Kicking Off Mythic Makers: Fall Folklore Cohort

This week marks the launch of Mythic Makers: Building Homes for Folklore Creatures, an 8-week afterschool residency where learners ages 5–8 explore culture, nature, design, and engineering through hands-on making.

This program was developed at the intersection of multicultural maker education, engineering design, and AI-assisted critical thinking. The inspiration began with a recent New York Times article on Finland, the “happiest country on earth,” and the folklore of the Sauna Elf (Saunatonttu), a household guardian figure rooted in environment, ritual, and tradition. Using that story as a model, learners will see how culture, environment, and engineering needs converge in design.

Program Approach. Each week, learners will move through a version of the engineering design process: defining a problem, researching cultural and environmental context, sketching ideas, prototyping with everyday materials, testing, and improving. The focus is not only on fabrication but also on developing habits of observation and critical thought.

We begin our journey with a group demo build of a Finnish Sauna Elf dwelling—a playful way to model how stories inspire design choices. Over the next several weeks, each learner will research a culture of their choice, discover a legendary creature, and design a miniature dwelling that reflects both its needs and cultural references. Along the way, students will practice design thinking, problem solving, iteration, and storytelling—skills that translate directly into real-world creativity and innovation.

For those interested in following along or curating a similiar program, I have developed an LLM that allows the learner to be guided by a Socratic AI thought partner that prompts questions rather than giving solutions. This approach strengthens their ability to connect context to design. For example:

• If a creature lives in a cold environment, how would that influence the shape of its dwelling?

• What materials are available in a tropical region, and how do those differ from what is used in a desert?

• How might cultural traditions influence decoration, layout, or function?

  
  

By responding to these kinds of prompts, students begin to recognize how design solutions reflect both practical constraints (climate, geography, resources) and cultural expression.

What We’ll Be Doing

• Week 1: As a group, learners will complete a demonstration build of a Finnish Sauna Elf dwelling, modeling the design process from story to sketch to prototype.

• Weeks 2–7: Each learner will choose a culture and folklore creature, research its environment, and begin developing their own miniature dwelling. Each week they will build in layers: sketching, testing materials, constructing the foundation, adding details, and refining their work.

• Week 8: Learners will present their completed dwellings in a showcase “Mythic Village,” sharing how cultural and environmental knowledge informed their engineering decisions.
  

Materials

Students will work with a mix of natural and craft supplies to translate ideas into physical models:

• Cardboard: https://amzn.to/4pKFsvm

• Foam: https://amzn.to/46p8IAm

• Sticks: https://amzn.to/4h4oPHr

• Tacky glue: https://amzn.to/42U5Xom

• Clay: https://amzn.to/4ns29mJ

• Moss: https://amzn.to/3KHFBzE

• Rocks: https://amzn.to/3Kr2tDy

• Wood: https://amzn.to/3VE6B5y

• Additional wood: https://amzn.to/4nWPMis

• Felt: https://amzn.to/48EWmpd

• Twine: https://amzn.to/48BD2Jl

• Shrubbery: https://amzn.to/3IGutCv

• More sticks: https://amzn.to/3KpZhIi

• Snow effects: https://amzn.to/485qGcn

• More snow: https://amzn.to/46ZWcaI

• Copper tape: https://amzn.to/4nB6SCo

• LEDs: https://amzn.to/46Fzq6x

These supplies bring nature into the classroom and empower children to transform ordinary materials into extraordinary worlds. By the end of the cohort, each learner will curate their own folklore-inspired dwelling blending cultural appreciation with design and engineering practice.

Stay tuned as we share progress photos and stories from the cohort’s builds. Our Mythic Village will be unveiled in the final showcase, where imagination meets innovation.

Looking Ahead

This program emphasizes critical thinking, observation, and engineering design rather than replication or decoration. Each learner’s final dwelling will serve as evidence of how they combined cultural knowledge, environmental understanding, and iterative making into a cohesive design.