Nanaimo’s Junior Makerspace program organizers hope to lay down a solid foundation with quality building materials.
The startup program is being developed by Literacy Central Vancouver Island for elementary school age children and needs donations of unwanted Lego blocks.
“Some of the projects for STEM training in Junior Maker Space – STEM is science, technology, engineering and math – are Lego-based combined with electronics,” said Rebecca Kirk, Literacy Central Vancouver Island’s chief executive officer.
“You know how expensive Lego is so we’re kind of hoping there might be some people who have Lego left around – their children have left home and they won’t be too distraught over giving it away.”
The after school and weekend program will initially operate from the literacy organization’s Well Read Books store at 19 Commercial St. for children age nine to 12 and eventually look for a larger space as more kids join and younger and older age groups are added.
The program will start by early June.
“It’s going to be one of our new social enterprises,” Kirk said.
People who want to donate Lego to the program can do so by simply dropping donations off at the book store, but please keep building block donations strictly Lego.
Duplo and other brands are the wrong size and will not work with the science projects the group has planned.
For more information, please visit the Literacy Central Vancouver Island website at www.literacycentralvi.org or call 250-754-8988.