diy

[diy]

🚨 ART LEVEL: BEGINNER 🚨

So you wanna draw, but your stick figures look like they've seen things? 👁️👄👁️

No worries, this guide’s got you. Learn how to teach yourself drawing without any “talent” required: https://www.diy.org/blogs/teach-yourself-drawing

 You’ve got the imagination. Let’s give it a pencil. ✏️

[diy]

🧩 Would You Rather...but make it kid-approved. 🧸💭

No more weird hypotheticals about ducks and oversized rodents. These safe & thoughtful “Would You Rather” questions are designed just for kids, funny, creative, and even a little brain-boosting.

🧠 Great for car rides 🎉 Perfect for parties 👨‍👩‍👧 Fun for the whole fam

Dive into the full list here: https://www.diy.org/blogs/would-you-rather-questions-for-kids

[diy]

Get into the swing of spring with these DIY challenges!

Now that we are officially into spring, meaning parents are beginning to look for stand-out summer activities for their kids. We thought we’d step in and give you some ideas on how to stay inspired during time off from school.

Springtime is when kids can explore new activities that will allow them to be both stimulated  but also able to relax. Summer at DIY.org is going to be fun-filled and loaded with new challenges.

Here are some DIY challenges to keep an eye on during your school break:

1. Let’s kickstart with an easy one: collecting recycled materials. This is an environmentally-conscious challenge that will help children become more aware of the waste produced by all of us in our everyday lives. 

2. You can arrange an indoor garden. (Spoiler alert: You’ll get your hands dirty.) As you may know, the presence of plants in our living space makes us happier and more productive!

3. We welcome you to take a walk in the woods. The key to this challenge is to pay attention to  everything you see, hear, smell and even taste. Take us with you on a video journey and narrate all the senses that are stimulated by the world around you.

4. This challenge is quite literally in the sun! Simply take interesting photographs with a shadow as a subject – could be your shadow or others’.

5. A tipi is a cone-shaped shelter that historically uses animal skins and wooden poles, but modern tipis can be made with tarps, canvas, or bedsheets. Let’s build one! 

6. How about building a solar cooker this summer? It’s a lot easier (read: fun) than it sounds. All you need isa large enough cardboard box and aluminum foil.

[diy]

Have you checked out these science challenges yet?

We think all of our challenges on DIY are worth trying but what makes our science challenges so special, you ask? While having fun you’re also understanding the building blocks to many scientific principles - and that’s pretty COOL!

This week, we’re sharing with you some of our favorite science challenges:

1. Let’s begin with How to Create a Parachute – it’s quite simple (as long as your parachute flies in the end)! 

2. The best way to know if an object conducts electricity is to NOT touch it with your bare hands. Here’s where an electricity tester comes in handy. Try building one!

3. Want to see like an insect? Possibly the easiest science challenge on the list shows you how: Build compound eyes out of straws.

4. Learn how to build a camera lens – the way you experiment with photography will change after creating this! 

5. How about transforming energy into sound? Build a noisemaker!

We hope you have fun. Don’t forget to share your projects with us!

[diy]

You can now subscribe to DIY at only $4.99/month ✅ ! Here’s why?

We started DIY in 2012 with a mission to enable any kid, anywhere to learn any skill. It’s amazing to see how thousands of DIYer kids have benefited already – picking up something as basic as drawing a straight line to something as complex as creating electricity out of potatoes.

This constant drive to teach and learn something new has become our DNA – this is the core of DIY. However, of late, we realized that there is so much more that we can do to push the very frontiers of DIY. For starters, we want more and more kids to become a part of this awesome community and make the most of this platform. And we don’t want parents to think twice about spending on their child’s development. 

To make this happen, we’ve substantially brought down our monthly subscription fee from $19 to only $4.99 (access for 1 kid) and also added an annual subscription for the same at $49.99. That’s right! Similarly, we’ve also dropped our monthly family subscription fee to only $7.99* (access for 2-4 kids) and added an annual family subscription at $79.99. 

We believe this collective price drop will go a long way in encouraging more parents to keep kids enrolled in DIY.  

Apart from this much needed change to the price, we are also working on restructuring our content. Young DIYers will start enjoying the following features in the coming days:

Many more skills and challenges than ever before

New courses are being added such as dance, yoga, chess, vocals, etc. 

A more active community with more Mods (moderators)

Our collective aim is to boost this enriching ecosystem that’s been developing for almost a decade now. And with these positive changes in motion, we’re sure we’ll be reaching out to a much larger audience of young, enthusiastic kids in the near future. 

With DIY – any kid, anywhere, can learn any skill. For the love of learning! 

*only the family monthly plan is available on iOS App Store

[diy]

As you may already know, we run two amazing learning communities for kids, DIY.org and JAM.com.

They share a lot in common:

Both support kids in the exact same age range (6-14)

Both teach kids through hands-on projects

Both provide a kind, safe environment for peer-to-peer learning (our staff mods help keep it that way)

Both have badges and portfolios

Today we merged JAM and DIY and the combined platform is called DIY.org. At DIY.org your kids will have access to:

12 in-depth courses for our most popular topics like drawing, photography, animation, inventing, and science.

Over 2,000 projects spanning 120 different skills, many of them STEAM-related.

More than 1,000 videos that we produced ourselves to show kids step-by-step how to complete select projects.

We know that many of you will have questions about the merger. Here’s some answers to start:

What will happen to my portfolio? All photos, videos and awesome posts will still be there for both JAM and DIY kids.

What will happen to my comment history? All comments, likes and thanks your kids have given or received will still be there.

Do I have to do anything to access DIY.org? If you are a JAM family simply login as usual. If you are a legacy DIY member, please check your email (be sure to check SPAM folder) for a message from me containing a link to activate your account. Don't see the email? Just login to DIY.org using your DIY credentials to get started.

Why did you choose DIY for the name? DIY stands for “do it yourself” and it reflects our mission to help every kid have the confidence to learn anything.

Why are you merging? We are committed to providing a safe online community for kids without ads (and without selling data to advertisers). We can’t afford to maintain two separate platforms.

If you have any further questions, we are here to answer them at help@diy.org.

Thank you for supporting DIY!

[diy]

ENCYCLOPEDIA PICTURA and @cartoonnetwork present:

✨🐯DIY🐸✨

⚡️VOLUME ONE⚡️

watch here: https://youtu.be/48siiGOf5BA

[diy]

all this week on @cartoonnetwork

one minisode everyday of our new project ✨🐯DIY🐸✨

today’s is 🐛HARNESSING THE EARTHWORM🐛

starring charline yi + starlee kine + stephen tobolowsky

watch here: https://youtu.be/USWv8T7mHuc

created by isaiah saxon + sean hellfritsch

inspired by the kids of DIY.org and made at ENCYCLOPEDIA PICTURA by a small team of 10 people. 

[diy]

STAFF PICK 🏆

Draco Malfoy Perler Bead Art

Made by TonTR1 

[diy]

STAFF PICK 🏆

I made a cleaning Robot🤖

Made by Octagon Robot

[diy]

New Skill: Pizzamaker

Pizzamakers create masterpieces on canvases of crust. We combine piles of ingredients and lots of dough to feed our friends and family. We're making the world better one slice at a time.

Check out all of the challenges including:

Make Dough from Scratch

Make Art with Toppings

Make the Ultimate Cheese Pizza

Hack a Pizza Box

Make a Dessert Pizza

Build a Pizza Machine

And grab the embroidered patch for $4 in the DIY Market!

[diy]

How does animator @juliapott come up with original ideas for her animations? In this clip, she explains the inspiration behind her film Belly, and how that became its own unique story. In her JAM online course for ages 8-14, she helps kids develop their own original ideas into animated shorts. 

Julia’s Animate with Cartoon Network course is FREE for kids who register before August 31, 2016. Final animations that are completed by August 31st, 2016 may be chosen to be shown on @cartoonnetwork​’s platforms.

JAM online courses are brought to you by DIY.org! Learn more and sign up for free for ages 8-14: Animate with Cartoon Network

[diy]

How do animators animate? Adventure Time’s @juliapott explains keyframing and much more in our Animate with Cartoon Network course.

The course is FREE for kids 8-14 who register before August 31, 2016. Kids who complete their final animation by August 31st, 2016 have an opportunity for their work to be shown on Cartoon Network’s platforms.

JAM online courses are brought to you by DIY.org! Learn more and sign up for ages 8-14: Animate with Cartoon Network

[diy]

How does animator and Adventure Time staff writer @juliapott write a story? Kids 8-14 can find out in our Animate with Cartoon Network course.

The course is FREE for kids who register before August 31, 2016. Kids who complete their final animation by August 31st, 2016 have an opportunity to be shown on Cartoon Network’s platforms.

JAM courses are brought to you by DIY.org! We help parents give their kids good screen time, and we help kids get really good at something they love… like animation, illustration, inventing, cooking, singing, Minecraft, and more.

Learn more and sign up for ages 8-14: Animate with Cartoon Network

[diy]

Kids don't have to wait to get their dream job. In this JAM online course, kids 8-14 can write, direct, & produce their own animated short with help of Adventure Time writer and professional animator Julia Pott.

The course is FREE for kids who register before August 31, 2016. Kids who complete their final animation by August 31st, 2016 have an opportunity to be shown on Cartoon Network’s platforms.

JAM courses are brought to you by DIY.org! We help parents give their kids good screen time, and we help kids get really good at something they love... like animation, illustration, inventing, cooking, singing, Minecraft, and more.

Learn more and sign up for ages 8-14: Animate with Cartoon Network

[diy]

Introducing JAM Online Courses for Kids. JAM courses were created to help kids get skills they can’t get in school, and allow them to learn what they love (and love what they learn).

We don’t lecture kids at JAM. Instead, we invite kids to invent their own solutions within a safe and inspiring kid community. With 100s of hours of hands-on activities, our quests create a perfect circle of trying, failing, collaborating, and growing. Kids 8-14 can both learn from and teach each other in subjects that they love... like animation, illustration, inventing, cooking, singing, Minecraft, and more.

JAM from DIY.org!  Browse our courses...

[diy]

The Far-Out Summit Where Geniuses Learn to Build Starships

TO GET TO the spaceship convention I have to go to Chattanooga. To a former train depot once called Terminal Station, a beaux-arts building downtown, which was built in a time when trains were the apex of industry—the smartest, fastest, most high-tech way to move through space—and when stations were elegant ports of call. It has a soaring dome, and the bathrooms are naturally lit through stained glass.

Terminal Station closed in 1970, not quite a year after Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. The building reopened in 1973, four months after the Apollo program ended, as the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel. The new owners put a neon train on the roof, the concourse beneath the freestanding dome became a lobby, and the baggage room became a dining hall. Passenger cars were moored to the rails and refurbished as luxury suites. The iron horse engine became a thing for guests to climb aboard for selfies. The outbuildings and rail yards sprouted a gift shop, a pizza parlor, a comedy club, an indoor jungle-themed swimming pool, and an outdoor doughnut-shaped swimming pool, among other things.

Chattanooga is not quite the regional transportation hub it was in the latter golden age of rail travel, and in fact these days is kind of a pain in the ass to get to. So after 12 hours of planes, delays, and courtesy shuttles, I drop my baggage in my room and go looking for a drink. (read more)

Source: Wired