Level 1: Maker Foundations
Build twelve connected projects while learning to measure, fabricate, join, test, diagnose, and revise physical designs.
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Lesson 1 · Build a Maker Parts Tray: The 3 mm Challenge
Turn one flat light-card blank into a useful parts tray. First, make a small calibration part; then use the same reference-edge method to lay out, fold, tape, measure, and test the tray. The independent challenge is a divider designed for a real group of parts.
- Readiness: approximately age 10+, with an adult available for preflight and tool judgment
- Planned time: 70–90 minutes, which has not yet been family validated
- Purchase status: do not buy for this Lesson; gather suitable materials already on hand and list anything missing
The planned Level arc
| Lessons | Engineering work |
|---|---|
| 1–3 | Measure accurately; compare card structures; use folds to change stiffness |
| 4–6 | Compare joints; build repeatable parts with a jig; tune clearance for movement |
| 7–8 | Align a shaft and bushing; build and test an adjustable ramp |
| 9–12 | Define a useful need; plan the riskiest test; build; run user and regression tests; defend a revision |
Later Lessons will become Family Pilots as their complete instructions, safety boundaries, diagrams, and minimum release evidence are ready. A family does not have to finish an earlier Lesson before the next page can be authored, but the student should follow the sequence because each build assumes prior skills and artifacts.
Parent role across Level 1
The parent prepares the environment, demonstrates only the next tool on scrap, and takes over an operation when stock or a tool is unsafe for the learner. The parent does not make design decisions, redraw ordinary crooked lines, or quietly repair the project.
Use the 7 / 12 / 20 minute rule:
- after about 7 minutes stuck, ask for the target and the last known-good checkpoint;
- after about 12 minutes without a test, require one measurement or isolated test; and
- after about 20 minutes without progress, stop the build, restore a known-good task, and record what blocked it.
Materials approach
The Level has a proposed bill of materials, but the Family Pilot workflow separates authoring from purchasing. Each Lesson will identify the exact materials needed for that session. Gather what is already available, verify compatibility at the named checkpoint, and place missing items on an approval list. Do not treat the roadmap as a shopping recommendation.