What is Make Things Do Stuff?

Make Things Do Stuff launched in 2013 as a campaign and website designed to mobilise the next generation of digital makers. Since then, over 70 organisations from large technology companies, to grassroot clubs provided over 100,000 digital making experiences to young people nationwide.

Our aim has always been to support the groundswell of organisations educating young people to creatively harness the power of technology, to look at ways of assisting their delivery and promote the excellent work being undertaken across all fields of digital skills education.

How has Make Things Do Stuff evolved?

With creative digital making platforms such as the BBC's Mixital now providing access to the kinds of inspirational tools and projects Make Things Do Stuff used to provide, we identified a new need for a comprehensive directory of UK digital making provision - a one-stop-shop of organisations supporting young people to develop their digital skills that can be filtered by categories such as region and technology-type.

If you are a provider of digital making opportunities, or an interested teacher, policy maker, funder, partner or parent, this is the place for you to find out what’s going on nationally and in your area.

What is Digital Making?

Digital technology is changing the world!  And understanding and manipulating digital  technology is no longer a specialist skill. It is the key to creative expression, social inclusion and business creation, and it’s a skill that is increasingly in demand across the jobs market.  We want young people to have the right skills and knowledge to thrive in this new environment.

Digital skills are best developed through practical activity where young people learn about technology while making things with it (‘digital making’) - creating solutions to real problems, rather than simply passively consuming digital products.  We know that young people are enthusiastic to develop their digital skills - and we believe that they need access to engaging digital making experiences outside, as well as inside, the classroom.  
Make Things Do Stuff wants to support and showcase these learning experiences.

Make Things Do Stuff is dedicated to supporting those offering digital making to young people across the UK, working to ensure that we nurture a generation of young people who are able to make and understand technology as well as use it.