When visiting the Vancouver Mini Maker Faire a couple of weekends ago, I met the fine folks behind the Maker Mobile, a workshop on wheels created by four teachers who want to share their love for building creative projects and get young people involved in Vancouver’s maker community. The Maker Mobile made its first public appearance at the Vancouver International Children’s Festival in May and was very well received at the Maker Faire.
The four founding teachers — Farrell Segall, Zee Kesler, Simon Lyons, and Andrew Milne — come from varied backgrounds but are combining their skill sets toward a common goal: “to explore the endless possibilities of imagination and creativity by engaging young people in hands-on projects and workshops exploring art, crafts, engineering and technology (sometimes all at the same time!).” Their enthusiasm for making and sharing knowledge is contagious.
The team has outfitted the moving truck with five two-sided work stations, power strips along the walls and myriad tools attached to peg boards all around. They envision the truck being a travelling classroom, hackspace, art studio, and lab, with the ability to roll up to any location, pop open the back, drop the ladder, and host a workshop. They have a number of events planned already for the summer, and they’re just getting started.
Pictured below is the founding team (from left to right) Farrell, Simon, Andrew, and Zee:
The truck was constantly surrounded by kids and adults alike during the Maker Faire:
Zee teaches a young maker how to use the button making machine:
To raise funds, the team has handmade a variety of DIY kits they’re selling. Pictured below are two young makers with their new squishy circuits kits:
A proud young maker discovers the joys of electronics by playing with squishy circuits:
Zee and Simon in front of their kits table, accompanied by the pink donation pig:
The Maker Mobile is in need of tool donations. A list can be found here.
We salute the Maker Mobile team for their efforts to spread the joy of making and can’t wait to hear what adventures they go on with the truck!
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