Super Saucer Fun at Durham Arts Council

I brought a new toy design to the Campers at the Durham Arts Council, one I knew would be a surefire hit - an easy-to-assemble Flying Saucer that really flies. This was a prototype kit, one that I plan to have on sale, and the campers eagerly helped me test the instructions, playability and customization properties. I could not have expected a better test-flight session!

 

This particular group was already made of seasoned building pros, having worked hard to master the E-motibot robots from Friday last week. The two piece Flying Saucer turned out to be less of a challenge, but hands raised in the air early on proved that my instructions were more confusing than helpful!

Thankfully, I was able to show the volunteers how to assemble both the saucer and the astronaut. Pretty soon, saucers were flying across the room  or were being decorated to the umpteenth degree. Take a look at some of these impressive builds!

Thanks again to Christina, Sara, all of the Volunteers and the Campers themselves for helping me test this design. Everyone had so much fun and I couldn't be happier!

Robots at Durham Arts

I had an amazing time at the Durham Arts Council today, and so did 22 Summer Camp artists! I brought prototype builds of Compass, Antenna, and Hammer to the afternoon session. Armed with an instruction sheet, I let the kids get to the building.

After some struggle (and hard lessons about making good instructions), the volunteers got everybody a finished robot to play with, even for the younger campers. Sadly, I didn't get a photo of every bot - my camera setting got tweaked and there were too many blurry shots - my apologies campers!

Once the bots were built, I was surprised, yet again, by how fast the robots got decorated with unique characteristics, patterns, and even names. Thank you campers - you helped to make this very fun!

Thanks also to Willa Brigham, Christina, Janet (for Sharpies), the volunteers and everybody else for their help making this a fun session.

Summer Art Fun at the Durham Arts Council

Last week, I had the privilege of presenting as a guest artist again at the Durham Arts Council's Summer Arts Camp. A giant crew of children were participating in various artistic activities. I brought them pre-cut patterns for my Draw-On-It Poplocks Pattern, "Muglee", specially designed for live events.

After teaching them how to pop out the parts, how to assemble a Poplocks connection and how to build the toy, the campers proceeded to make each Muglee their own. Just check out these mugs (and click on "Read More" to see the rest!):