Maker Faire Bay Area (US)

It’s been called The World’s Largest DIY Festival. And on May 30th and 31st Maker Faire 2009 is back in the US.

Brought to you by the creators of Make magazine, Makezine.com, and Craftzine.com, Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, CRAFT, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, food, music, science and technology.

In March they were in the UK. Now Maker Faire returns to the US for the 4th Annual Maker Faire Bay Area: Re-Make America.

Following on President Obama’s call to “begin again the work of remaking America”, Maker Faire 2009 will be organized around the theme of Re-Make America. Held in the San Francisco Bay Area on May 30-31, Maker Faire celebrates what President Obama called “the risk takers, the doers, and the makers of things.” The fourth annual Maker Faire will showcase individual creativity and grassroots innovation in the largest festival devoted to DIY culture and technology in the country.

Creations from last year’s event included robots, costumes and cupcake-shaped electric cars, complete with icing and sprinkles. This event is definitely on the cutting edge–perfect for you indie crafters.

May 30 & 31, 2009

San Mateo County Expo Center

2495 S. Delaware St.

San Mateo, CA 94408

Onsite Ticket Pricing:

Adult – $25.00
Student (13-21, or with student photo ID) – $15.00
Youth (4-12) – $10.00
Children 3 and under are free

Online Discount Tickets:
Avoid lines onsite and save money by purchasing your tickets in advance.
Save $5-$20 per ticket!

Online tickets – discount pricing available through 5/20/2009. Online ticket purchases from 5/21/2009 – 5/28/2009 will be full price.

After talking about the pirate themed chalk obstacle course the other day, I got to thinking about other easy, low prep games and activities you can do with kids outside. A lot of these are ideas I found on Pinterest that don’t link to blogs anymore if they ever did, but often that’s all the detail you need to figure out what’s going on.

First, a couple from blogs that are still alive. If you have a lot of trees in your yard or in your park, you probably also have a lot of sticks, so you can pretty easily do this stick maze activity from Mother Natured. Build the maze yourself or have one child build if for another. Either way it’s lots of fun and you can keep it built to use as a labyrinth or for pretend play.

If it’s hot where you live you might want outdoor activities that involve water like this fill the bucket relay game. The only thing you might not have at home is giant sponges, but this is still pretty low prep, inexpensive and lots of fun if you have two or more kids to play. Check out how to do it from The Resourceful Mama. And check out my post all about ice and water sensory activities for more ideas to beat the heat.

Make some x’s and o’s or use something you already have to be your game pieces (you can also just draw them on paper plates for a super fast version) and make a large tic tac toe board on the sidewalk. The bonus of reusable game pieces is kids can play with the same grid over and over, which is great if you don’t have a ton of space.

I also love the idea of drawing a big bullseye on the sidewalk or driveway and using beanbags or sponges to try to hit the target. If you have hula hoops you can also set them in a grassy area and have kids try to hit them.

Check out more fun outdoor games for kids from The Printable Princess. These are more for big groups of kids, but if you’ve got a classroom full these are good ones to have on hand for getting some energy out.

Do you have favorite outdoor games for kids to play when it’s hot? I’d love to hear about them!

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