About Maker404

Maker404 started with a simple belief: the best thing a tech teacher can model for students is not knowing all the answers. It is staying curious, building things, and figuring it out alongside them.

I am a K-6 technology teacher and a parent. I coach my kid’s basketball team. I build web apps to solve problems I actually have. And I bring all of that back into the classroom.

That overlap is what this site is about.

Why “404”?

A 404 error means “page not found.” It is what happens when something expected is not there. In tech, that is a dead end. In teaching, it is an invitation.

The best maker moments I have seen in classrooms came from exactly that place: a plan that did not work, a design that fell apart, a tool that did not exist yet. “Project not found” is not failure. It is where the real learning starts.

What Maker404 Is

It is a set of practical resources built around the idea that curiosity beats expertise every time.

• 404 Challenges are low-prep, failure-friendly builds for K-6 classrooms. Cardboard, tape, straws, rubber bands. Real tests with clear constraints.
• Apps are browser-based tools designed to open in seconds with no accounts, no setup, no friction.
• Downloads are lesson plans and curriculum files shaped for real classroom windows: 30 minutes, mixed skill levels, whatever materials you have on hand.
• Blog is where I write about what worked, what did not, and how ideas move between home projects, coaching, and the classroom.

How It Gets Built

Most of what is here came from solving a problem I actually had.

I needed a fair way to manage playing time on a youth basketball team, so I built a rotation planner. I wanted a pixel art tool my students could use with no accounts or ads, so I built Pixel Studio. I needed better Finch2 robotics materials for a curriculum migration, so I wrote and published a complete lesson set.

Each of those projects started the same way: a real problem, a maker instinct to build instead of wait, and AI tools used the same way I teach students to use them. Not as a shortcut, but as a collaborator.

That process is the actual lesson. The tools are just what it leaves behind.

Who It Is For

Teachers who do not have everything figured out yet. Parents who want their kids to see adults building and failing and trying again. Coaches who are also educators. Anyone who thinks “I could probably build something for that.”

If you are new to tech or makerspace teaching, the Start Here page is a good first stop.

If you have a question or want to share something you built, reach out. I read every message.