Forever thanks is owed to to Laura Tobin @choiceirregular for introducing me to @DublinMaker a few years ago. It gets better each year. Yesterday in Merrion Square there was such a carnival atmosphere, with happy famines being introduced to a terrific variety of activities and ideas. See here
First stop was at the TurtleStitch booth where Richard Millwood was playing pied piper again to those looking to design and stitch their own creation. Once again the multicoloured thread was a hit, and neither Richard nor the trusty Brother embroidery machine stopped treading for a minute all day. The interest generated in this form of computational thinking is growing in Ireland, mainly due to Richard’s efforts on behalf of both CESI’s computer science community of practice and Trinity’s CT4Life group; those curious to have a go should visit https://www.turtlestitch.org/
Then I watched for a while in awe as two legends of my life, Michael Grehan and Rory Goeghegan, engaged those round them with physics at the IOP Physics Busking space with David Keenaghan and Paul Nugent.
A visit to the CoderDojo Foundation stall was next, to say hello to Rosa, Vanessa, and listen in as Philip did a great job convincing visitors they should consider becoming a mentor.
I loved visiting The Dark Tent, as it meant I could finally meet @triploidtree (she who I admire so much via Twitter) and view the sparkly LED and suchlike delights on view:
Then it was off to find my buddies at the @MakerMeetIE double booth, a hive of family constructive activity….
Sheer joy (not to mention sweat and elbow grease) was glowing from this corner of Merrion Square – the teams own twitter gif says it all
There was much much more to be tried and tested – music, art, weaving, robotics, paperless programming. Live music and good value Street food added to the vibe.
Congratulations to all the volunteers and sponsors who make Dublin Maker happen, introducing families to all aspects of creative making. And Thank You.
Leave a Reply