Playful learning grows confidence.
We are a Baltimore-based company founded in 2011 that designs and supports STEAM experiences anywhere learning and innovation takes place. We believe material-rich, hands-on exploration supports the whole child. Every FutureMakers experience is designed to build confidence and concrete skills while shaping social and emotional development through collaborative open-ended play.
We believe all young makers grow with quality coaching, opportunities for innovation, and serious play.
We are dedicated to removing barriers to experimentation and innovation. Our projects are imagined, designed, and tested with PK - 8 learners and educators from all learning environments. The majority of young makers we serve are elementary-aged learners of color in urban and rural Title I classrooms and OST programs, a large portion of whom are English language learners and individuals with identified learning disabilities.
We inspire real emotion through serious play.
For FutureMakers, powerful learning is grounded in supporting learner agency and identity. We believe that social-emotional learning (SEL) is integral to making. We inspire and coach our partner educators to discover how learner-centered project-based explorations can encourage positive working relationships, increase learner engagement, and model-independent problem-solving in their classrooms and programs.
We know that hands-on learning, taught through the lens of SEL, plays an important role in positive youth development and how educators and caregivers build relationships with learners. By focusing on process success, facilitation, rewarding efforts through guidance and feedback, and encouraging collaboration and self-management, we help educators and caregivers integrate SEL with STEAM throughout their day.
We build educator confidence.
FutureMakers focuses on embedded professional development for PK – 8 educators and youth workers in general education, science, fine/performing arts, and technology education settings. We provide accessible and affordable materials, quality tools, durable technologies, and tested design challenges that integrate closely with existing scopes and sequences.
Our team of coaches work alongside our classroom partners in virtual and physical settings, modeling applied skills and approaches to activating the knowledge, social and emotional skills their students need to engage, inquire, express, and collaborate. In out-of-school time (OST)/family engagement settings, we use coaching to enhance the collaboration and communication objectives our partners hope to achieve through affordable, scalable STEAM materials to spark curiosity and wonder.