Open Make @ The Hall Launches With Creative Engineering and Design Projects

January 18, 2013–Berkeley, CA

The Lawrence Hall of Science will be the new East Bay host for Open Make events, with Open Make @ The Hall kicking off on January 19. Open Make is a monthly program highlighting the tools, techniques, and ingenuity of local Makers. The Lawrence Hall of Science has been an active participant in the “Maker Movement” for many years, sharing in the goal of providing young people with inspiring project ideas as well as mentors to help them work on their own engineering, art, and science projects.

“We opened our Ingenuity Lab three years ago to provide a space for kids and parents to engage in fun engineering design challenges, together with UC Berkeley students,” says Monika Mayer, director of Ingenuity Programs at the Hall. “Open Make @ The Hall is the perfect addition, since creativity and the DIY (do-it-yourself) mind-set can be a great foundation for STEM learning.”

Open Make @ The Hall events will provide visitors with the chance to build a giant cardboard robot made out of city blocks, streets, and billboards; to make cars out of floppy disks and race them; to play a computer game with a keyboard they devise from bananas; to hack their bicycle and create pedal-powered art; and more. Each event will feature local makers, artists, and engineers who will host activities along with the UC Berkeley students and teen interns from the Hall’s Ingenuity Lab and Tech Hive.

The open-to-the-public program is free with admission to the Hall and occurs from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on the 3rd Saturday of the month, January through April 2013. Themes and featured Makers for each event are:

Saturday, January 19: Cities
Visitors will collaborate to build a giant robot out of city blocks and streets, and will add custom designs to a growing city made from recycled materials. Featured Makers include Craig Hansen, Franchesca Borgata from East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, and Peter Mui from Fixit Clinic.

Saturday, February 16: Games & Toys
By donning their creative hats, participants will make and play board games, video games, and stop-motion animations. They can make a hybrid doll mutant, race a floppy-disk derby car, or build a pinwheel from recycled materials. Featured Makers include: Ignacio Zulueta from the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, Elsa Rudolph-Swanson and Annabel Dudash of The Mutants, and Jay Silver of MaKey MaKey.

Saturday, March 16: Bikes
How can you use a bike for more than mere transportation? Come make bicycle hacks, like pedal-powered electronics and art, or just learn how to fix your own bike. Featured Makers TBD.

Saturday, April 20: Tiny
Miniatures, nanotechnology, and the super-tiny come out at our final Open Make of the season. Bring your little things and get inspired by the big impact your mini-creations can have. Featured Makers TBD.

Open Make is a collaboration between the Lawrence Hall of Science, Make magazine, and Pixar Animation Studios. View the most recent information about Open Make @ The Hall.

The East Bay Young Makers club will be holding its monthly meetings in concert with the public Open Make @ The Hall events. By working with the featured Makers, the Young Makers will develop projects to bring to the big Maker Faire in San Mateo this May. Dale Dougherty, cofounder of O’Reilly Media, editor and publisher of Make magazine, and founder of the Maker Education Initiative, will facilitate their meetings. Those interested in joining the Young Makers club can find information at youngmakers.org.

For the past three years, San Francisco’s Exploratorium has hosted the monthly Open Make meetings for participants in the Young Makers Program. Because the Exploratorium is moving to the Embarcadero and the Young Makers is expanding its program, three organizations (or hubs) will host Open Make during 2013: the Hall, The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, and the Bay School in San Francisco.

About the Young Makers

The Young Makers program connects young people (typically ages 12-17) with adult mentors and fabricators to create opportunities for kids to dream up and develop projects for exhibition at Maker Faire each year. Kids are encouraged to develop projects based on their own interests and ideas. They work together with staff to create a collaborative culture of creativity, innovation, and experimentation. For more information, visit www.youngmakers.org.