Meet the Hosts of Family Maker Camp
Empire State Maker Faire 2020
GROUP
Maker Camp
Since it started in 2012, over a million campers connected through Maker Camp and shared their experiences with other campers in the Maker Camp community. The goal of Family Maker Camp is to encourage and support making activities at home during this time when schools, libraries, and museums are closed. Making is fun but it is also a natural way to learn that is both active and engaging. Making overcomes boredom and rewards imagination and ingenuity. That’s why people of all ages tell us that making is something they want to do.
This March when schools closed across the country, Family Maker Camp stepped in to fill the void. At the helm were a team of maker educators serving as hosts, offering inspiration, encouragement, and support for kids across the world. Each week they joined Make online to provide exciting and engaging projects through social media and the maker Camp website. Though the spring and summer, these makers gave their time and expertise to their community. By the end of the season, 50 makers had created over 200 free online sessions.
In this Meet the Hosts session we'll share our experiences learning at home and online, offer ideas and support for making with your family, and answer questions from the audience. Our hosts are educators and parents just like you. This special session will include Maker Camp hosts Sandy Roberts of Kaleidoscope Enrichment, Andy Forest of Steamlabs, author, artist, and educator Kathy Ceceri, Michael Carroll of Scrappy Circuits, and Kelsey Derringer and Matt Chilbert of Code Joy.
What inspired you to make this project?:
We all came together as volunteers to host Family Maker Camp in March of 2020 when COVID-19 shut down schools, clubs, camps, and more. We knew it was vitally important to continue to inspire kids with hands-on, innovative maker projects, especially during this trying time.
What are some of the challenges you have encountered and how did you address them?:
Working with the amazing folks at Make: Co, we had to overcome technology issues, figure out scheduling, promote what we were offering and much more. And we all did this while parenting our kids, educating students, running our small businesses, and generally adapting to the new COVID-19 world.
