We start from the very beginning — what a volt is, what a battery actually does — and build up, part by part, hooking up small solar panels, lights, batteries, and motors.

Along the way you'll get comfortable with a multimeter, measuring voltage, current, and resistance for yourself. Nothing is a black box: by the end you'll understand every wire.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14)

Bring

Just yourself — tools and parts are provided.

When

Wed · Aug 19 · 10 AM–1 PM

A friendly first build: a wooden toolbox to carry your tools. We'll cover measuring, sawing, drilling, and joining — the core hand-tool skills — on a project you can finish in a morning.

You'll take your finished toolbox home.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14). Good for first‑timers.

Bring

Closed‑toe shoes. Tools and wood are provided.

When

Thu · Aug 20 · 10 AM–1 PM

Part jam session, part workshop: we build simple instruments from everyday materials, then play them together.

No musical background needed — the point is to make sound, make something, and have fun doing it as a group.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

All ages welcome (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14).

Bring

An instrument if you have one — otherwise we'll make some.

When

Fri · Aug 21 · 10 AM–1 PM

Step up to a sturdy, portable workbench for the mobile woodshop — we'll cut, assemble, and finish it together.

A bigger build; nice if you've done a little woodworking before, but beginners are welcome too.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14). Good for first‑timers.

Bring

Closed‑toe shoes. Tools and wood are provided.

When

Tue · Aug 25 · 10 AM–1 PM

We start from the very beginning — what a volt is, what a battery actually does — and build up, part by part, hooking up small solar panels, lights, batteries, and motors.

Along the way you'll get comfortable with a multimeter, measuring voltage, current, and resistance for yourself. Nothing is a black box: by the end you'll understand every wire.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14)

Bring

Just yourself — tools and parts are provided.

When

Wed · Aug 26 · 10 AM–1 PM

A walking session: we learn the names of the trees and plants around us — how to tell them apart, and what people have used them for over time.

We'll also learn to read and use maps of where we are, and start making our own. Bring your curiosity and comfortable shoes.

Where

Umbrello Hay Field, Lincoln, MA
Meeting spot sent when you register.

Who

All ages welcome (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14).

Bring

A backpack, comfortable walking shoes, water, and weather‑appropriate clothing.

When

Thu · Aug 27 · 10 AM–1 PM

We'll use simple needle-and-thread binding techniques to make small zines and booklets you can take home.

Along the way you'll learn how to lay out your material so zines are easy to print — and easy to share.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

All ages welcome (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14). No experience needed.

Bring

Just yourself — paper, needles, thread, and printing materials are provided.

When

Fri · Aug 28 · 10 AM–1 PM

A walking session: we learn the names of the trees and plants around us — how to tell them apart, and what people have used them for over time.

We'll also learn to read and use maps of where we are, and start making our own. Bring your curiosity and comfortable shoes.

Where

Umbrello Hay Field, Lincoln, MA
Meeting spot sent when you register.

Who

All ages welcome (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14).

Bring

A backpack, comfortable walking shoes, water, and weather-appropriate clothing.

When

Thu · Sep 10 · 10 AM–1 PM

Learn how to build a cargo trailer for a bicycle from two ten-foot lengths of half-inch electrical conduit, a pair of recycled 16″ children's bike wheels, four laser-cut steel dropouts and a handful of bolts — about $40 of parts, and it carries real loads.

We start with the one real skill in it: bending conduit, which is easy once someone shows you and unforgiving if nobody does. Then we drill, bolt and square up the frame, mount the wheels on the dropouts, and fit the hitch — a short length of braided vinyl tubing and a standard Burley hitch that clamps to the rear axle.

Note: for this workshop, we'll be building one bike trailer design together, and donating the bike trailer to the city. If you like the design, you can make arrangements with us at the workshop to purchase the materials to build your own.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14). No experience needed.

Bring

Closed‑toe shoes. Bring your bike if you'd like to fit the hitch to it. Tools and parts are provided.

When

Tue · Sep 15 · 10 AM–1 PM

Learn how to build a cargo trailer for a bicycle from two ten-foot lengths of half-inch electrical conduit, a pair of recycled 16″ children's bike wheels, four laser-cut steel dropouts and a handful of bolts — about $40 of parts, and it carries real loads.

We start with the one real skill in it: bending conduit, which is easy once someone shows you and unforgiving if nobody does. Then we drill, bolt and square up the frame, mount the wheels on the dropouts, and fit the hitch — a short length of braided vinyl tubing and a standard Burley hitch that clamps to the rear axle.

Note: for this workshop, we'll be building one bike trailer design together, and donating the bike trailer to the city. If you like the design, you can make arrangements with us at the workshop to purchase the materials to build your own.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14). No experience needed.

Bring

Closed‑toe shoes. Bring your bike if you'd like to fit the hitch to it. Tools and parts are provided.

When

Tue · Sep 22 · 10 AM–1 PM

We start from the very beginning — what a volt is, what a battery actually does — and build up, part by part, hooking up small solar panels, lights, batteries, and motors.

Along the way you'll get comfortable with a multimeter, measuring voltage, current, and resistance for yourself. Nothing is a black box: by the end you'll understand every wire.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14)

Bring

Just yourself — tools and parts are provided.

When

Thu · Sep 24 · 10 AM–1 PM

A cold frame is a box with a clear lid, and it is the cheapest way to push a growing season weeks further at both ends. We look at how they work, what makes a good one, and why the old designs settled where they did.

We design first, then build — working through the details so the result is something you can copy at home without a plan from us.

Where

Umbrello Hay Field, Lincoln, MA
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14). All skill levels welcome.

Bring

Closed‑toe shoes and weather‑appropriate clothing. Tools and materials are provided.

When

Wed · Sep 30 · 9–11 AM

A walking session: we learn the names of the trees and plants around us — how to tell them apart, and what people have used them for over time.

We'll also learn to read and use maps of where we are, and start making our own. Bring your curiosity and comfortable shoes.

Where

Umbrello Hay Field, Lincoln, MA
Meeting spot sent when you register.

Who

All ages welcome (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14).

Bring

Comfortable walking shoes, water, and weather‑appropriate clothing.

When

Thu · Oct 1 · 10 AM–1 PM

A bike trailer is the cheapest cargo capacity there is, and you can make one in a morning. Ours uses two ten‑foot lengths of half‑inch electrical conduit, a pair of recycled 16″ children's bicycle wheels, four laser‑cut steel dropouts, and a handful of bolts — about $40 all in.

You'll learn to bend conduit, which is the one real skill in it, and then drill, bolt and hitch the frame together. The design comes from Edge Collective and the Somerville Bike Kitchen, and the files are open — so you can make another one, or a bigger one, after you go home.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14). No experience needed.

Bring

Closed‑toe shoes. Bring your bike if you'd like to fit the hitch to it. Tools and parts are provided.

When

Fri · Oct 2 · 10 AM–1 PM

A bench is the first tool. Without one you are holding the work with your knee; with one, everything else becomes possible. And a bench that folds is a bench you can take to the job instead of carrying the job to it.

We build through the design together, working out the details so the result is something you can reproduce at home without a plan from us.

Where

Umbrello Hay Field, Lincoln, MA
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14). All skill levels welcome.

Bring

Closed‑toe shoes and weather‑appropriate clothing. Tools and materials are provided.

When

Tue · Oct 13 · 10 AM–1 PM

We'll use simple needle-and-thread binding techniques to make small zines and booklets you can take home.

Along the way you'll learn how to lay out your material so zines are easy to print — and easy to share.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

All ages welcome (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14). No experience needed.

Bring

Just yourself — paper, needles, thread, and printing materials are provided.

When

Thu · Oct 15 · 10 AM–1 PM

Before small motors were cheap, a lot of useful work was done by legs. Those machines were refined for decades and then mostly forgotten, and the designs still hold up.

We work from published designs — Low‑Tech Magazine, Farm Hack and others — look at what makes them work, and demonstrate what we have.

Where

Umbrello Hay Field, Lincoln, MA
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14). All skill levels welcome.

Bring

Closed‑toe shoes and weather‑appropriate clothing.

When

Tue · Oct 20 · 10 AM–1 PM

Part jam session, part workshop: we build simple instruments from everyday materials, then play them together.

No musical background needed — the point is to make sound, make something, and have fun doing it as a group.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

All ages welcome (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14).

Bring

An instrument if you have one — otherwise we'll make some.

When

Thu · Oct 22 · 10 AM–1 PM

We start from the very beginning — what a volt is, what a battery actually does — and build up, part by part, hooking up small solar panels, lights, batteries, and motors.

Along the way you'll get comfortable with a multimeter, measuring voltage, current, and resistance for yourself. Nothing is a black box: by the end you'll understand every wire.

Where

Lincoln Park, Somerville
Exact address sent when you register.

Who

Adults and kids 6+ (an adult caregiver needs to accompany kids under 14)

Bring

Just yourself — tools and parts are provided.

When

Tue · Oct 27 · 10 AM–1 PM