Here is my draft for my first after school hack activity. My goal is to create a weekly workshop class where students can come in and new ways to tinker, hack, play, and design. I would love any feedback on this first project. I am charging money, but only to cover costs as well as raise funds to reduce costs of bigger and better projects down the road. If you have any suggestions, thoughts, or ideas I would love to hear them.
Hack a Greeting Card
Exploring what circuits and switches are in your everyday life, beyond your wall switch. We will briefly discuss circuits, switches, and how we can take a standard greeting card to hack something else. We will sample how to set the audio up elsewhere and then let students leave the workshop to set up their own surprises.
What are predictable things that your friend does every day? (e.g. – eat cereal at breakfast, get their books from their locker, etc.) How could you booby-trap those things with a circuit surprise?
When: March 13th after school from 3:00 – 4:00(will run up to 4:30 if extra time needed)
Where: Coffeechug Cafe Room F4
Cost: $10 to cover cost of materials and supplies. Materials: Musical/recordable greeting card, and other useful junk (e.g., string, tape, paper, paper clips, aluminum foil, etc.)
Materials: Please come with a greeting card that plays audio when you open up the card. Mr. Maurer will have some on hand if you need one, but this project will be much more enjoyable if you pick out the audio that you want.
What: We will be cutting up and taking apart a greeting card to understand how it works. Once we establish this basic foundation the challenge will be to take that audio device and link it up to something else and document what each student has done.
How: To sign up simply bring $10 down to Mr. Maurer in room F4 to hold your spot. Space is limited and is a first come, first serve basis. No spots will be held unless paid for. All money goes towards covering costs and planning future projects.
For more information check out www.coffeeforthebrain.com or email me aarmau@gmail.com
This looks like great fun. I have groups work with squishy circuits, little bits, and makey makey, but those sessions are more about exploring a circuit and what does and does not conduct. You have inspired me to pick up some cards and experiment. Thanks for the idea!