21st Century Skills InnovatIon LIbrary Contents Chapter 1 Makers Makers Everywhere Chapter 2 visiting a Maker Faire Chapter 3 being a Maker Faire Chapter 4 Exhibiting at a Maker Faire Chapter 5 Hosting a Mini Maker Faire volunteer Glossary Find Out More Index about the authors 4 11 17 20 25 30 31 32 32
MakerS as innovaTors Chapter 1 Makers Makers Everywhere I magine a place where it’s totally normal to shoot rockets see robots do backflips and feel the heat of fire-breathing sculptures It is a place where some people travel by unicycle while others wearing lab coats and safety glasses drop candy into bottles of soda setting off fountains of bubbles in time to music From T-shirt silk-screening to dinosaurs made out of scrap metal there’s something to tickle your imagina tion at every turn As you wander through tents you watch machines sew designs onto cloth kids learn to solder and a robot carve blocks of wood into toys Everywhere you go people are eager to show you what they’re doing Sometimes you can even take a turn at making stuff yourself Where are you You’re at a Maker Faire For hundreds of years people have come together at special events to chat share show off learn and enjoy one another’s company Over the centuries 4
5 Maker Faire these events have taken many names They include expositions market days and fairs A Maker Faire is a modern version of those historic events It combines the old term faire with the new term maker a person who invents creates or fabri cates something The people at Make magazine run or license these events around the country A Maker Faire is part exhibition part learning workshop and part celebration It’s a place where imagination is prized Presenters at a Maker Faire in Queens New York used Mentos candies to make soda shoot from bottles into the air
