Our series of hands-on activities at this year’s Ecsite conference MakerSpace will be dedicated to "twisted toys": electronic toys and the wonderful possibilities that they hold for making and tinkering.

On Thursday 9 June we will discover together what makes these toys move, make noise, and light up by taking them apart using tools such as screwdrivers, scissors, and saws to explore the inner circuitry and mechanisms. As we engage in the process of dissection, we’ll capture observations, questions and discussions that come up during this workshop.

After we’ve collected the parts and recorded the purposes, we’ll spend the sessions on Friday and Saturday remixing, hacking, and then repurposing these toys. The possibilities will include low threshold activities like building art machines from the motors and using sewing needles and conductive thread to create new stuffed animals. All the while, experienced makers will invite participants to explore more high-tech ways of reanimating the toys using digital fabrication tools, arduinos, soldering irons, piezo microphones and block based programming.

On the last day (Saturday 11 June), we’ll spend some time reflecting on the multiple iterations and playful re-imaginings built collaboratively over the course of the conference. We’ll think together about how the process of dissecting and creating brings some clarity to MakerSpace goals of learners taking initiative and thinking about the world as something that can be understood, questioned and remade.