No Images? Click here Exciting Things Are Happening This Year!With the first half of the Curiosity Lab's inaugural school year in the rear view mirror, focus is shifting to planning for what's to come. After-school offerings through the Enrichment Center are growing, new programs for youth and their families are being dreamed up, and planning for next year's new Mobile Curiosity Lab is well underway! It is an exciting time to be here at Breakwater, and thanks to the support of all of you, we are able to serve more and more learners across southern Maine. Tinker, Tinker, Tinker In the day school's popular tinkering classes, which helped inspire the Curiosity Lab itself, marble run tracks are all the rage right now. Led by tinkering teachers Shaun Aylward and Sari Lindauer, students are challenged to experiment with designs of all kinds, using a variety of loose parts to get their marbles from point A to point B. The possibilities are limitless and with each new design, students discover something new. While the excitement of new challenges fills the air, so does the sweet scent of wood being shaped and carved as students continue to experiment with woodcarving tools from today and long ago, honing their skills and deepening their interest in this timeless craft of the hands and the mind. The Learning Never Stops After school, the Curiosity Lab opens up to the community and children from schools across the greater Portland area are invited in to tinker, experiment, design, and create in a variety of classes through Breakwater's robust Enrichment Center offerings. Currently, students are developing their wood-crafting skills on the lathe, designing and constructing different styles of arcade games using loose parts and Raspberry Pi, and pursuing curious endeavors of their own design in the increasingly popular Open Studio class. Sessions Four and Five are shaping up to be just as exciting with new classes and curiosity-driven learning experiences currently in development, so stay tuned! Not Just For the Kids... Next month launches the first of many opportunities to come for the grown-ups to get some time to play around in the Lab! On February 7th we're hosting a DIY Toy-making workshop where parents and teachers will explore the magic of Story Stones and take a crack at crafting a unique collection, custom designed for the children in their lives. On March 7th, DIY Toy-making part two will feature wool felt as the medium for hand-crafted toys using a variety of techniques and designs. On March 21st the doors to the Lab will open up to adult learners once again for an exciting opportunity to explore the many tools that children at Breakwater use in the Lab, and how to maintain the balance between safety and risk when it comes to children using real tools. Learn more, and sign up here! Every Little Bit Helps Thanks to your generosity and support, new programs are continually being developed, the Lending Library collections are growing, and plans for the Mobile Curiosity Lab are on track. But there is always more work to be done to optimize our physical space, and reach more and more learners of all ages in the pursuit of supporting curiosity across Southern Maine. Your charitable donations help make all of this possible. Please consider donating today to help grow and spread our mission even further. Until next time, stay curious! The JWK Curiosity Lab |