Fun skill patches offered by Adafruit

Phil Torrone of Adafruit sent me a bag full of maker skill patches. When my 9-year-old daughter came home from school today, her eyes popped out like a Tex Avery wolf. I told her she could have them all, but she has to earn them! I'll work with her to help her earn the LED patch first.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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http://plagmada.org Tim H

What will the 9-year old need to do to earn the beer mug patch?
- http://twitter.com/adafruit adafruit industries
  
  it’s “brewing” so there are a lot of things anyone from any age can brew – some teachers we know use them when the kids brew their own root beer.
Donald Petersen

The powertool finger amputation one comes at a certain cost.
- http://twitter.com/adafruit adafruit industries
  
  that one is waterjet safety :) you earn that one by not having that happen to you! :)
  - http://twitter.com/samthepea Sam Pourasghar
    
    If she were to lose her fingers in this way would you insist that she unpicks the badge? Surely she’d earn another badge by successfully completing a task that requires fingers.
Curt Thompson

these are just great! I like the welding one, but would also recommend metal lathe skills, metal mill skills, and metal forging
bkad

Cool! I used to love merit badges when I was in Boy Scouts (which was before they were anti-gay, so don’t be hatin’ on me).
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I don’t think that anybody blames the actual scouts, just the leadership.
  - retepslluerb
    
    The scouts were just following orders?
  - Ultan
    
    Once memorably summed up by Jack Benny: “A scout troop consists of twelve little kids dressed like schmucks following a big schmuck dressed like a kid.”
nixiebunny

Those are some nice patches. Well done.

Suggestion: for advanced maker scouts, a Nixie tube perhaps?
woid

Mark gets this bonus patch for the Tex Avery reference.
- http://aqfl.net Ant
  
  “… her eyes popped out like a Tex Avery wolf..” I would love to see her eyes in action. ;)
octochicken

-500 internet points for their web store forcing you to check out using Google accounts or PayPal rather than just checking out as a guest. I’ve tried resetting passwords for both accounts, but cannot do so and can’t even make a complaint to the company without an order number. Ridiculous.
- ladyada
  
  Hi there Mr Octochicken! We do our best to provide as many methods of checkout as possible, right now we have Express Checkout using Paypal/Google. For Credit Cards, an account must be made (since we need shipping/billing addresses, phone# , etc)
  If you’re having any problems using the site, please visit http://www.adafruit.com/contact/ where you can send an email thru our web interface (no login or order # required) or simply email support@adafruit.com and we’ll help you reset your account
  We hope to make the checkout process easier & better, thanks!
relawson

I would so be in for a “kids pack” of patches if they were a bit lower in price.

Perhaps 10$ for a 5 or 6 pack of low level patches? My kids would totally geek out to earn them!
- Greg Webster
  
  I’d like this as well. I have a 5 year old that would be into this.
http://twitter.com/WpgCameraMan Rock Hardwood

Or Terrorist merit badges.
Chris Impicciche

Processing patch but no Max MSP?
- teapot
  
  I had to click the link to find out what the Poo badge was for :P
LydiRae

Needs more badges. Wood tools, dammit.
taghag

wow, mark, your daughter is going to be super-busy for the next ten years. oh well, i guess after that she’ll rule the world, so she can relax a bit. ;p
Mark Gerl

I definitely need to get these for my classroom!
Ultan

The edging on these patches is done with a machine invented by one of my relatives, Joseph Merrow. (He invented overlock stitch machines in general, including the ones that edged your baby blankets and that made the seams in your pants. ) The company has been in the family for 174 years now. The only problem with these machines is that they never wear out and never become obsolete. I wish I could find a video showing the ballet of cams inside, but here’s a video of one in use:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9SHKzEOlIo
alissa mower clough

(covet) Now, what are the requirements for each one?
A cheat sheet someone?