Toys

Join us this month as we literally play with toys! Toys are probably the first experience any of us has with tinkering: they come with no instructions, or if they do, they are quickly discarded to explore the playful and inventive potential that they offer beyond their designers’ intentions. We all know how to play with toys. Perhaps more than any other material they free us to explore and mess about without wondering whether we are “doing it right.” So come have some fun as we try some of the following activities.

Make a top, using everyday materials, dowels, cardboard, and recycled objects, try to make a contraption that will spin. Inspired by Charles and Ray Eames film exploring tops from all over the world.

Build moving sculptures by twisting and soldering together copper wire. Create a simple mechanism, and imagine a character that embodies it. Inspired by Alexander Calder’s circus, a series of delightful figurines made of wire, and the work of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, whose incredible automata will be on display in the Tinkering Studio later this year.

Turn simple patterns and drawings into beautiful intricate designs with just your imagination and an angled mirror.

And don’t miss our extended celebration of everything “Toy” during our Open MAKE: Toys event, on January 21!