Children's university workshop

Magical snowflakes from PC and embroidery machine

In the "TurtleStitch" workshop at the Vienna Children's University with artist Andrea Mayr-Stalder, not only children like Romy (4) and Ida (7) are amazed, but also their parents Manuela and Michael.

(Bild: Jöchl Martin/Martin Jöchl)

Do you also love this magical time when delicate white snowflakes fall silently from the sky as if by magic? At the Vienna Children's University, the wonderful crystals come from the computer - and the embroidery machine. Christmas with "TurtleStitch": we took a look.

Hustle and bustle in the "Docks", the event room of the Vienna Children's University: the youngsters are busy with paper cutting - and their parents are at least as eager. But paper-cutting is just the easy introduction: things get a lot trickier in the workshop later on.

And indeed, when artist Andrea Mayr-Stalder explains to the kids what "TurtleStitch" is and how it works, it's not just the little ones who open their eyes wide. Programming and embroidering together - no, not even the adults had ever heard of that before.

Marveling at two worlds
How, what? Where does that come from, we also ask. For artist Andrea Mayr-Stalder, the question comes as no surprise. "In the beginning - that was towards the end of the noughties - I was amazed: an embroidery machine with an operating system," she explains: "It seemed to me as if two worlds had collided here - textile design and coding."

At the beginning there was amazement: an embroidery machine and an operating system. It felt as if two worlds had collided here - textile design and coding.

Künstlerin Andrea Mayr-Stalder, Kinderbüro Uni Wien

Bild: Jöchl Martin/Martin Jöchl

After some experimentation, an international educational project was born; published on the internet at turtlestitch.org in 2014 as an OER offering - in other words, freely accessible teaching and learning material. Ultimately, TurtleStitch is "a program or app that allows you to define the thread path of an embroidery machine," explains Mayr-Stalder.

Turtle moves to programming
"Oh!", "Wow!", "Look!", the rows of spectators actually shout loudly as Mayr-Stalder uses programming codes to make a turtle move around on a large screen to create a snowflake. Trip, trap, back, forth and around the corner - with every square the turtle moves in the computer system, the snowflake grows one more crystal arm, for example.

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Little Romy (4) has been watching the whole thing in silence, with one finger in her mouth - but suddenly she blurts out loudly: "That looks like persimmon from the turtle!" Everyone laughs. But luckily it only looks like that on the computer. After the brief explanation, the kids get down to work themselves: each family can now run a turtle on the laptop and create their own personal snowflakes.

There is chatter and discussion about what the flake pattern should look like - and young and old don't always agree. Then it's on to the next station: choose fabric, hoop it and off to the large or small embroidery machine, depending on which one is free at the time. The kids are interested.

Zack, and the masterpiece is finished
Ida (7) is already sitting at the table and cutting out her flock. Now just pull a ribbon through it - and the masterpiece is finished! Mom Manuela, dad Michael and sister Romy are also thrilled when they try hanging it on the Christmas tree at the children's university.

We want to know what she liked best about the workshop. Ida thinks for a moment and then whispers with sparkling eyes: "That we can take the beautiful pendant with the snowflake home with us!"

Vienna Children's University enables contact with researchers
Karoline Iber, Managing Director of the Children's Office at the University of Vienna, can't help but smile. "Snowflakes are a great way to combine art and science," she says, "for example, there is a lot to learn about geometry and the properties of water."

Snowflakes are not only beautiful, they also lend themselves very well to linking art and scientific questions.

Karoline Iber, Geschäftsführerin Kinderbüro Uni Wien

For more than 20 years, the Vienna Children's University has been bringing science and kids together - and thanks to the new "Dock" venue, not only in summer, but now all year round. 

What "Dock" stands for
The name "Dock" was not chosen at random, but stands for "democracy", "economics and financial education", "computers and coding" and "climate". There are also workshops and events primarily for children - but adults can always learn something new here too. Iber: "The best thing is when children have been here once - and come back as adults."

Thanks to the two-year-old venue "Dock", the Vienna Children's University is not only available in summer, but all year round, according to Children's Office Managing Director Karoline Iber.

(Bild: Jöchl Martin/Martin Jöchl)

"We make topics that are important to children, that affect them, that are in demand at school and that are the subject of research, understandable to them in workshops and the like and enable them to come into contact with researchers," reports the Managing Director. Next year, for example, one of the major topics will be children's "right to play and leisure". 

In a nutshell

• Turtlestitch is a graphical programming learning environment for generative design. The programmed patterns are translated as thread paths for embroidery machines. Converted into file formats, they can then be embroidered.
• At the Vienna Children's University, the doors of Vienna's six universities and the University of Applied Sciences are open to children. Together with researchers, scientists and artists, a wide range of current and important topics are explored in workshops and other events.

"Researchers have turned their curiosity into a profession," continues the educator. "And our experience shows: Every child is curious! Let's see who is still curious when they grow up."