Jerusalem Mini Maker Faire; A Shining Success

The Jerusalem Mini Maker Faire has concluded, and there are many smiles to share. The event was on June 5-6 at the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem. This year there were 70 makers showing off. At least 43 major projects to check out and over 2500 visitors sharing in the excitement.

They’ve sent in a fantastic gallery of images from the event. If you look around, you may be able to spot the following interesting things:

• Bathroom chronometer (Hanan Cohen) – a device that measures how much time is spent in the Museum bathrooms. A “traffic light” indicates whether it is “safe” to enter or whether you should wait a bit longer, depending on the length of time spent by the previous occupant.
• Three-dimensional printing methods (Tech Factory Plus, easy3, Shlomo Hanasi) – these printers are at the forefront of creativity. You can watch them work and examine their output.
• Musical salad (Arnon Gourny) – a musical work is created while preparing a salad, using kitchen utensils. A unique culinary and musical experience.
• Repeating parrot (Arnon Gourny) –  a group of digital parrots make up a panel that responds to remarks from passersby. Entertaining interaction.
• Arduino construction kits (Gil Wismonski) – three kits for self assembly. Build a remote-controlled car. This project can currently be found at Kickstarter.
• True confessions machine (Liat Segal) – based on writing technology used for  reconstruction by means of light. This technique, developed by the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem, demonstrates the temporary and dizzying nature of personal texts on the internet.
• Notable creative and constructive workshops:
• Build and launch a rocket ship – soft drink bottles, air and water are all you need to launch a rocket ship. Children are invited to try their hand at building and flying rockets.
• Build a Viking ship (Ronny Wagner and Yaron Barelli) – life-sized, using recycled materials. Students at the Hadera Democratic School started construction of the ship, which was then transported to the Museum for completion.
• A path of tongue-depressors – together we’ll build a path of tongue depressors that “comes to life” when activated.
• Programming workshop for children using Scratch (Ofer Prat) – make a simple computer game using Scratch – the visual tool developed by MIT.
• Build movable toys (Noga Alhasid) – build mechanical models and toys with cheap, recyclable, and easily available materials. This workshop promotes environmental quality.
• Interactive origami (Yael Avni) – paper creations with a “start switch” that turns on and off as you move. Integrating paper and electricity.