images, and videos. Combine with a collage you've made in Fotor!

Tinkercad: Fantastic tool for 3D design, along with lessons and student management via Project Ignite. No 3D printer? No problem; give kids design challenges that aren't meant to be printed. 

Turtle Blocks: Code designs here, export them to Tinkercad to tweak, then 3D print.

Typing Club: A good app to learn typing, with many powerful features for teachers.

Vidcode: A really sweet site for learning Javascript in the most user-friendly way possible. 

Wick Editor: Make frame-by-frame animations and turn into gifs, or add interactions with code.

Wix: The tool I use for this site is  Wix.com, a powerful and free web app. Let older kids play with it for an hour or two, then they are off and running.

Sites to get stuff

Adafruit: Site for electronic and digital kits and components.

Chibitronics: LED stickers and conductive tape. Excellent projets. 

Kelvin: Many great kits and components for STEMy projects.

Kidder: Many great kits and components for STEMy projects.

Littlebits: great electronics components that snap together. 

MakeyMakey: Great devices that turn anything conductive into a computer key input. 

MatterHackers: Good site for 3D printing supplies.

PITSCO: Many great kits and components for STEMy projects.

RAFT: Resource Area for Teaching is awesome. Kits and all kinds of STEAM stuff. In CA and CO and on the webs.

Sparkfun: kits and components for electronics projects.

Strawbees: Neat connectors for building with drinking straws.

Tech Will Save Us: Various kits for making and programming.

Thingiverse Education: Great place to get and share ideas for 3D printing.

Youmagine: Another site for sharing 3D designs.

Sites to get ideas

Alice Keeler: Huge amount of ideas for using Google apps.

Ed Tech Team: Excellent Summits and Bootcamps for learning about Google Apps.

Ed Tech Teacher: Many resouces here, plus PD opportunites, around Google and iPad apps.

Exploratorium: Science Snacks 

Free Tech 4 Teachers: The name says it all. Good resources. 

Frugal Fun 4 Boys: Despite crazy-sexist site name (irony = site creator is a woman), some excellent ideas here. 

Instructables: Amazing array of community-created projects, from the simple to the very technical.

Kids Make: YouTube page with many great projects.

Twitter: Yes, Twitter. This is actually a key place for sharing education and maker-related ideas and resources. 

Shake Up Learning: Casey Bell's excellent resources around web apps.

Sphero's Lightning Lab: Here's Sphero's page with activities by Sphero and users. 

Specific products

Adhesive Baseplates for Legos: Great to stick on walls and make stations

The Big Book of Makerspace Projects by Colleen Graves

Canary cardboard saw

Canary cardboard scissors: Very useful cutters.

Compressed Air Rocket Launcher: from the Makershed

Grizzly compass: XL compass that is great for cardboard projects.

Hacksaw blades: Wrap a few inches of one end in masking tape, and you've got safe, cheap cardboard cutters.

Hummingbird Robotics Kit: A programmable circuit board to control LEDs, vibration motors, servos, and motors.

Invent to Learn Guide to Fun maker project ideas by Josh Burker.

Makey Makey boards: Turn anything conductive into a key input; great with Scratch.

Micro:Bit: A tiny, affordable, easily-programmable computer.

Print Removal Tool: This is the best tool for getting prints off 3D printers that I have tried.

Robot Turtles: Board game that teaches coding concepts.

Structure Sensor: Scanner that attaches to iPad for 3D scanning, modeling.

Getting Going with Google
Getting Going with Gmail
Next Steps with Gmail
Going w Drive
Notability and Drive Workflow
Storing a Doc in Multiple Folders
Add calendar
My Maps Intro
bottom of page