The first workshop we held for Inventors Skillz was on Dec 8th and we introduced 20 kids and 20 adults to 3D printing. Each 2nd Saturday we plan on doing more STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) Education workshops. This is partially inspired by Home Depot and their morning workshops (like building birdhouses). Inventors Skillz will cover these more technical (and WAY more fun) topics like robotics, programming, soldering, designing, building, etc.
I sort of felt like the absent-minded professor when trying to facilitate this event. There were way more people that showed up that I expected and the room was double-booked with the Auxiliary (American Legion) so I was a bit flustered. I'm sure it will become smoother as we develop a format and have some reps.
Each participant was able to play with many of these pre-printed items and ask tons of questions like "what plastic is this?", "how much does the plastic cost?", and "how long does it take to print?"
Each person signed up on the clipboard and we allowed them each to select from many snowflake ornament files. Each print took about 10-15 minutes and after 4 hours we finally got through the whole list of eager pupils.
The next Skillz we will be making BristleBots! See you in January!
