​I hope you enjoyed assembling the Skylion Automaton kit that I designed in our Open Lab at Mark Day School which was the precursor to our Creativity Lab.  If you found it to be challenging, that was intentional.  Tinkering requires patience and perseverance as well as creative problem-solving.  If you still need assistance, try watching the assembly video below.

The entire kit was laser-cut from cardboard and baltic birch plywood.  As with many of the things that our students and teachers design in our Creativity Lab, it took several iterations of trial-and-error to come up with something that was flat, used only reusable and recyclable materials, and needed no glue or tape to assemble.

You might be surprised to learn that this type of "kit" is not typically something students work on at Mark Day School.  We prefer to offer students open-ended challenges whenever possible.  These have included building anemometers to study wind speed, using marble runs to explain mathematical line slopes, and creating working microscopes from laser-cut wooden parts and lenses.  To learn about our work in the Creativity Lab, visit https://www.markdayschool.org/about-us/explore-our-campus/creativity-lab.

— Tatian Greenleaf
     Design, Tinkering and Technology Integrator
     Mark Day School
​