We are keen to celebrate the work of libraries up and down the country who are facilitating a range of exciting makerspaces. If you are already doing lots of making in your library why not apply for a Maker{Library} Award? To find out more, join us for our free webinar.
We are delighted to announce the launch of our award for libraries that are making space for maker activities.
A Maker{Library} provides space and time for hands-on creativity, designing, building, and crafting using physical or digital tools and materials. Makerspaces are rooted in the ethos of the Maker Movement, which values exploration, innovation, and the sharing of knowledge.
From activity ideas and useful equipment to promoting your makerspace, take a look at our quick start guide.
Some popular library based maker activities include:
Lego club
Toy teardown and Hebocon
Knit & Natter
Code club
Enterprise hub
'Men in Sheds'
Robot club
Story and making time for early years
As well as special interest clubs, libraries can provide inclusive, intergenerational learning opportunities. Our latest project supports libraries and schools to develop makerspaces where multilingual children and their families feel empowered to use and maintain their heritage languages. Find out more about Traditional Tales, Untraditionally Told.
If you are just beginning your makerspace adventure, these resources (developed as part of a research project on Making in the Early Years - MakEY) will give you some ideas and inspiration.
From free information sessions and online courses to full CPD days, we have a range of professional development and training to suit everyone. We can also design bespoke sessions for your library. Contact us to find out more.
We've launched a new project to encourage children and their families to use their home languages in official settings like schools and libraries. To access a host of FREE resources and get started with an adventure in language and making in your library visit the website.
We are inviting your library to take part in this multilingual family storytelling project run by researchers from The University of Sheffield’s School of Education and Maker{Futures}; working together to give children the chance to use all their languages when in libraries or schools.
So far we have worked with over 120 adults and more than 150 children from 18 libraries and schools - running workshops to create and test resources for the website.
The project explores…
Sharing stories in multiple languages and why this is important
Crafting characters and settings and incorporating multilingualism
Using stop motion to capture stories digitally.
Using the Octostudio app to code and create simple animations for stories, and recording voices in a heritage language
To find out more about this exciting project and to see our FREE resources, head to our project website - bit.ly/TTUTproject
Join our FREE online celebration webinar, where we will sharing more about this exciting project on 20th May 2025 - bit.ly/TTUTcelebration
January 2025
We have collaborated with researchers from The University of Sheffield’s School of Education to create a series of maker workshops which give children the chance to use all their languages in libraries or schools.
August 2023
This summer Maker{Futures} visited 12 libraries in and around Sheffield with our ‘Ready, Set, Make!’ family workshops. Inspired by the sport and play themed Summer Reading Challenge, over 300 of you joined us to tinker, test and make in our pop-up library makerspaces.
August 2022
We visited 12 libraries in and around Sheffield with our ‘Gadgets and Gizmos’ events.
