Shop sales
Changemaker Spotlight: Karyn Bashore
Changemaker Spotlight: Karyn Bashore
Summary ✨
Bring inclusive, hands-on learning to your school by challenging your students to build a DIY collaborative sensory wall. Using upcycled cardboard and reusable tools, educators can easily transform ordinary boxes into interactive play structures that spark curiosity, foster teamwork, and support focus. This immersive STEM/STEAM project provides an exceptional framework for elementary students to develop empathy-driven design skills and real-world spatial reasoning. Ready to launch an engaging design challenge in your classroom or makerspace? Equip your young innovators with the essential starter packs, reusable connectors, and child-safe tools available on the Makedo Shop.
By integrating sustainable crafting with real-world design, educators can create a welcoming, calming environment for all students, including those in Autistic Support programs. Simple classroom strategies—such as breaking the build into sections to give students direct ownership—ensure your project runs seamlessly from start to finish. Discover how purposeful tinkering can redefine inclusivity in your school and inspire your students to build a more collaborative future, one cardboard creation at a time.
Meet Karyn Bashore, an elementary librarian and STEAM advisor who is redefining what it means to build an inclusive classroom. To celebrate Autism Awareness Week, Karyn and her 3rd-5th grade students built a Makedo Sensory Walk at the library entrance. This sensory walk was designed to provide a calm, sensory-rich space for students to safely explore in their own school. The result? An imaginative, authentic, immersive space that invites every student- especially those in the Autistic Support program- to step in, explore, and play!
Sensory Walk Challenge
Using Makedo tools, Karyn’s students dove into a world of tinkering by experimenting with movement, texture, and interaction. They tested, iterated, and reimagined their ideas until ordinary cardboard became something extraordinary: a safe, welcoming haven for their peers in the Autistic Support program.
Want to challenge your own students?
Invite students to team up and transform recycled materials and upcycled cardboard into a lively, collaborative sensory wall at a fraction of the cost of a professionally made wall. With a bit of imagination and a handful of Makedo tools, your class will build an interactive DIY play structure that sparks curiosity, supports focus, and creates a calming space for those who need it most. All while bringing hands-on creativity to life for your whole class!
Key Takeaways for your Classroom
- Save foam packaging: Encourage kids to place cardboard on top of a piece of foam before using the poke tool, giving the tool some space when it comes out the other side. Plus, it makes a really cool popping sound when you poke a hole!
- Build Big: Remind kids to build bigger, Makedo works best at larger scales!
- Need cardboard? Costco and similar department stores have large sheets of cardboard they give away for FREE - just ask! You will need A LOT of cardboard.
- Cereal boxes: Add bright details and a splash of colour.
- Break the build into sections: Assign teams to different components, so students have more space to create, fewer interruptions, and a greater sense of ownership over their work.
What's next?
Look out for Karyn’s upcoming projects, in which she plans to teach 3D structural techniques such as supports, braces, and tabs to help her students build bigger and stronger.
As a proud Makedo Changemaker, Karyn is part of a global community of innovative educators who champion sustainable, hands-on creativity and make a real impact in their schools. Her sensory walk is just one example of how purposeful tinkering can foster empathy and inclusion.
Ready to become a champion for creativity in your own school community? Explore how you can join the Makedo Changemaker Program to connect with inspiring educators like Karyn, share your classroom snapshots, and unlock exclusive resources to elevate your students' making journey!
