This summer Brilliant Labs is offering youth ages 6+ an opportunity to learn through virtual summer STEAM camps. These camps offer 1-hour daily sessions based on themes and interests. For those who want to learn and have fun we’ve created online sessions for grades 1+ that include camps like MakerFun, Scratch, and everyday tech. While, others may want to dig deeper into summer learning through Brilliant Labs’ Special Interest Courses like Bio-Making.

About Bio-Making

What if you could design products or clothes with materials you grow from nature? Bio is the new digital. Engage in BioTinkering, explore biodegradable and bio-derived materials, collaborate with harmless microbes, and design for a sustainable future.

We are learning more about plastics and their environmental cost. In Canada, we only recycle about 9% of our plastics. Leaving plastic in our oceans, landfills, or as roadside garbage harming our waterways, animals, and ourselves. There are many sustainable alternatives, but these products are hard to find and are expensive.

Join Brilliant Labs August 4th-August 14th for our Bio-Making Special Interest Course. Youth grade 5+ will learn about the world around them and have the power to design their own green products. Participants will design their own sustainable materials using ingredients they can find in their kitchen, backyard or local pharmacy store.

Session 1: Intro to Bio-Making + Grow your own microbial leather Grow your own paper, fabric or plastic using low-cost supplies. Collaborate with millions of friendly microbes (bacteria and yeast) and design sustainable projects.

Youth who participate in this course will get to tinker with biomaterials and design their sustainable products, spaces, and services.

Session 2 Bio-ink and sensors

Did you know that the bacteria that give rain a smell can also be used to make ink? Nature provides a range of beautiful colors. Join us in collaborating with nature to make bio -inks and dyes. Design your own bio color kit and use it to make art, create prints, dye fabrics and other products.

Session 3: Bioplastics: Cooking sustainable materials We are surrounded by plastics, a pliable polymer that unfortunately can’t be decomposed. How can we solve the global plastic problem? Learn to cook your own biodegradable, bioderived and bio compostable, bioplastics.

Session 4: Fungi-based Materials Learn how to make mushroom-based materials or myco-materials. Create mushroom derived paper, inks and 3D sculptures Session 5 Bio-future (Speculating a green future designing biosystems across scales

  • Circular Economy
  • Bio-Packaging
  • Bio-Architecture

To register for this Special Interest course or others. Click here.