Holistic play-based learning opportunities in Brisbane

SCHOOL INCURSIONS, MAKERCLUBS, KIDS PARTIES & MORE

Creating future thinkers and makers, one child at a time.

Founded by two local mums with backgrounds in Industrial Design, Art and Environmental Science, the philosophy behind Make&Meld is about providing kids with opportunities for learning across disciplines – melding creative arts and design with principles of science, engineering and maths – all within a fun and relaxed environment where kids get to learn by doing. We offer creative design and maker workshops for kids of all ages (as well as the occasional adult workshop). Our workshops inspire creative thinking and problem solving while teaching the skills required to use basic tools, exploring sustainable materials and having fun in a safe environment.

Participants get dirty, use their hands, use their brains and have fun!

Our Mission

Give kids the opportunity to learn by doing, to get hands-on using tools and techniques, to explore the use of materials, to get creative, to build confidence and to give holistic, play-based learning opportunities.

Incursions

Make&Meld bring workshops to you and provide Incursions to suit the needs of your group.

This includes, but is not limited to, Primary Schools, Kindergartens, Daycares, Vacation Care and OSHC as well as Festivals, Community Events and Shopping Centres.

Based in Brisbane, Make + Meld gives kids in school the opportunity to experience hands-on, play-based learning

School Incursions

FULLY CUSTOMISED TO COMPLEMENT THE NEEDS OF YOUR SCHOOL

Make&Meld provide engaging hands-on incursions for Prep to Grade 6 that align with the Australian Curriculum and QCAA. Our program links with the curriculum over a range of learning areas including Science, Design and Technologies, Mathematics, Arts, English and HASS.

Based in Brisbane, Make + Meld gives kids in Kindy the opportunity to experience hands-on, play-based learning

Kindy Incursions

EARLY YEARS LEARNING FRAMEWORK ALIGNED INCURSION PROGRAM

Our Early Years Maker Workshops focus on developing skills and confidence and getting kids hands-on using simple tools to build their own creations.

All our workshops are designed to extend children's learning and align with the Early Years Learning Framework. Programs can be customised to meet the particular learning needs of your group.

Based in Brisbane, Make + Meld gives kids in OSHC the opportunity to experience hands-on, play-based learning

OSHC Incursions

FULLY CUSTOMISED OUT OF SCHOOL HOUR CARE

Are you looking for an engaging, unique and fun-filled OSHC / Vacation Care Incursion?

We'll bring our workshop to your centre and get kids hands-on using real tools to make their own unique creation. From Woodworking to sewing, we've got an activity to excite and engage.

Afterschool Makerclubs

Join one of our Afterschool Maker-clubs to give your child an opportunity for practical hands-on learning while using a range of tools and materials and making STEM, woodwork and craft based projects they will love!

We bring our Mobile Makerspace to your school to teach and engage your children.

Schools and businesses we’ve worked with

  • West End State School
  • Our Lady of Dolours
  • Yeronga State School
  • State Library of QLD
  • Queensland Museum
  • Brisbane City
  • St James
  • Indooroopilly State School

Benefits for kids involved in our program

  • Design thinking - glasses

    Design thinking

    Make&Meld's workshops introduce kids to the design-thinking approach giving them skills to problem solve and to come up with creative and innovative ideas and to bring those ideas to life. Using a creative lens for approaching problems, participants will design and create innovative, sustainable and user-friendly products or artworks that they can take home and use to make their life, or the life of others, more enjoyable.

  • Holistic learning - hat

    Holistic Learning

    The engaging and innovative workshops provide a great opportunity for kids to build on cross-curricular holistic learning and to develop skills such as critical thinking, creativity and collaboration while having fun in a supportive environment.

  • Steam - tools

    Steam

    Make&Meld's creative design workshops link art and creative thinking with principles of science, technology, engineering and maths. They make learning fun and provide opportunities to use knowledge and skills in ways that are practical, hands-on and applicable to the real world.

  • Sustainability - house

    Sustainability

    With a focus on environmentally responsible use of materials and inquiry into the environmental and social cost of resources, workshops aim to cultivate environmental ethics and explore waste reduction and other environmental issues through the arts.

  • Creativity - celebration

    Creativity

    Make&Meld's workshops inspire participants to tap into their creativity, to play and to develop hands-on creative design and making skills.

  • Engagement

    When participating in our programs kids tend to get completely engaged, get into the flow and live in the present moment.

Kids Workshops and Wood Work

MakerFun workshops at Make&Meld come in a variety of shapes and sizes. While we like to explore a range of Handicrafts and other essential hand and maker skills at Make&Meld, we tend to focus a lot of our workshops around wood.

Why we incorporate lots of woodworking as part of our Maker Fun projects? 

  • Working with wood and and using hand-tools allows children to get hands-on practical skills that other mediums don't offer. Our workshops provide an opportunity for kids to use real tools in a safe learning environment. Children will learn how to use tools such as saws, hammers and hand drills under the guidance of trained instructors.

  • Working with tools helps children to solve problems and to learn new skills while also providing high and sustained levels of engagement which captures the hearts and minds of both boys and girls. 

  • Kids get the satisfaction of building something themselves, developing confidence in their own abilities, giving them a sense of accomplishment and encouraging independence and perseverance. There is nothing better than seeing a child exude confidence as they exclaim "I made it myself".

  • Children develop hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness while understanding how to use tools in a safe manner. It is also a great way to develop both gross and fine motor skills.

  • Both girls and boys also gain a sense of power and strength as they become more skillful and confident in their own abilities.

  • STEAM focused learning through play. Kids get the opportunity to be makers, tinkerers, designers and engineers. Our workshops provide a great opportunity for kids to tap into their creativity and to develop hands-on making skills.

We watch, we show, we encourage but we seldom take over.
Yes working with paper and art helps children to become creative - but it doesn't offer the all important STEM Learning that come from construction and tinkering.

What is STEM Learning?

Put simply STEM is an approach to learning that links  Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics to provide a holistic and enquiry based educational learning approach. More recently the emphasis on the importance of Arts and creativity to that equation is gaining momentum—stretching the acronym to STEAM.

At Make&Meld our workshops are designed so that kids get to have hands-on fun making and creating whist developing all important skills and deriving learning across disciplines!! - measuring , movement and forces, engineering and construction, and learning about the sustainable use of materials.

Based in Brisbane, Make+Meld offer wood working workshops for kids as part of their STEM learning