Parts and Crafts Brings the Maker Movement to Kids

Parts and Crafts
577 Somerville Ave., (617) 207-8016
partsandcrafts.org

For Dina Gjertsen, it can be a bit difficult to describe what actually goes on at Parts and Crafts. Where else could you make your own lightsaber, build a doll house, and fix a bike?

“It’s really just a place for people to share cool projects, use real tools, where children can learn and make and create and build things together,” says Gjertsen, after school coordinator and general guru for the Somerville makerspace, while walking through the building at 577 Somerville Ave.

Bridget Kramer, a 8-year-old who lives in the city, takes classes like writing, fire safety, and robotics. But she excitedly explains that she also takes more offbeat courses, such as “Argue Like A Lawyer,” “Tent Cities,” and “Microscope History of the Universe,” in which students look into the early beginnings of the…