Explore mechanical elements such as cams, levers, and linkages to create your own moving sculpture.

Rube Goldberg-inspired cause and effect contraptions using everyday materials and found objects.

Chain Reaction Explorations

See the expansiveness of cause-and-effect, and how to make experiences like these at home.

Tinker with electricity using common objects: batteries, lights, buzzers, motors, switches, etc.

Computational Tinkering Explorations

Digital meets physical with a combination of tools and technologies.

Cranky Contraption Explorations

Experiment with motion and mechanisms through constructing automata.

Wood and wire kinetic sculptures that animate a character or scene when the handle is turned.

Creative Construction Explorations

Play around with different materials to build your construction sets.

Use slotted construction to build real or imaginary animals. Rearrange parts in whimsical and unexpected ways. 

Transform a thin cardboard box into a dancing toy!

Adorn your body with electrifyingly awesome jewelry that you build yourself.

Design simple or complex shapes in code, bring them into the physical world using a variety of tools.

Power tools, electronics, and pumpkins - oh my! 

Use household objects to design creative switches that add delight and whimsy to larger creations.

Add markers to LEGO technic pieces to create art machines that draw patterns as they move. 

LEGO Tinkering Explorations

Combine LEGO with everyday materials through delightful and varied activities.

Light and Shadow Explorations

Take time to notice the shadows in your life and experiment with new ways to play with light.

Create striking images and illusions using nothing more than a camera, a light source, and a little practice.

Explore light, shadow, and motion using a variety of simple materials and light sources.

Make meaningful portraits by arranging everyday and symbolic objects into faces! 

A Marble Machine is a creative ball-run contraption made from familiar materials.

This exhibit makes music when people touch, kiss, or hold hands.

Make simple or complex electrical circuits on a flat piece of paper!

Turn old plastic bags into beautiful new fabrics that you can use to make a variety of fashionable items.

Make a motorized contraption that moves in unusual ways and leaves a mark to trace its path.

Watch your friends’ eyes light up, as you light up the LED on your clothing just by wearing it!

Draw on top of a shadow - what do you see? Share you shadow with friends and build a collection of imaginative illustrations.

Create a city skyline using a light source, a surface, and everyday materials.

Spinning Explorations

From a tabletop to a computer screen, take whirlwind tour of all things spinning!

Make a spinning top with common household materials like yogurt cups, bottle caps, pencils, cardboard cutouts and more!

Use homemade conductive and resistant play-doh to build electronic sculptures that light up, move, and make sounds.

Stop Motion Animation Explorations

There are many ways to tell a story through animation. 

As a warmup activity for exploring balance and stability, build your own surprising seesaws with everyday materials.

Tinkering for Young Learners Explorations

Looking at tinkering through an early childhood lens, there's so much to explore!

Stack ordinary objects to build unusual towers in this simple activity for makers and tinkerers of all ages.

Do you ever wonder what’s inside your toys? You’ll make some exciting and surprising discoveries!

Quickly create story-rich animations with only two pictures!

Harness wind to power the movement of a mechanical creature.

Wind and Air Explorations

Wonderfully windy contraptions are on display, see where the winds of inspiration take you!