This past week I was lucky enough to be able to run a ‘maker movement’ workshop with my students (who are adults training to be teachers 🙂 ). My inspiration came from the following sources, as indicated below in my blurb for the workshop:
“The maker movement is gathering traction in the US and internationally: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/28408/maker-movement. It recognises the need to have young people explore technology by taking it apart, finding out how it works and redesigning the technology to make some thing new. There are strong Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) links here that we can harness in schools, either as part of formal curriculum, or as an extension/engagement opportunity. We will be deconstructing McDonalds toys (which can’t go to landfill) and up-cycling them to make artistic posters OR redesigning them to make a new toy/item- It is up to you. Examples: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/7675915/Artist-builds-sculptures-from-circuit-boards.html, http://www.sodapopgirl.net/art/disassembly/ and http://www.toddmclellan.com/commercial#5 .”
The purpose of the workshop was for them to experience first hand the wide educational potential of an open ended invitation to up-cycle some old McDonald’s toys. Why McDonald’s toys? When my son, Little Tacker (LT) was younger we would have McDonald’s as a semi-regular treat, and very quickly accrued a pile of plastic single purpose toys. When he was about 5 I cleared out his room and found we had heaps, and the problem became how to dispose of them. The toys are plastic and often have batteries in them, meaning we can’t put them into the plastic recycling bins or landfill. So I finally had an opportunity to use them with a class and see how creative we could be.
Unfortunately many of these toys have (what I now know to be) Security screws that need a specialist triangular bit to undo them….and I had bought a few sets of small Phillip’s head and flat head screw drivers for my students to use- Whoops! Fortunately this was only a hiccup for a short time in the workshop and my students were able to problem solve and figure out different ways of opening the toys and re-purposing them. Below are some pictures of the ‘end products’.
This was a clockwork Smurf toy- it ‘laid down’ and rotated on a ball attached to it’s feet and would intermittently turn to balance on it’s elbows, then go back to rotating on the ball. After much perseverance the student with this toy was able to break away part of the body and remove the cogs that performed the motion.  The two cogs had different arrangements of teeth which gave rise to the ‘intermittent’ movements we observed int he working toy. This lead to a small group discussion about one of the earliest forms of programming being the Jacquard Loom. A very interesting discussion that created curiosity and a few email discussions after the session too. 
This student had a ‘pop-up’ present Smurf, and was able to reassemble her toy as a 3D item to display the inner workings.
This student made a ‘superhero mobile’ – pictured flying over Melbourne 🙂 
A couple of students up-cycled their toys into Jewellery- Ninja Turtle rings anyone?
This workshop was great fun and highlighted an opportunity to engage students in a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) experience. It also created a high level of cognitive engagement and curiosity in the group- me included! I have now found the screw drivers we need on ebay – so will source some before I run this workshop again next year. I would like to thank my students for agreeing to let me use photos of their creations and share their stories here too.
Until next time- happy tinkering.
Fiona T
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