From WonderLab to Kickstarter: The Small World of Garner Holt’s Animatronic Songbird Kit

Just over a year ago, during the grand opening of WonderLab at Give Kids The World Village, Dale and I first saw an interactive fabrication and robotics activity that would later become the Garner Holt Animatronic Songbird Mini STEAM Build Kit. Last week, I stumbled across this hands-on robotics project on Kickstarter.  Then the communication crossfire started, and connections were made! 

As covered in Make: Things newsletter (Orlando’s WonderLab: A New Kind of Makerspace for Kids), WonderLab is a state-of-the-art makerspace designed to inspire children facing critical illnesses through creativity and technology. During the grand opening, Garner Holt Productions—known for creating some of the world’s most amazing animatronics for Disney, Universal, and many many more—showcased an early version of their mechanical songbird kit, demonstrating how engineering and artistry combine to create lifelike motion and how anyone can learn to make them and bring them to life.

The prototype was a perfect blend of STEAM education with the magic of animatronics. Visitors saw firsthand how servo motors, linkages, and sound synchronization could mimic nature—making technology concepts tangible and tactile.

This concept has evolved into a fully-fledged DIY kit now funding on Kickstarter. The Animatronic Songbird Mini retains the charm of the original but is optimized for makers of all ages. Garner Holt’s kit merges theme park magic with maker tech—perfect for educators, tinkerers, and curious minds.  

This kit has less than ten days left on Kickstarter AND also has give-back perks for the WonderLab!