January Open Make: Toys

"I started out, I suppose, when I was 5 years old. I got my first Lego set, and I tore open the box and did not look at what was on the front of the box or any instructions; I just started building. And I think that was one of those first moments when I just let creation and imagination take over." 

~Nathan Sawaya, artist

It's that time of year already. The first Open Make at the Exploratorium was held on Saturday, January 21st. It seemed a little less crowded than last year.

Which is a surprise, given that the theme was Toys. Perhaps the beautiful weather had something to do with it.


Dave Teare had his life-sized Operation Game on display. He explained that he had originally created it for a school carnival, then decided to take it to the Maker Faire. One of the most basic project ideas is to enlarge or miniaturize something, which usually adds complications beyond a simple size change. In this case, Dave had to work out how to wire the circuit into a continuous unit rather than making lots of single circuits for each operation.

In the Tinkering Studio you could create jewelry from old toy and game pieces:

While on the floor, there was a toy dissection lab for looking at the insides of mechanical stuffies:

As this was the introductory plussing session for the year, Tony gave everyone a rough schedule to work towards:

• February: have a sketch, or at least an idea ready
• March: bring your prototypes
• April: your project should be refined and almost finished

There will be no meeting in May, as it is Bay Area Maker Faire month. The Maker Faire dates have been announced as May 19-20.


The Meet The Makers program featured

• Marek Michalowski, who's worked with Dr. Hideki Ozima to create the robot toy Keepon
• I-Wei Huang, who developed the Skylanders characters and makes steam-powered toys
• emiko oye & Shana Astrachan, jewelers who were behind the Tinkering Studio activities
• Nathan Sawaya, who has many Young Makers' dream job of professionally sculpting with Lego

The webcast of this program can be seen in its entirety here.