December 4, 2024

Holiday Gift Ideas for the Makers & Tinkerers in Your Life

Treat yourself or the other makers in your life to these incredible new (or old favorite) materials and sources of inspiration for future learning adventures.

Be sure to click on the links at the bottom of this list for additional materials you’ll want under the tree.

All of the recommended products are affordable and may be purchased online with one-click!

Makedo FreePlay Kit For One$15.30 (larger sets are also available)

Wicked cool reusable connectors, hinges and child-safe saws for building cardboard constructions.


Rolobox Reuseable Wheel Kit for Boxes$13.95

Wheel sets for cardboard boxes. You need these with Makedo!


Unbored: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun$15.67

A zillion high and low-tech project ideas and suggestions for amusing yourself.


Super Scratch Programming Adventure!: Learn to Program By Making Cool Games$13.92

A full-color project book for learning Scratch programming. It even includes a chapter on using the external Picoboard!


The Big Book of Hacks: 264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects

$16.25Really cool and beautifully photographed tech projects ideas for kids and adults alike.


Geek Mom: Projects, Tips, and Adventures for Moms and Their 21st-Century Families$13.59

The latest addition to the three book Geek Dad series for girls, their moms (plus teachers, brothers and fathers)


The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide$18.97

A new full-color guide to building machines out of LEGO Technic! Mechanical principles are explained clearly.


Make: LEGO and Arduino Projects: Projects for extending MINDSTORMS NXT with open-source electronics$19.75

Makers: The New Industrial Revolution

$13.98

This new book about the Maker revolution is by the former editor of Wired Magazine.

However, Neil Gershenfeld’s seminal book, Fab: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop from Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication, does a better job of covering the “maker” revolution despite having been published seven years ago.


Big Trak$60 – 70

My late friend, Steve Ocko, invented this programmable floor turtle (robot) for Milton Bradley in 1979. There has never been a more powerful easy-to-use robot available for kids since.

The good news is that some lunatic bought the rights to the Big Trak and is manufacturing new ones 30+ years later

Kids from 5+ will play and learn with Big Trak for ages.


Makey Makey$49.95 – $59.95

There’s no adequate way to explain Makey Makey, “the invention kit for everyone,” but you need to own at least one of them!

Learn more here.


LEGO WeDo$129.95

An early-childhood robotics construction kit that may be controlled via Scratch.


Sugru
various pricesMiraculous shapeable air-cured rubber, because “the future needs fixing!

Amazing book!Highly recommended! The Cryptoclub: Using Mathematics to Make and Break Secret Codes

$36.24 (and worth it!)This fantastic book makes real mathematics come alive for kids (and teachers) grades 5 and up through the exploration of cryptography. There is plenty to keep you busy for years within this book.


New York Street Games$14.83

A star-studded documentary chronicling the dizzying variety of street games invented and played in New York City, as well as the life lessons learned playing them.

This DVD should inspire a great deal of play and creative “research” projects among young people.

The DVD

The book New York City Street Games$14.95

A terrific print guide to playing classic games including: Kings, Skellzies, Potsie, Stick Ball and Hit the Penny.

The book even comes with bottlecaps, sidewalk chalk and a “spaldeen.”


Photojojo!: Insanely Great Photo Projects and DIY Ideas

$14.66This book is filled with insanely creative ways to turn your photographs into amazing products and crazy ways to capture photographs you won’t believe. Fun for the whole family!

Check out the exciting description of projects and photo techniques included in this unique book.

I love love love these LEGO construction books! Yoshihito Isogawa’s three magnifcent wordless books of LEGO Technic project ideas are like the holy books of LEGO construction. There are enough ideas contained within to keep you building for years!The LEGO Technic Idea Book – Fantastic Contraptions

The LEGO Technic Idea Book – Wheeled Wonders

The LEGO Technic Idea Book – Simple Machines

$12-14 each

 


Painting Chinese: A Lifelong Teacher Gains the Wisdom of Youth$7.98

Legendary educator and education author, Herb Kohl’s beautiful meditation on life, teaching, learning, art and aging.

This is one of my all-time favorite books. It makes a lovely inspirational gift for the artist or educator in your life.

For grown-ups

I’m in this book, along with Phillip-Seymour Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie Perez, Bill T. Jones, Bill Ayers, Deborah Meiers, Lisa Delpit, Maxine Greene, Diane Ravitch and many others. The Muses Go to School: Inspiring Stories About the Importance of Arts in Education$20.06

Herb Kohl & Tom Oppenheim interviewed some of today’s most prominent artists about the educational experiences that led them to their creativity and then leading educators responded to each interview.


Surely, You’re Joking Mr. Feynman (Adventures of a Curious Character)$10.85

The first magnificent memoir by this Nobel-Prize winning physicist, raconteur and tinkerer. This is a must-read for anyone over twelve years of age.

Feynman

$19.04

A fine biography in graphic-novel format. Appropriate for teens.

 

Books by and about the ultimate tinkerer and scientist

For the frustrated parents of young tinkerers Not With Our Kids You Don’t! Ten Strategies to Save Our Schools$18.69

Parent activist Juanita Doyon offers practical advice for protecting your kids from destructive school policies like standardized testing.


Read out latest newsletter for creative educators. There you will find other book reviews and recommendations for stimulating learning adventures!


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