The #MetKids team visited World Maker Faire 2015 at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) on Sunday, September 27. Maker Faire, the "Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth," is a festival where visitors investigate new inventions, crafts, and digital worlds. Over 90,000 people attended this year! Talk about a big event.
We went to share our #MetKids digital feature, showing kids, parents, and educators our interactive map, time machine, and videos made for, with, and by kids. Afterward, we checked out new ideas for using technology to celebrate art by exploring hundreds of exhibits on the grounds of Flushing Meadows Corona Park and inside the New York Hall of Science in Queens. We even got to see a bunch of #MetKids there!
#MetKids buttons given away at World Maker Faire 2015. Photograph by Aliza Sena
As we walked around Maker Faire, we saw kids from all over interacting with the many exhibits, like the kids who were looking at wind-powered whirligigs through one of the kaleidoscopes inside the KaleidoDome, a dome featuring a handful of large kaledioscopes. Many of them were interested in how the kaleidoscopes, made with faceted glass on the outside and mirrors on the inside, were put together to create the dome.
Paisley, age 8, enjoyed making a boat out of recycled materials, which she then set sail on ScrapKins' Lagoon. It was a good reminder that art and inventions can be designed from items you probably have in the recycling bin at home.
Boats made with recycled materials sailing to ScrapKins' Lagoon. Photograph by Emily Sutter
Christopher, age 9, made juice "dots" using liquid nitrogen at the Fizz-Ed station, while other kids played in the bubbles. Bubbles were everywhere at Maker Faire! Did you know that kids have been playing with bubbles for hundreds of years? The artist Jean Siméon Chardin painted kids blowing bubbles almost three hundred years ago!
Kids also got the chance to test virtual reality on a smartphone using Google Cardboard, and view 3D videos shot with Google's Jump camera rig.
A kid maker tests Google Cardboard. Photograph by Emily Sutter
Maker Faire was full of awesome inventions. Did you know the Met also has lots of incredible inventions on display? Use our Time Machine and select "Inventions" to discover some amazing examples on #MetKids.
Feel like being a maker yourself? #MetKids has lots of maker activities. Watch Durga, age 9, make an optical toy that tricks your brain into seeing two drawings as one in the video #MetKids—Create an Optical Toy: Thaumatrope, and then try creating your own!
Maker Faire banner outside the New York Hall of Science. Photograph by Masha Turchinsky
Thanks, Maker Faire and NYSCI, for such a fun and inspiring day! We'll be back next year.
