I don’t know much about Dee, the creator of this fine crustacean, but I do know that she is a magician with polymer clay. Snakes, bugs and Pokemon are her muses.
Author: MarjeeC
Friday Round-Up: Give ’em STEAM
Some of you may have heard of the acronym STEM: Science Technology, Engineering and Math. A respectable, geeky term in it’s own right, but probably a little stuffy for us over here at GeekCraft.
Recently, however, there has been a lot of talk about STEAM, which takes the stuffiness of STEM and adds an “A” for arts, injecting all sorts of coolness and excitement. In all seriousness, advocates of STEAM argue that arts provide school-aged children with a lot of skills valued in the world like design, problem solving, creativity, stick-to-it-ivness, etc., It is in that spirit of STEAM that I wanted to take this Friday round-up to focus on activities that you can do with young people in your life that promote this important intersection of art, science, engineering, and craft:
First up, just in time for those of you celebrating Easter, we’ve got egg geodes from Tinkerlabs. It’s some good chemistry (my favorite) and can lead to a nice conversation about geology. AND..and…it is colorful and fun.
Star Wars Crochet Ships: Amigurumi Patterns
I’m mystified by people who can crochet good amigurumis, doubly mystified by those who can compose their own patterns (what are you, a wizard or something) and triply impressed by those who then have the patience to record and write those patterns down. So what I’ve got for you today is just all POWPOWPOW.
MysteriousCats sells various amigurumi patterns via their Etsy shop so that if you are the sort of person who prefers to spend time on that first POW, M’Cats has you covered on the later two. 
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- Find the patterns on
Super Meatboy plushie
So this adorable Meatboy plushie was submitted and I was torn.
On the one hand, I’m a vegetarian, can I endorse this plushie?
On the other hand, I love love love and want to support independant game makers…can I not endorse this plushie?
Well, you saw those three loves in there. That tells you what you need to know about which side won. And I suppose he’s more than meat. He’s a boy. And he’s super.
If you love video games and you have not yet seen Indie Game: The Movie, it is available on Netflix streaming and I highly recommend it. You’ll get a great look at the behind the scenes love and care that went into the creation of Super Meatboy and your heart….oh my goodness your heart….it will be so warmed.
The plushie proper comes to us via MelloReflections.
P.S. Just a quick plug for a personal project! I’ve got a book pitch in as a finalist for pitchapalooza, the “American Idol” for book pitches. There is a “fan favorite” aspect to the contest and I’m in there (look for Marjee!) for a novel I’m working on called Nightmares of Neverwas. It’s a book about nightmares and elite demon professors and all sorts of good stuff. If that is your bag, consider voting for me. If it isn’t, give an upvote to one of the other, budding, talented writers over there!
Mario Paper Craft
Hi Geek Crafters! I’m writing you from the fair city of Austin today, in town for SxSWEDU. If you are an Austonian and have any recommendations for great vegan places to check out, tweet them at me.
In the mean time, let’s talk about papercraft! Specifically, this magnetic SuperMario papercraft below (do you see the sneaky friend visiting us from a different game, by the way?).
If you are more of a Bowser kind of person, there is a papercraft for you as well. Laboratory 424 has step-by-step instructions instructions if you want to try your hand at this project. An important caveat: this project may not be ideal for young–ish children, as the neodymium magnets are intense, and they can seriously pinch little fingers.
Geekery for while you are crafting
This week I’ve got something a little meta: geeky tools for being crafty. QueInteresante makes crayons but instead of dumb ol’ names like “green” or “electric bannana” these crayons are named after chemicals that will make that color.
My B.S. was in chemistry and my undergrad thesis used color spectroscopy so this got me right in the nostalgia. I’m also old enough to have had the kind of chemistry set that could have actually caused some harm if one were motivated enough.
At any rate, here is hoping there are a few geeky kids or adults out there who agree that these are pretty amazing.
