21 Awesome Maker Kits

byTeachThought Staff

Being a relatively new concept, the definition of Maker Ed isn’t exactly set in stone, though it roughly relates learning by making.

What your definition of ‘making’ is will likely help you form your definition of maker ed and learning through making, whether that be clay for sculpting, wood and saws for building, or apps for digital wares. Is it a kit, or is ‘making’ more about starting with nothing and ending with something?

The 21 kits below are a part of the former, but they’re also incredibly cool. They have less to do with making from scratch and more to do with making from pre-made materials (kits), but that doesn’t make them any less useful for learning through play and creation. Oh, and we’ve got two or three books in there as well.

Enjoy your tinkering.

1.弹射套件

2.Minecraft Papercraft

Minecraft Papercraft，对我们来说并不为人所知，is a thing.

3.A Da Vinci Multiple Sling

“莱昂纳多·达·芬奇（Leonardo da Vinci）的想法是制造一台非常强大的机器，该机器可能同时扔出八个大型弹丸。他将八个长臂放在一个围绕中央销的圆圈中，每个吊索都有一个能够扔弹丸的吊索。

This kind of project, where weapons were developed to hurl multiple projectiles to be more powerful, was common in Da Vinci’s time because doing this meant creating more powerful weapons, simply by increasing their number and power, without the need to develop new building techniques and using familiar materials. They were therefore potentially attractive weapons because they were powerful, but they were also relatively inexpensive.

启发这一快照复制品的发明是从达芬奇无价和令人敬畏的笔记本的页面中获取的。该手册非常具有教育意义，并教导了这项发明如何随着时间的流逝而发展。无需电池。需要组装。这是不打算破坏实际城堡的桌面模型。”

4.Actual Minecraft Circuits

5.A Floating Arm Trebuchet

“The Tsar Cannon of backyard artillery, the Floating Arm Trebuchet kit includes the detailed instructions and pre-cut/drilled pieces needed to construct a finished trebuchet within a day (two hours for a master carpenter, two days for a layman without any kit assembly experience).

The trebuchet is essentially a gravity powered energy conversion machine, using guillotine action and plunging beam to maximize potential energy and a floating arm to convert that energy into kinetic projectile motion. This kit is professionally engineered, designed and manufactured in the USA. Made with 100% hardwoods, each part is precision carved by computer numeric controlled machinery for a guaranteed fit and accuracy.

The trebuchet is capable of throwing tennis and golf balls up to 100 and 200 feet, respectively; it’s designed and intended to spark an interest in real-world science and engineering (and perhaps a bit of history, too). Test your machine’s strength and efficiency with the included equations and tips as you watch classical mechanics in action.”

6.Cubelets Robotic Construction

“Cubelets robotic cubes can be snapped together to make a variety of robots withno programming and no wires. You can build robots that drive around on a tabletop, respond to light and other objects, and have surprisingly lifelike behavior. But instead of programming that behavior, you snap the Cubelets together and watch the behavior emerge like a flock of birds or a swarm of bees.

Each Cubelet comes with a standard program that lets you build robots simply by connecting cubes. When you build, you’re building the身体的robot, but you’re also building its behavior, through the connected blocks. If you think about it this way,the robot is the program.”

7. Wood Castle Blocks

8。Electricity & Magnetism

“Electricity and magnetism are two closely related, fundamental properties. Explore their correlation with over 60 experiments in this fun, informative kit.

The 64-page, full-color experiment manual’s easy-to-follow diagrams guide you through such experiments as tests to see which materials are magnetic, using iron fillings to make invisible magnetic fields visible, and more.

您将建立系列和平行电路以照亮灯泡。尝试按下按钮和开关开关。组装电路，包括旋转电动机，两个开关以及最多三个灯泡。了解磁力和磁极的力。磁化金属。使用铁填充物使看不见的磁场可见。使用磁摆装置研究磁力和方向。了解指南针的工作原理以及地球的磁场。用坚固的电磁体进行一系列实验

You’ll ultimately put what you’ve learned to good use by constructing a loudspeaker, an electromagnetic relay switch, and a Morse code telegraph key!”

9. Mindware Block Buddies

10. Mindware Qbamaze大框

11. Eitech Classic Crane