Kristine Legaspi and Crochet Chemistry at the Maker Faire

I fell in love with chemistry and all of its possibilities when my high school chemistry teacher taught each unit by combining fun hobbies and relatable anecdotes with what we were learning in that class. She made me begin to think about chemical terms in the context of my everyday life–when I brush my teeth, when I cook my food, when I turn on my lights. After that, I began dedicating myself to making others love it as much as I do. When I was presented with the chance to participate in the STEM Ambassador Program (STEMAP), I realized that I had been handed the opportunity to do exactly what I had been trying to accomplish. I thought to myself, What is something that I love outside of the lab that I can use to make people love what I love inside the lab? I decided that I would bring chemistry-inspired crochet plushies to the upcoming Orange County Maker Faire, where a community built on curiosity, collaboration, and resourcefulness can come together to show what they’ve made and share what they’ve learned. Countless people attend Maker Faires around the world to partake in the fun of arts and crafts, science, and engineering. There, I knew I would have the chance to interact with many high school students and their families. My hope was that if I present simple chemistry concepts in a cute and fun manner, I might be able to inspire those that are relatively new to chemistry to view the subject in a more amusing way.

To prepare for the engagement event, I designed three quick and fun activities based on elementary chemistry knowledge and prepared materials. First, a glassware-themed activity allowed people to mix their own solutions of water and food coloring, kind of like how a chemist would in the lab. Next, the molecule-themed activity had a couple of molecule modeling kits, which were reminiscent of legos, and people were able to come by and build any molecule they could think of. Finally, the mole-themed activity featured our mascot Monty the mole teaching people just how large the chemist’s unit of mole really is, and let people hold a mole of atoms in just the palm of their hand. Each activity station at the booth was also accompanied by some completed crochet plushies, their corresponding crochet patterns, and a few stickers that I had designed to go with the theme.

I gathered a group to help volunteer at the booth on the day of the Maker Faire: a biologist with a background in business, an analytical chemist, a materials scientist, and two aerospace engineers. The group was chosen to show that even those with a more limited background in chemistry can learn to love it in the context of arts and crafts. We talked with nearly 400 unique people that day, all in different age groups and all from different backgrounds. Young children approached with a sparkle in their eye for the hands-on activities that let their creative spirits run wild. Teenagers were excited to hug and play with the plushies I had made, eager to pick up a pattern and try to make their own at home. Adults asked us about our organization and other outreach activities. We even had a few science teachers come by to share ideas about ways to make learning science more fun and easy for all ages. Every conversation we had was scattered with science and crafts, and everyone walked away from our booth a little more excited about chemistry than when they had arrived.

This experience gave me the chance to extend my scientific ambition to as many impressionable-minded audiences as possible in one setting. I was very happy with the turnout and the engagement we were able to have with numerous attending families at the event. Moving forward, I would love to continue creating these chemistry-themed plushies and stickers to share with the world. However, in addition to the high-traffic setting of a Maker Faire booth, I would also like to host crochet workshops for those that are newer to crocheting. A smaller workshop setting would allow for more interaction between the attendees and the instructors, as well as more in-depth conversations about both crafts and chemistry.

I’d like to give a huge thanks to those that helped me make this dream a reality, especially the Make.co team for hosting the Maker Faire and giving us the space to present our work, Andrew George (Associate Director, STEMAP) for mentoring our cohort to communicate our science simply and effectively, and Victoria Russell (Outreach Coordinator, CSOE) for taking the lead on organizing our arrangement at the Faire.

To lean more about the Maker Faire: visit makerfaire.com

To learn more about CSOE: visit cci.utah.edu

To keep up with Monty the mole: follow @thealchemiecafe on Instagram