[Book Review] Maker Dad

Maker Dad : Lunch Box Guitars, Antigravity Jars, and 22 Other Incredibly Cool Father-Daughter DIY Projects / Mark Frauenfelder
As the editor in chief of MAKE magazine, Mark Frauenfelder has spent years combing through DIY books, but he’s never been able to find one with geeky projects he can share with his two daughters. Maker Dad is the first DIY book to use cutting-edge (and affordable) technology in appealing projects for fathers and daughters to do together. These crafts and gadgets are both rewarding to make and delightful to play with. What’s more, Maker Dad teaches girls lifelong skills—like computer programming, musicality, and how to use basic hand tools—as well as how to be creative problem solvers. The book’s twenty-four unique projects include:
• Drawbot, a lively contraption that draws abstract patterns all by itself
• Ice Cream Sandwich Necklace
• Friendstrument, an electronic musical instrument girls can play with friends
• Longboard
• Antigravity Jar
• Silkscreened T-Shirt
• Retro Arcade Video Game
• Host a Podcast
• Lunchbox Guitar
• Kite Video Camera
Innovative and groundbreaking, Maker Dad will inspire fathers to geek out with their daughters and help girls cultivate an early affinity for math, science, and technology.

When picking up any sort of book with a title like Maker Dad I always have a little twinge of "why do any of the genders of the participants involved matter?"  That being said, Mark Frauenfelder certainly has every right to call his book Maker Dad as it is all about maker projects he did with his daughters, in addition to being a delightful book.

Maker Dad is filled with a fantastic collection of well explained projects that would appeal to a wide range of interests.  I can't wait to try out some of these project ideas on my own, and see how they can be adapted to the library setting (particularly helping kids learn to create games using Scratch, I've been wanting to do some programming activities for ages).  Great book for anyone looking for fun projects to do with their children.

Advanced Reader Copy copy courtesy of Netgalley; differences may exist between uncorrected galley text and the final edition.

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