Make Omaha Makers: Meet Sydney Holmes

Make Omaha is a FREE family-friendly, innovative, and technology showcase celebrating local tech-driven makers, inventors, and businesses who are using state-of-the-art tools in their work.

Meet Sydney Holmes with the Omaha Children’s Museum

Introduce Yourself! – Who are you, and what does your organization do?

My official title at OCM is “Tinker Factory Coordinator,” but I also use the less formal title of Tinker Fairy. I run the programming in our maker space, The Tinker Factory, and make “Tinker Time” YouTube videos to engage families who can’t come to the museum. My job is so much fun, and I love interacting with the kids and helping their ideas come to life. I enjoy many hobbies that I like to do for fun, such as making soap, jewelry, and embroidery. I also enjoy hiking and exploring the city. I am on a personal journey to find the best coffee shop in Omaha. I have a B.A in History and an M.A in Public History and Museum Studies. I just moved to Nebraska this summer from Georgia, so I am still learning all the cool and unique places Omaha has to offer.

What do you make?

Here at OCM we encourage learning through play. “It is Omaha’s primary participatory museum and provides a variety of hands-on exhibits, workshops, programs, presentations and special events that put children in touch with their ever-changing world.” In the Tinker Factory, children are encouraged to make whatever their imagination can come up with. I’ve seen kids create cars, birdhouses, telescopes, robots, catapults, and so many more amazing inventions.

What are you planning to show at Make Omaha?

I plan to show how to make musical instruments out of every day materials. You can make an instrument out of almost anything! I will have a few examples that I have made to help kids formulate their own ideas of how to create an instrument. I even have an amp that can hook up to some creations to increase the sound.

What are you looking forward to seeing at Make Omaha from other participants?

I have never been to Make Omaha nor anything like it before, so I am excited to see anything that other participants bring! I am looking forward to the creative and collaborative atmosphere and seeing what every has to bring to the table.

What tech/maker-type stuff are you interested in getting in the future?

I am currently in the process of expanding our programming in the Tinker Factory. I just added a sewing station in August 2022. Hopefully by spring 2023, I will have added a potters wheel to our maker’s space.

Come see Sydney and all our other makers at Make Omaha on Saturday, October 8th from 10am – 3pm!