The “Maker Thursdays” program at Millvale Community Library enables students to make electronic and traditional crafts using math and science.

“Science and math particularly can be abstract ideas that seem distant and boring,” said Andrew Stewart, one of the program’s facilitators. “But Making engages students with designing, measuring, cutting and building something. My goal is to encourage kids to think through an idea and bring that idea into reality with the material available at the library.”

Mr. Stewart is the owner, president and environmental director of Deco Resources, a Pittsburgh-based environmental and sustainability consulting firm with a laboratory in Millvale.

Children are invited to explore tasks such as woodworking, sewing, crocheting, electronics, drawing, animation, music creation and circuitry.

A group of youngsters in the program began an aquaponics project March 26 by measuring and sawing two-by-fours to construct a wooden frame for a 2-foot-square, solar-powered plant box to be used for demonstrations.

Mr. Stewart drew a picture of the structure and explained how a fish tank would be topped by grow beds. 

“Aquaponics is a hybrid between aquaculture, or growing fish, and hydroponics, water-based plants,” he told the students. “It is a method of growing food using fish to provide nutrients for the plants. The wooden structure will support the plant beds.”

Water from the fish tank will be pumped up to water the plants, which could be mint, tomatoes, strawberries or others, then cleaned and returned to the tank. A larger tank will be constructed later to be used outdoors, he said.

Skyler Buchman, 10, of Millvale wore protective goggles to measure and mark a long piece of reclaimed wood. Alex Zbel, 10, also of Millvale hammered nails out of another piece and took the first turn at sawing one under Mr. Stewart’s direction. The two are regulars at the program.

Valerie Skinner, Deco Resources’ sustainability and development coordinator, is co-leader of the program. She said the youths also have made birdhouses, and Skyler showed a visitor a maze she designed and made out of used materials.

“Anthony and I are here to guide them through the process,” Ms. Skinner said.

Another project is coding a robot provided by Carnegie Mellon University as an outreach for programming.

“We offered to work with that, explaining how to code,” Mr. Stewart said.

Equipment for Maker Thursdays was provided by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh’s Mobile Make Shop, a National Maker Corps. Project. The library pays for one person to lead the program.

The library also sponsors a Mini-Makers program for toddlers and preschool children from noon to 3 p.m. Thursdays. It helps the children develop motor skills and an understanding of basic scientific principles such as cause and effect.

Brian Wolovich, the library’s president and co-founder, said the Mini-Makers program also works toward fulfilling the library’s Millvale for Kids Initiative goal of increasing kindergarten readiness and enrollment.

Last week, brothers Ernesto, 6, and Azrael, 4, Weber of Lawrenceville played with Little Bits, putting them together to make circuits. Ernesto said he was generating power from the battery.

“I can turn things on and off,” he said, demonstrating how he could do just that.

His mother said they have circuits at home, and their father is an engineer. It was only their second time at the library, but she plans to return.

Mr. Stewart said he learned about the Maker Thursdays program when he was doing projects at the library related to downspout diversion. The library collects rainwater and uses it in its rain garden.

“We thought it was a good fit for us,” he said.

The Maker Thursdays program from 3 to 6 p.m. will expand to five days a week this summer with the addition of another person funded by National Maker Corps. It will run independently of Maker Thursdays, and all school-aged youth, including teenagers, can participate.

Information: Jason.vey@gmail.com, or 412-822-7081.

Virginia Miller, freelance writer:suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.

First Published: April 3, 2015, 4:00 a.m.