I am interested in starting up a Bi-weekly day time Make Ict Event. A toddler activity and craft class based on learning and development . I wanted to call it “Mommy and ME Mondays”. I would like to do it similar to a maker Monday where it is free to members and guests and a small fee for non members. Is this something any one with smaller kids would be interested in. I messaged Kim with my idea and inquired about a budget for the class or how would I go about funding it if I was creating a regular makeict event? I welcome ideas and suggestions
1 Like
I know it sounds crazy, but the easiest way to fund it might be to charge a small fee for the class. (I had some free classes I taught, but people would cancel them on a whim because they were free.)
If you want to, we could try and get some grants to fund the classes as well… but it usually takes some time for the grants to come in. If you want to try that route, I would like to see a spreadsheet with what you think the materials for the classes would cost. Also think about what sorts of folks we want to help. (Example: STEM, women in science and math, people who are disadvantaged in some way, children, veterans, police & fire… those are all good focuses for grant money.)
1 Like
I agree with ladeana, you should charge a small fee. As a member, I would definitely be interested paying like a $5 fee for something like this for my 3 year old daughter to participate in.
Thank you for the feed back. I appreciate it very much. You actually helped. I talked with a few people at ICT last night and they said similar things. I think you are right, just start charging and I can always change it up later.
1 Like
I love the idea, Michelle! Since it’s “mommy and me”, I assume parents would be required to be attend with their children? I’ve inquired about hosting classes for kids too, but I think there’s a liability issue if kids are not accompanied by parents. Don’t quote me on this…you might want to check for sure with the Board.
1 Like
We don’t have a clear answer, we’re looking for an expert in the field to advise us on what to do.
This is not something that requires “EXPERT” advise to be talked to death and over analysed, this is a basic parent /toddler interaction thing where toddlers do simplistic activities such as finger painting with non toxic paint, using chunky plastic cookie cutters to cut out shapes in jello, learn hand eye coordination by stringing noodles on yarn and other things along those lines. Parents are there to help their kids, to mange their kids if they become cranky or need to be changed on top of creating a way parents can get to know other like minded parents. I simply want to create a Mini maker Monday so parents can have a fun routine with their kids while having a chance to get out of the house for a couple of hours while doing something enjoyable with their kids.
2 Likes
I have zero intentions of doing a kid drop off thing. I’m talking about a Mini Maker Monday for parents and toddlers to do activities together during the afternoon. The activities are geared towards teaching toddlers hand eye ordination, simple lessons in touch such as having different objects where they can feel the different textures and then they can match the object to the color. Stringing large noodles on Bright colored yarn. Things along those lines but also a chance for the parent to get out of the house and visit with other like minded parents while interacting with the kids
2 Likes
Yes, the expert advice Malissa was talking about was for kid drop-off activities, not this one, so Michelle there’s nothing in your way.
This is a great idea! When Marc and I first became parents we joined a few cool “mom and me” kinda groups (even though he was a stay at home dad, lol), you get out of the house and get to see some adults while your kids do a simple activity like music or crafts. We had parents as teachers meetups, but that program has been cut back a lot in recent years, all the more reason why we should have something at MakeICT.
Anyway we made lifelong friends with some of the parents we met through those groups and have awesome pictures of our babies together through the years.
Charging a tiny bit would be good but we also have a lot of surplus supplies we could use for this. There’s tons of scrap fabric, yarn, laser shapes, etc.
What do you need from us Michelle? We could set it up like a class if you fill out this form: http://makeict.org/teach-a-class/
1 Like
yeah. Totally love the idea.
I apologize for not being clearer on my response.
So ready to see this happen.I’d be happy to contribute.