Is There A Place For Music In Our Makerspaces?

I spend a lot of time thinking about Makerspaces.  

These engaging spaces that bring creativity, tinkering, and exploration to our communities make me push the possibilities and potential of what these spaces and experiences can bring to our young people.  

For me it is fun to think about all of the different elements we can add to our Makerspaces.  

There can be duck tape, 3D printers, art supplies, recycled goods, old computer parts, wood, Makey Makey kits, Sphero’s, knitting needles and yarn, LEGO’s, playdough, wood, hot glue guns, fabric, paper, wire, and the list goes on and on.  

Now think about this.  

Ask yourself….

I thought about this last fall as I put together a presentation for a conference.

Since I was traveling to the conference, I put all of my Makerspace materials into a bag...and of course had to call it a Makerspace-To-Go.

I wrote about it here.  And as I put this together, I also created the....

Makerspace Mobile out of all of the apps I had on my iPad and iPhone.  There are so many wonderful apps that fit into the tinkering and maker movement.....and our young people love them!

It is when I also started thinking about the place that music has within our Makerspaces.

Who doesn't love music?  Who wouldn't want to create their own music or create while listening to music?

With music, there is definitely something for everyone.

We have dozens of great apps and websites that focus around music....

which I have put together the Music Fun for Kids Symbaloo.  I have been filling it up with websites and resources tying music to our learners.

I added the Music Fun for Kids Symbaloo to the ....

Makerspace Symbaloo that I created last year to share with my school community and others.

We can create musical instruments....

just like all of these ideas on the Homemade Musical Instruments Pinterest board.

And even play music as part of our Makerspace community from websites such as Spotify and Amazon Music Prime.

We had several Van Meter Library Voice Pandora playlists....The kids loved these!  And it was fun to not only play them in the library but also to share them with the students to play them within their own personal Pandora accounts.

One of the things we can't forget about in our Makerspaces are books and digital resources. 

Since I have included print books in the Makerspace and Makerspace-To-Go, I made sure to include dozens of wonderful eBooks through the MackinVIA website and app....

and Capstone Interactive app. I downloaded over 20 Makerspace themed eBooks from Capstone onto my iPad so they can be accessed easily within the Makerspace Mobile.

Last year we also had another fantastic type of book containing music come into the publishing scene.  

These books are from the publishing group, Cantata Learning. 

 With their books, they have paired stories....

 with beautiful songs.  

All of the Cantata Learning books...

and eBooks can be added to any Makerspace...

for exciting adventures in music, movement, and fun. 

Not only can the music be found within each book, all songs are on the Cantata Learning website....

and anyone can listen and download the songs. 

I put all of the songs that are paired with the Cantata Learning books on a Symbaloo webmix. This will make it very easy for our youngest learners to access and listen to any of the songs.  

I added this to the Makerspace Symbaloo too.   I love that they can bring the music and stories to their homes or any place.....Bringing tinkering and making right along with them.

So as you plan your very own Makerspaces.....within your libraries and classrooms....and online....or in a bag or on a cart.... 

think about this again....

Is there a place for music in our Makerspaces?

Is there a place for music in all of our classrooms and libraries…..and how does it fit in? 

The answer is YES!  

Bringing music to children is one of the sweetest gifts you can give your students.  

It not only empowers our children and gives them a voice…..It also brings a purpose and reason to creativity, engagement, and a whole lot of fun!