The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.
![I [heart] The Art of Tinkering](https://i0.wp.com/makezine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/tinkering-shot.png?fit=633%2C351&ssl=1)
We at MAKE love The Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, so when we heard that its directors, Karen Wilkinson and Mike Petrich, were going to capture their community of artists and engineers (“Tinkerers”) into the pages of a book called The Art of Tinkering, we couldn’t wait to get our hands on it. And you know what? They have exceeded my very high hopes for what they’d create.
We have all seen movies and TV show where someone opens a treasure chest and the treasure inside is so shiny that the container is glowing as soon as it is opened. I thought that this would make a great effect for Christmas presents. So I made a small treasure chest with a built-in light that turns on when it is opened. The lights are activated by a normally open momentary switch.
There may be plenty of presents for Makers under the twinkling lights (Arduino controlled, of course) of your tree, but don’t forget about the stockings hanging from the mantle! Swing by the Maker Shed and ogle the Maker Shed Stocking Stuffer Gift Guide and get some goodies to fill those stockings.
Pick up gifts for the robotically inclined with the Arduino & Robots Gift Guide put together by the Maker Shed team. For beginners, there are no-soldering required projects like the Tin Can Robot Kit and the Makey Makey Standard Kit, which turns nearly anything you can think of into a computer key. For the more advanced, give a Getting Started with Arduino Kit v3.0 to those who wish to build electronics projects that sense and react to stimuli.
What are maker-loving parents giving this season to turn their kids into the makers of tomorrow? In this list we focus on gifts at the intersection of Science, Tech, Engineering, Art, & Math (STEAM).
If you’ve checked your list twice and still can’t muddle out what to get for the kids in your life this holiday season, check out the Maker Shed Kids and Family Gift Guide.
Of all of the MAKE projects, the Useless Machine always makes me the happiest.
