BI Maker Faire shows creations with used materials

Blakely Elementary School staff and parent volunteers hosted a festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness June 16 to celebrate the Maker movement and create new things from used materials.

This year’s Mini Maker Faire was spearheaded by STEM teacher Diane Bidell, who said the event started about five years ago to replace the Parent Night and Science Fair.

“It was an evening where our families came in, and they didn’t just visit their own teacher, they went from class to class and got to see projects and participate in them,” Bidell said.

When the COVID pandemic happened, the event changed. “It turned into this outdoor kind of festival, and this year, our theme is all about going green because we did a big plastics project where we tried to reduce plastic usage at Blakely Elementary.”

Blakely students conducted a plastic audit and learned how much plastic they were using that was going into the landfill. Students and teachers shared their report with the Bainbridge Island School District school board and then used the findings to take action to repurpose, recycle, upcycle and create something with a purpose.

“The students are learning to make sandwich wraps with cloth and beeswax because when we did our audit, the most common plastic trash were Ziploc bags and little snack bags. So they decided to do a project to make their own beeswax wraps,” Bidell said.

Thirteen Maker stations were set up around school that included opportunities to make: worm bins, bubble blowers from recycled bottles and plastic mesh, fidget spinners from used compact discs, bird feeders and hats from newspapers, cups and grocery bags.

Art teacher Katie Bonanno interacted with the students, encouraging them to get creative. She wore a birdfeeder hat she made to inspire students. “The kids get to use their imagination to create things and make an art sculpture from collected trash. It’s the gift that keeps on giving,” she said.

Supplies weren’t limited to recycled materials. The Sculp Nature station used materials found in nature to create temporary art. Students used leaves, sticks, rocks and other plant materials.

At the Mission Almost Impossible station on the playground equipment, students ran through and over obstacles to test their strength and agility. The nearby Book-ogami station tested kids’ folding skills; they learned to make origami toys, fortune tellers and bookmarkers.

Kindergarten students created a large letter “B” art piece by painting egg carton shells. The artwork will be displayed in the school hallway. Bidell said Blakely took what it learned from its plastic audit and discovered fun new ways to make something new by “upcycling something that would have just ended up in landfill.”

Hannah Akles and Maple Lombardi make temporary art with materials found in nature.

Blakely Elementary School hosted a festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness June 16 to celebrate the Maker movement and create new things from used materials.