The Makers Collaborative

A safe space isn't just a room—it's a culture. It's built slowly, with trust, empathy and intention.
Let’s keep the doors open. Let’s keep listening.

Hritoja , who’s with us this summer, cares deeply about mental well-being and creating spaces where people feel safe to be themselves. She worked as a safe space coordinator for her college initiative to support students, both, emotionally and socially. These sessions were meant to connect people—especially at a time when many, particularly Gen Z, are feeling more lonely and overwhelmed.

“I hosted sessions where students could open up about personal challenges, talk freely, and know they weren’t alone. I witnessed people crying, sharing their vulnerabilities, and supporting one another in beautiful, honest ways. The space became a way for students to express frustration, manage stress, and feel heard”, says Hritoja.

One of her last sessions focused on letting go and moving on, aimed at third-year students preparing to enter a new phase of life. “It was deeply moving to see their courage and vulnerability. These experiences taught me how powerful it is just to listen and hold space—and
I am grateful to have been part of building a small but strong community of support”, she concludes.

A list of resources that you can explore to initiate a safe space in your institution or community:
Training:
https://www.coursera.org/learn/psychological-first-aid?isNewUser=true {free}
https://www.mhfaindia.com/

Guides:
https://www.activeminds.org/
https://www.unicef.org/lac/en/adolescent-kit-for-the-development-resilience-through-expression-and-innovation

Introducing mini-zines at the media lab at Rabindranath World School . A form of alternative media in itself, students are going to use mini-zines as a stepping stone to create content for other traditional and non-traditional forms of media.

A mini-zine making workshop, customized for ages 5 and above, focusing on telling a story with both words and visuals/doodles.
Thank you to invite us for conducting this session and a big shoutout to the kids who were patient, curious, full of stories and did a fantastic job with their mini-zines!

Pages from children's mini-zines. Always full of surprises! Zine prompt was "Introduce Yourself and Your Superpower"
Ages 5 and above.

Photographs from our zine making workshop at Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata on the occasion of Earth Day 2024. The theme Plastic Vs. Planet was a perfect excuse to make a double-sided mini-zine! Made on one A4 sheet, it packed a whole lot of information. Cues were given for each section of the zine and the narrative flowed from participants’ own life experiences related to the use and abuse of plastic and its effects on our planet Earth, and what they could do to reduce, reuse and send them to recycling units.

Mini-zines are a great way to put together one’s thoughts, knowledge and perception of a topic and share it with the world, both inside and beyond classrooms. Have you made a mini-zine yet?

We explored the concept of freedom and its varied layers with this fun bunch .international.school through mini-zines this week.

Minizines sessions are a great way to explore topics, investigate what we think and feel about them and sharing our understanding and opinions through the medium of mini-zines.

We started a conversation on freedom in this short session and you can easily gauge the perception and understanding of these students on freedom from the zines they have made.

Breaking down barriers, one mini-zine at a time! We were thrilled to partner with The Ideal School For The Deaf to bring the magic of mini-zine making to these keen students.

The workshop was all about celebrating individuality and fostering self-expression through words, doodles and colours.

With suppprt of their wonderful teachers, it proved to be a day of fun, learning, imagination, and empowerment! ✍️🖍📖

Ever wondered how abstract math concepts can translate into real-world applications?
Here is an activity for the above that we engage participants in to exercise creativity, both inside and beyond classrooms, using a few of our models!

Step 1. Put these models on the table without any labels or descriptions.

Step 2. Guess & Discuss: What do you think these models represent? Engage in discussions.

Step 2. Hints & Imagination: Get hints and clues from us and let your imagination run wild.

Step 2. Concrete Applications: Envision real-world uses. Science, art, daily life—where could these models fit?

Step 4. Create & Share: Sketch or describe your ideas. Share.

It's all about exploration. There are no right or wrong answers—just endless possibilities.

The Thinking Process is to go from concrete natural phenomena by observing the Natural or Man-made Environment and extracting the essential elements to form Abstract Mathematical Concepts and then to see how it can be transferred to different Concrete Applications. You can do this too!

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Thinking about an Old Museum on International Museum Day
- What makes a museum approachable, welcoming and inclusive to different kinds of visitors? The answer can be different for different people.
- The Bengali word for museum is ‘jadughor’, which translates to ‘house of wonder’.
- 18th May is celebrated as International Museum Day.
- Do you have a favourite museum memory? What is it?

by Swati Mishra

Thinking about an Old Museum on International Museum Day Thinking about an Old Museum on International Museum Day by Swati Mishra Jan Morris, a Welsh historian, travel writer and author, makes an interesting observation about Museums built by the British…