Natural lighting from floor-to-ceiling windows highlights the dozens of colorful art supplies stored on a pegboard wall. Moveable butcher-block tables and stools accommodate learners of all ages, creating from their imaginations.
As families step into the Learning Lab Wichita makerspace, they discover a flexible, ready-to-go environment filled with everything needed to bring ideas to life. The space is stocked with tools, materials and self-guided activities.
A couple of things the makerspace is not are neat and tidy. Multi-colored paint splatters cover the floor, and scraps of cardboard and magazine clippings fill shelves, someday to be used by little learners in a project or piece of art.
When Learning Lab Wichita Managing Director Lydia Hampton was leading a team to design Learning Lab Wichita, a makerspace was at the top of her wish list. To select Learning Lab’s six shared specialty spaces, Hampton met with education leaders and parents during the early design phase, and she heard repeatedly: People wanted a place to build.
“They talked about needing spaces that were hands-on, where kids could ‘make a mess,’ access real tools, and bring ideas to life,” Hampton said.
The bet that a makerspace would be well used and well loved could not have been more correct. Out of all of the many dynamic spaces inside Learning Lab Wichita, the makerspace has remained at the top of the most-used list throughout Learning Lab’s first year of existence.
Entire classes have created dioramas together in the makerspace. Individual students from different school models and homeschools have shared the space and created individually, together.
Hampton said the space was designed for a wide array of creation activities: arts and crafts, robotics, woodworking and more. All of Learning Lab’s specialty space materials and equipment are intended to give students a taste of a hobby or interest at a basic level, so if students are particularly interested in an area like woodworking, Learning Lab staff will refer them out to a partner community resource where they can delve into the topic in greater depth.
“Our goal was to design a space that invites exploration – where learning happens through doing, tinkering, testing and sometimes failing,” Hampton said. “The makerspace is a reflection of our community’s collective vision for what learning can look like when imagination meets opportunity.”
In addition to independent work, the makerspace hosts classes and learning opportunities for groups of kids. It has allowed students room to learn hobbies like sewing, woodworking and art. Beginning in spring 2026, Learning Lab will introduce robotics and engineering design classes that combine creativity with problem solving in new and exciting ways.
“With a fully stocked tool crib, robotics kits, circuitry, sewing machines, paint, a 3D printer, and more — it’s hard to think of what can’t be done in this space,” said Learning Lab Wichita Events and Programs Manager Molly Brown.
Brown shared how the makerspace has reflected the true meaning behind the work done at Learning Lab Wichita.
“For our team, the makerspace is more than just a room — it’s a cornerstone of how we bring Learning Lab’s mission to life,” she said. “It gives students a place to explore their interests, develop practical skills and connect their learning to the world around them. Each project, each spark of curiosity, helps build confident, creative thinkers who know how to turn ideas into action.”
Hampton said the makerspace is the most-loved space in the facility.
“What I love most is that the makerspace embodies what we mean when we talk about learning by doing,” Hampton said. “It’s joyful, messy and deeply meaningful – a perfect reflection of the kind of learning community we set out to build together.”