Making in New York City

This is part of a series in advance of the upcoming Maker Faire in New York City on September 23rd & 24th. You can view the whole Maker Faire series or look at the related Museum-Education post.

If you have made it to this post and are not a New York City area educator, first let me say, thank you so much for taking the time to read this, but you may find more use in my post about the maker movement and general maker resources. Here you will find makerspaces for students and adults throughout New York City. Outside of New York, there are many more spaces like the Beam Center Camp in New Hampshire. I recommend you search for your local options.

FOR KIDS

Brooklyn

• BK Bots – Park Slope locations – This spot was founded by a former teacher and engineer. They offer Lego Robotics and Arduino coding camps.
• Bricks 4 Kidz – Brooklyn & Manhattan -They multiple locations for with a number of different Lego Robotics activities.
• Brooklyn Robot Foundry – Brooklyn & Manhattan – This is a local chain space for regular classes on weekends and after school and parties. They also offer field trips and teacher training.
• Beam Center– Brooklyn Heights – In addition to hosting the Inventgenuity Festival, they also have a number of school partnerships and apprenticeships available.
• ConstructionKids – Brooklyn Navy Yard – This is a fun space for kids to learn beginning design skills with simple materials with activities like making a wooden robot. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to keep it simple and leave the wiring out of the equation They will, in addition to having building parties, bring a building party to you.
• ConstructionKids – Navy Yard – This is a fun space for kids to learn beginning design skills with simple materials with activities like making a wooden robot. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to keep it simple and leave the wiring out of the equation.
• The Geek Forest – Williamsburg, Brooklyn – They offer after school programs, camps, and workshops for kids and adults to learn about robotics, wearables, and a variety of other electronic and sound creation materials.
• The Makery– Park Slope, Brooklyn – The Makery offers a series of one-off workshops, most appropriate for children ages 10 and older. Prices start at $55 per workshop. Aside from its Park Slope storefront, The Makery has, on occasion, offered pop-up locations at unexpected spots, turning abandoned storefronts into hubs of creative activity.
• Tech Kids Unlimited– Brooklyn Heights – This is a non-profit offers computer science specifically to children with autism spectrum disorder. Financial aid is available.

Manhattan

• Robofun– Upper West Side & All 5 boroughs – They offer long-term courses that are good for STEM and robotics learning on school breaks. They also offer game design, stop-motion, and robotics courses for schools across the city.
• Skill Mill NYC & Dazzling Discoveries– Upper West Side – The Skill Mill is more for older kids or adults and offers advanced training with 3D printers, laser cutters, Arduino, and sewing workshops. They offer a number of weekend evening workshops which are meant for older children and parents to attend together. Dazzling Discoveries is more for making without digital assistance with younger builders using cardboard and other simple materials. They have a number of after-school opportunities.
• SciTech Kids – Midtown East – This program connects kids with courses led by actual scientists. They build robots from low-tech toothbrush racers to more complex programmable bots.
• Skyscraper Museum– Battery Park City – Along with school and camp visits they offer a number of family programs for young architects.
• Zaniac –Upper East Side – They have after-school and camp programs covering Minecraft, tinkering, and Lego robotics.

Queens

• NY Hall of Science– Corona, Queens – This is one of my favorite places in the city to play & learn with students & my own children. The museum has regular science related activities throughout, but their Maker Space regularly rotates activities like design a new amusement park or pulley system with a number of available resources. It’s all part of the regular museum admission. They also host school groups and weekend programs that may even venture into things as complex a s 3D design software.
• iPlayTek– Glendale, Queens – In addition to parties, they offer regular coding, robotics and 3D printing classes for infants through 8th graders.

FOR ADULTS

Most adult makerspaces are collective spots with shared tools and shared knowledge where people can test an idea or create a project with willing participants and testers. For that reason, there is usually a fee for membership, but many spaces also offer open maker evenings for new prospective members.

Alpha One Labs – Brooklyn – This place sets themselves up as a serious research and development lab with a suite of classes and a plethora of shared tools. Some serious makers and Kickstarter projects have begun in this space. You can take a look inside.

657 Meeker Ave., Brooklyn 11222 – info@alphaonelabs.com – 814-422-5372

Fat Cat Fab Lab – Manhattan – This space has open houses every Tuesday where you can come and get your maker fix. They’ll teach you how to use a laser cutter or master circuitry. It is a friendly and welcoming space though difficult to find.

224 W. 4th St., Manhattan 10014, 2nd floor – info@fatcatfablab.org

Genspace – Brooklyn – This isn’t a standard makerspace, but they are a great placed have classes to build your own bioprinter and incubator.  They are more like a community laboratory for science enthusiast looking to explore neuroscience and DNA barcoding, or some slime mold.

33 Flatbush Avenue, 7th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11215; info@genspace.org

The Gowanus Studio Space Brooklyn – This space has a large workshop, private studios and an exhibition space which makes it a great space for artisan makers. There are power tools a plenty, but most focus on the lithography, textiles, and silkscreening.

166 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215 – info@gowanusstudio.org

Hack Manhattan – Manhattan – They proclaim themselves Manhattan’s first public Makerspace, but like Ray’s Pizza, it’s hard to tell. They are a quirky venue that brews their own beer and have radio club. They have access to a lot of the big tools you expect for a serious makerspace.

137 W. 14th St., Manhattan 10011, 2nd Flr. info@hackmanhattan.com

NYC Resistor – Brooklyn – This space has been a mainstay for a decade and was the starting space for some maker entrepreneurs like Makerbot, Open Source Hardware Association, as well as GenSpace mentioned above. There are plenty of shared machinery like laser cutters, 3D printers, routers, lathes, and electronics components.  Check out their full class listing.

87 3rd Ave., Brooklyn 11217, 4th Flr. contact@nycresistor.com

Staten Island Makerspace – This is one that has the space for a great facility. They have metalworking and woodworking studios, computer and scanners, 3D printing, milling, and welding. This is a space geared more towards entrepreneurs but hobbyists are welcome.

410 Front St., Stapleton 10304 – db@simakerspace.com – 718-273-3951