Create with Us!

09

Aug / 22

09 Aug / 22

Posted by Steph

The Art of Tinkering Show took place at the Exploratorium from June 18 – September 5, 2022! We hope that you were able to visit in person, but one of the things we value about tinkering is that it can happen in all different places and spaces. We invited makers and tinkerers from all over the world to create along with us all summer long as we shared ideas, invitations, and projects related to the show. Even though the show isn't happening right now, you can still take a look at the invitations below and use the hashtag #ArtOfTinkering to share what you try, from works in progress to pie-in-the-sky ideas.

Ideas to Try

Circuit Celebration

We're celebrating circuits! How can circuit explorations be beautiful, expressive, creative, spectacular, or surprising? Share circuits that you find in your space, take a look at how artists and tinkerers have explored circuits in interesting ways (like Jie Qi's circuit butterfly!), and try your own circuit-related explorations. Share what you try with the hashtag #ArtOfTinkering and checkout posts from our #CircuitCelebration!

Ramps and Rollers

We're tinkering with weird and wonderful rollers! To join in, start by finding things that roll in interesting ways. Make a gentle ramp by putting books under table legs or a piece of cardboard. Take your explorations further by making your own rollers with materials like washers, feathers, and foam to explore how you can create different types of movements. Check out #RampsAndRollers for more ideas and share yours with #ArtOfTinkering!

Shadow Remix

What do you see in a shadow? In the same way that we sometimes see recognizable shapes and forms in cloud formations, in this activity you're invited to use your imagination and drawing tools to share what you see in shadows. Inspired by artist Vincent Bal, this activity becomes much more fun when you can see how other people interpret the same shadow in different ways. So share what you try with the hashtag #ArtOfTinkering!

Making Faces

Are you energetic like a battery or as sharp as scissors? You're invited to make faces out of everyday objects that show us something about who you are or what you like to make. Create a portrait featuring your favorite tool for tinkering or use something symbolic to share your personality.

Share with the hashtag #ArtOfTinkering to show us what you try out!

Two Frame Animation

Animations on television and in movies are usually created by showing thousands of images very rapidly. But you don’t need that many images to create a simple animation. By tinkering with two frame animation, you can quickly bring everyday objects to life and add some magic to your space. Share your animations with the hashtag #ArtOfTinkering!

Tinker with Stacking

We're tinkering with towers! How can you stack ordinary objects in extraordinary ways? Try stacking with many multiples of the same material (like boxes, corks, or even dry pasta), seeing how many ways you can stack five objects, or building a tower that's wider than it is tall. Share your stacks with #ArtOfTinkering! Check out our Tinkering Towers project page for inspiration.

Tinker with Cardboard Tubes

How many ways can we reimagine a single material? We're collecting past and present projects that feature cardboard tubes. From structures and sculptures to ramps and automata, we want to see what uses you can dream up! For inspiration, check out examples of cardboard tube explorations by Artencurs, like the cardboard tube construction on the left, along with the gallery of creations by tinkerers below. Share your projects with the hashtag #ArtOfTinkering for a chance to see your work featured here and in the show!

Fun fact: cardboard tubes are also called "derders." The term seems to come from the sound cardboard tubes make when people hold them to their mouths to say "der der der" and make other silly sounds! We made a "save the derder" shirt (pictured on the left) when we found this out.

The Magic of Two Frame Animation

11

Jul / 22

11 Jul / 22

Posted by Tinkering Community

Guest post written by Michael Wong, a masters student in Learning Design and Technology and a Graduate Fellow in the Tinkering Studio. Michael is a former jeweler and a current maker, studying how to enhance learning experiences through making and tinkering. Given the experiments and experiences that the Tinkering Studio cultivates for the public, Michael can’t think of a better place to hang out for the summer!

The magic of two frame animation isn’t just in the final animation. As I was thinking about two frame animations, I found myself looking at everything around me in a different way. The railing on the stairs suddenly looked like a perfect place for a mini skateboard to grind down. My coffee cup lid started to look more and more like a wide, open mouth. The second I started thinking about two frame animations, I couldn’t stop!

The blue eyes are parts that I have for my masters project. The small dots are end caps for wooden dowel and the larger ones are cylindrical spacers. The ‘mouth’ is the lid of my coffee cup.

Behind the scenes setup photo of creating the animation on an Animation Station currently waiting to be repaired in our office at the Exploratorium.

Hybrid Spinning Tops Workshop with Right to Play

13

Jun / 22

13 Jun / 22

Posted by Ryoko

This spring, Deanna and I co-designed and facilitated a hybrid spinning tops workshop with our collaborators at Right to Play in Rwanda through the Tech & Play project. This workshop was for educators in Rwanda who have an interest in playful ways to engage with making, tinkering, and technology. We took away from the experience some meaningful moments around how to engage intentionally with our project partners around remote workshop facilitation and design, which we wanted to capture as we continue to evolve our thinking about tinkering across in-person, online, and hybrid contexts.

Workshop Prep and Set up

Before our workshop, we facilitated spinning tops for our Right to Play colleagues who were then able to become in-person facilitators of the workshop in Rwanda while Deanna and I joined remotely. We were projected on the screen circled in red (left), and we were able to see the room on laptop and phone camera (right). There were about 35 participants in the room.

Gathering a variety of materials for making tops is important. Since local educators had participated in a spinning tops workshop with us beforehand, they already had a good sense around what local materials would be easily accessible for this experience. We saw a wide variety of options, including spoons, cardboard, and even balloons!

Documentation

We took numerous screenshots of participants experimenting with their tops throughout the workshop. Ellen walked around the room with her phone, allowing us to see what everyone was working on at each table. If we noticed something interesting, Ellen would put us on the speaker, and we could comment or ask questions to the participants via her phone. Meanwhile, Ernie was posting videos and pics of people testing their tops via WhatsApp during the workshop. It felt very much as though we were co-facilitating the workshop.

Then, we arranged the screenshots with notes in chronological order on the Miro board. This way we were able to document the highlights of the workshop and we think it was very useful for communicating the workshop to members who weren't there.

Exploring the variables was an important aspect of this activity. The variety of tops we saw throughout the workshop evidenced this. People were spinning their tops, observing what was going on, and making small adjustments such as adding weights to their tops, changing the size, shaping the body, and so on. There was a lot of testing going on, and it was reflected in the documentation as well.

Technical setup

It was only a one-hour session, but this hybrid spinning tops workshop gave us some insights into how we can facilitate in the hybrid contexts. First of all, it was so important to hold a pre-workshop for the local educators, who were then able to facilitate the workshop in person on site in Rwanda. While Deanna and I were leading the workshop from afar, having Ellen and Ernie as local facilitators who were already familiar with the activity was very helpful.

Since this was our first experience trying this new format, I wanted to write down what we might try next time in terms of technical setup.

Online facilitators should be able to see the entire room at all times → While it was helpful to have close-up views on mobile phones, it would be good to keep the macro view to see the entire room
Everyone can always be heard: On-site participants should be able to hear online facilitators, and online facilitators can hear on-site participants → Having a room mic to pick up on-site participants’ voices would be helpful
Avoid acoustic feedback → Because we are having multiple mics in one room, we sometimes heard an unpleasant howling sound.

It may be necessary to have one dedicated facilitator to handle the technical aspects of the hybrid workshop. Being able to run workshops smoothly will give people more ways to work together, get deeply engaged, and tinker in hybrid settings. This will have far-reaching implications in working with overseas collaborators, even after the pandemic is over. We'd like to hear from your if you've tried out new formats like this. Please let us know and share your findings with our community.

This project was made possible through generous support from the LEGO Foundation.