Makerspace activities excite and engage students and offer them a multitude of academic and mental health benefits! Cost should never be a barrier to implementation of makerspace activities in your classroom. Low-cost/no-cost makerspace activities are as engaging and exciting for students as higher priced activities.
You can easily obtain low-cost or no-cost makerspace materials! You can collect makerspace materials by recycling materials from your home, or by asking teachers, families, and community members to contribute recycled or reused items. Dollar stores, educational recycling centers, and the clearance sections of your favorite stores are another great place to obtain makerspace materials.
Finding great low/no-cost makerspace projects is also easy! There are many sites where you can search for the perfect makerspace project for your classroom. MakeIt@YourLibrary is a site geared toward libraries but contains many projects that are just right for the classroom. Makerspace Lesson Plans is another great resource to search for projects. Low cost engineering activity placemats are an easy way to bring makerspace projects into your classroom, as each project contains all the information and handouts you need to get started. Cardboard challenges are another fun, easy, and inexpensive way to bring making to your classroom. You will be amazed what students can create using recycled cardboard! One of the most famous cardboard challenges is the cardboard arcade challenge. You can even use paper to produce a wide variety of easy makerspace activities. When you want to step up your makerspace project game, try out easy, low-cost paper circuit challenges or this screen printing project. Once you start using low/no-cost makerspace projects, your students won’t be able to get enough!
You won’t regret trying out these makerspace projects in your classroom! As always, don’t forget to check out our TeachersFirst resources and TeachersFirst blog posts for more ideas. Happy making!