Re: [london-hack-space] Young kids visiting this Saturday. Health & safety prep! Hackers: store away your sharp objects!

[Nigel Worsley]

An additional thing you may need to consider is that the occupancy detector is now back in action. Those
lasers look like they are about 6 year old height to me, so probably best to make sure they are switched
off during the visit.

The makedo stuff is in my box, you need to go around the back of the far end of the shelving to find it. I
am not in the space often enough to justify having my box somewhere easier to get to!

Nigle

[Martin Dittus]

Hello all,

this coming Saturday from 2pm we're visited by a group of six year olds and their parents. We'll be showing them the space, giving them a laser cutter workshop (not as crazy as it may sound), teaching them a few things and helping them make a thing or two.

If you're planning to be at the space this Saturday: please be considerate of the kids and their safety. Don't leave sharp objects lying around, don't leave open power sources unattended, unplug any heavy machinery when it's not used, etc. Any assistance in keeping things safe is appreciated.

Since it's the first time we're doing this we want to make sure the Hackspace is prepared. We'll do a health & safety check, and may move things around a bit to be on the safe side. (Much of the time the kids will be in the Quiet Room, but we'll also spend some time showing off the laser cutter. We're however not planning on letting them just run around freely.)

Note that this is not an open invite event, we have limited attendance and are fully booked. But if it works well there will be more such events soon; we're already collecting great suggestions for future workshops!

Thanks for your support!

m.

If you're interested in more details... hmm, where to start.

As you may already have heard we're just setting up a new workshop series: the Young Hackspace. It's hacking, but for kids!

We want to introduce young children and teenagers to the many things all you hackers do and know. Electronics, heavy machinery, robots, sound, lasers, software, ... building things, taking things apart; maybe also making things explode (in controlled environments.) It's a chance to take the ingenuity, skill and experience of all you seasoned hackers, and use it to teach the next few generations.

The first instalment this coming Saturday is a first test run. We already found a group of ten six year old kids, and are preparing the workshop now. Tom Wyatt and Will Pearson are giving a laser cutter workshop, Daniel Hertz is setting up his Mindstorms kit. We'll also set up smaller demos and toys that demonstrate the awesomeness of the Hackspace to these young kids.

Kirsten Skillen is professionally working with young kids and CRB certified, she is helping us find an appropriate balance of an experience that is stimulating and encouraging, yet not overwhelming. (One of our challenges is that there is no lack of ideas; we'll try not to overdo it...)

Watch this space for future announcements!

[ynohtna]

Parents with children who aren't able to attend this weekend's event should also be aware that there are creative music workshops (Hibiki - resonances from Japan) happening on Saturday (and beyond) at Gillespie Park, North London. Instruments are provided but bring-along items are also encouraged!

Details can be found at the bottom of http://muarts.org.uk/event/forthcoming/

On a similar subject, I know someone who has a set of Children's Britannica encyclopaedias looking for a good home. They're a bit old so the political maps may no longer be relevant (but, hey, so are last years!) but books full of plants animals and interesting facts never go out of style if you ask me. Get in touch if you or someone you know is interested.

Cheers,

Anthony.

[Sam Cook]

For the next one of these I'd be willing to help; I've done work as a playworker but I don't think my CRB is still valid (timeout). 

If it's wanted I'll see if I can organise any interesting sciency things...

S

[Martin Dittus]

Yes please! Let's chat when you come back. Domo arigato etc

m.

[Sam Cook]

cool, I'm back Friday so I should be at the space on Tuesday. 

S

[Chris Foote (Spike)]

Hi Martin!

Thanks for all the work that you and others are putting into this
initiative.

In the space somewhere near the front door should be a small parcel
addressed to me (Chris Foote) from Diginate. Inside are 600 shiny new
hackspace stickers. If you get a chance place feel free to open this
package and get stickers to give to the new "tiny hackers".

Thanks!
Spike

[Elliot West]

On 22 February 2011 23:23, Nigel Worsley <nig...@googlemail.com> wrote:

An additional thing you may need to consider is that the occupancy detector is now back in action. Those
lasers look like they are about 6 year old height to me, so probably best to make sure they are switched
off during the visit.

You can toggle the laser beams by pressing an holding both buttons simultaneously for at least 5 seconds. Beams can also be toggled remotely via babbage and I will do this on saturday.

That said, they are 3mW class II visible lasers so are apparently quite safe. However, I completely agree that we should switch them off regardless.

[Chris Foote (Spike)]

Elliot West wrote:
> On 22 February 2011 23:23, Nigel Worsley <nig...@googlemail.com

Sigh!

Class II (or 2) are limited to 1mW. If it's 3mW it is not "safe" unless
there is a large degree of dispersion. Please disable these sensors by
unplugging them. Turning them off unrestricted software control is not
good enough.

Sorry!
Spike

[Elliot West]

That's fine - Martin can just switch them off. No problem.

[Andy "Bob" Brockhurst]

On 23/02/2011 01:30, Sam Cook wrote:
> For the next one of these I'd be willing to help; I've done work as a
> playworker but I don't think my CRB is still valid (timeout).
>
> If it's wanted I'll see if I can organise any interesting sciency
things...
>
> S
>

Hi, I'd also be happy to help out, my son's a bit young (16 months) yet.
I'm CRB checked for close contact with children.

I'm also at STEMNet Ambassador[1], I know someone else at LHS is as well.

Should we consider contacting STEMNet to see if there are schools in the
area that would be interested also?

Happy to do that.

[1] Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths http://www.stemnet.org.uk/

Bob
--
a.k.a b3cft/Andy
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[skype] andybrockhurst
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[Adrian Godwin]

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 8:48 AM, Andy "Bob" Brockhurst <andrew.b...@googlemail.com> wrote:

Hi, I'd also be happy to help out, my son's a bit young (16 months) yet. I'm CRB checked for close contact with children.

I'd suggest we don't make any attempt to claim CRB validity. I'm sure you're all good people an' all, but it needs to be left firmly the responsibility of the teachers supervising. AIUI your CRB checks are only relevant to the organisation that commissioned them so they have no validity outside of that context, and we really don't want to have to maintain them for random people in the space just so we can welcome visitors. Short cut to madness, that.

-adrian

[Sam Cook]

I think this is correct and no one in their right might would want to try maintaining CRBs for the space I seem to remember that the form is 2 sides of A3....

[Andy "Bob" Brockhurst]

On 23/02/2011 09:27, Adrian Godwin wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 8:48 AM, Andy "Bob" Brockhurst
> <andrew.b...@googlemail.com

That's quite correct, unless anyone has had a full CRB disclosure done
recently. (Not sure if you can get a "General" CRB yet, that is then
attached to multiple organisations)

My CRB is attached to STEMNet which is specifically for the purpose of
going to schools and talking to children about tech and running hands on
courses.

This was why I suggested talking to STEMNet, as long as you contact them
and say "I'm talking to children at <x> school on <y>" you are covered
by their insurance/legal whatevers.

The Teacher is always in loco parentis unless, of course, the parents
are also present.

I was not inferring we *should* have our own people registered, it's
expensive and unnecessary. And indeed madness.

[Paul Dart]

On 23 February 2011 08:48, Andy "Bob" Brockhurst <andrew.b...@googlemail.com> wrote:

I'm also at STEMNet Ambassador[1], I know someone else at LHS is as well.

FWIW I'm also a STEMNET ambassador. Or SEA Ambassador or whatever it's called now. Meh.
They can also sort out insurance and stuff apparently.
Also one of the coordinator people for London is pretty hot.

Would it not be easier to take things like lego mindstorms to schools rather than bring a load of children to hackspace? Then at least it doesn't inconvenience other members and is probably easier for teachers as well.

Paul

[Martin Dittus]

On 23 Feb 2011, at 13:27, Paul Dart wrote:
> Would it not be easier to take things like lego mindstorms to schools rather than bring a load of children to hackspace? Then at least it doesn't inconvenience other members and is probably easier for teachers as well.
>
> Paul

Mindstorms, yes. Laser cutter? Unlikely :D

(I'm hoping in the long run we can find ways to run these events without being 'inconveniencing'; e.g. it will may make sense to _not_ always do them on a weekend. That said, to me it's just another workshop with some additional safety precautions, most of which should be common practise anyway.)

m.

[Martin Dittus]

Thanks for the STEMNET mention, I'm interested in talking to you guys next time we happen to meet at the space (maybe this weekend?) Just grab me if I don't see you first.

m.

On 23 Feb 2011, at 13:27, Paul Dart wrote:

[Martin Dittus]

I started making a checklist on how to prepare the Hackspace for visits by young children. Let me know what I missed.

http://wiki.hackspace.org.uk/wiki/Project:Young_Hackspace/Checklist

m.

[Senake]

Probably obvious stuff, but you might also want to:

 

(1) Clear and cover an area where they can sit down on the floor in a group to do activities away from any tools (shrapnel etc.)

(2) Have a step stool if required in the right place so that they can see into any machines with higher 1m viewing windows. Viewing should be one by one wearing safety goggles if appropriate.

(3) Have some snacks and drinks as low blood sugar leads to bad behaviour.

 

 

 

Senake

[Martin Dittus]

I've just heard that a few slots opened up for the first Young Hackspace event this Saturday. Contact me soon if you are interested in bringing your kids along. And please share this with your friends. If there's a lot of demand be we can put you on a waiting list.

The plan is to start at 2pm, with a tour of the Hackspace; then a longer laser cutter session (introduction to lasers by playful demonstration, introduction to the notion of a laser cutter, having the kids make drawings which we then cut/etch, so they have something they can take home.) To pass the time while we wait for the finished result we'll show the kids Lego Mindstorms, and a few other simple toys made at or in the possession of the Hackspace.

All in all it shouldn't take longer than 2h.

We're now a core team of about 5 people, three doing demonstrations (Tom, Will and Daniel) and one trained to work with young kids (Kirsten), and myself who does all the small random things than need taking care of.

m.

On 22 Feb 2011, at 23:08, Martin Dittus wrote:
>

[Billy]

How many slots?

There's a home-education group my daughter was attending that are
interested.

I've got some spare acrylic, yellow and red. What about making some
boxes the kids can construct and take away? I've got some acrylic-weld
liquid. Or maybe we can teach them how to use the glue gun.

I'll be around for this on Saturday.

[Martin Dittus]

It's a bit flexible atm, but we could take up to four more kids if need be; that's the absolute limit however. We'd be happy to have them join us, just let me know soon how many of you will come!

I really like your workshop suggestions. Let's do that another day; are you interested in holding such a workshop yourself?

m.

[Billy]

Yes, happily so. It's the sort of thing i was teaching to my kid.

I've emailed the home-ed group to let them know what's happening. I'll
forward any emails i get.