What Goes in a Makerspace?

You’ve decided to have a Makerspace. What should you put in it? Any thing you want. Start small. We put out origami paper and a book during the first week just to see what would happen. (Turns out the answer to that question is lots of paper frogs.) But seriously, we made a list of potential items for your Makerspace.

Not everything has to cost money, but a start up fund to help you get organized can help. We used our small funds to buy some containers and a few tools. Most of the rest of our items were donated. We posted a wish list to our school website and were amazed at the generosity of our parent community. Don’t underestimate your local stores, too. Many retailers were happy to donate leftover store window display parts and even a set of tools for our students.

What should you put in your Makerspace?

• Containers to hold materials (shoe boxes can work)
• Shelves to display materials or store projects in progress.
• Workspace for Makers to use to create. (a table or designated floor space)

Consumable Items (These items get used up or taken away with Maker projects)

• Paper
• Thread
• Yarn/ribbon
• Tape: masking, painter’s, duct, scotch
• Pipecleaners
• Twist ties
• Glue/hot glue/glue sticks/white glue
• Nails
• Screws
• Nuts and bolts
• Pieces of wood
• Fabric/cloth scraps
• Cardboard
• Food containers
• Tin cans
• Food container lids/food containers
• Coffee stirrers
• Straws
• Paper/plastic plates/cups
• Cardboard rolls
• bottle caps
• Corks
• Jars
• Buttons
• Shells/pebbles/rocks
• Sequins/rhinestones/aquarium rocks
• Scrapbooking paper
• Wrapping paper
• Old holiday cards
• Pompoms
• Tissue paper
• Toothpicks
• Origami paper
• Chart paper
• ModPodge
• Paint
• shoeboxes
• kitchen utensils (spoons, knives, forks)
• sponges
• dismantled toys/pieces of models/broken toys that can be repurposed
• tin foil/parchment paper/wax paper

Non-Consumable Items (These items stay in the Makerspace and are used by all Makers)

• Glue guns
• Hammers
• Screwdrivers
• Pliers
• Hand drills
• Toys: Lego, Mega Blocks, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs
• Crayons
• Markers
• Coloured pencils
• Rulers/measuring tapes
• Rubber stamps/stamp pads
• Stencils/rubbing plates
• Sewing needles
• Knitting needles
• Looms
• How-To Books
• Robotics: Sphero, MaKey MaKey, Little Bits, Ozobots, Dot and Dash, Lego Mindstorms
• Cameras or devices to record progress
• Paintbrushes/paint sponges
• washcloths/cleaning materials
• magnets
• safety gloves/goggles
• 3D printer/printer materials
• (for older students-power tools)

Need a way to organize all these materials? Consider our Makerspace Label set.

Just remember, your Makerspace is whatever you decide. Ask your students what materials they would like to use. And, if you think something should be added to our list, please include it in the comments below so we can continue to build the list.