Maker Faire is at its best when you’re not just looking—you are to do. This weekend at Mare Island, you can solder a wearable EMF detector, turn an old t-shirt into a braided key ring, build your own sock puppet, code a competition-ready robot, assemble a mobility device that makes a real difference, or even bring an AI-powered robot to life. Add in leatherwork, jewelry, light painting, tinkercad, creature building, biotechnology, and a kombucha petting zoo, and it becomes pretty clear: there’s no shortage of ways to get your hands busy at Maker Faire Bay Area. Whether you’re a seasoned tinkerer or have never picked up a soldering iron before, there’s something waiting for you to take apart, figure out, build and take home proudly. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the workshops, activities and demonstrations happening throughout the weekend.
Listen to the hidden world of electronic frequencies
Those EMF Explorer Badge lets you explore the sound of electronic frequencies and see how many different sounds you can find in the world around you! This soldering kit is shiny, portable and easy to assemble! Sold your own during one of our workshops and discover the tones everywhere! How many different EMF sources can you detect? This activity is perfect for curious minds who want to learn how to solder and handle a soldering iron safely. All ages are welcome but adult supervision is required for younger makers. Find out what it’s all about – and when – on the Foundry Floor. Schedule here.
Upcycle! Upcycle! Upcycle! And make a cool keychain
Scatha Allison aka Ms Velvet Cream Neocoture sewed in San Francisco in 2003, and is a self-taught clothing designer and has been coming to Maker Faire for years with her truly fabulous upcycled fashions. And this year she’s at Mare Island to show you how to do it too. Head over to the Craft & Create Workshop area for a workshop session too DIY your own t-shirt and a keychain charm! Participants tie their own charms – clips and t-shirt strips provided. Learn how to make a basic 4-strand braid and complete a custom project to the finish! Skill level- flexible. Children are welcome, but youth under the age of 12 need adult support. Find out where you can MAKE YOUR OWN.
Make a sock puppet. Give it a life.
Come learn how make your own sock puppet from scratch with Emmy Award-winning dog designer Michael “Shoop” Schupbach. Michael has designed and built puppets for iconic productions including Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House, Avenue Q, and Mrs. Rachel. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn professional puppet-making techniques used in television and live performance while creating a one-of-a-kind puppet to take home. Ages 10 and up are welcome, and the workshop is perfect for parents and children to craft together. All materials are provided, and no previous puppetry experience is required.
First you build a robot, you compete in the Olympics
Ready to turn circuits, code and creativity into a robot that can compete? EASE Robotics is a free competitive robotics program for late elementary and middle school students—and this workshop puts you in the driver’s seat. Learn how circuit boards work, write code to control them, and put sensors, autonomous programming, and clever mechanisms to work. Then design and build your own competition-ready robot for the Robot Olympics. No boring robot kits with everything figured out. You learn how the pieces work, experiment with your own ideas and build something that can actually compete. Build it. Code it. Compete!
Make something that matters at Maker Faire Bay Area
Mobility Making Party is a hands-on social event where manufacturers, families and volunteers come together to gather open-source Toddler Mobility Trainers (TMTs) for young children with mobility disabilities. Participants immediately help create life-changing mobility devices – and at the end of the event, families receive the TMTs built by the community. As Maker Faire celebrates 20 years, this Mobility Making Party highlights how the maker movement has evolved from building cool things to building real social impact through open-source assistive technology, community collaboration, and distributed manufacturing. FIND A TIME if you can use your skills to help someone get theirs.
Build a voice-based AI toy
Build a palm robot with a brain of its own – and take it home! In this hands-on workshop, you’ll build an AI-powered conversational robot that can be a toy, an assistant, or the brains for your next robot project. You run the full Physical AI stack: create an AI agent, connect it to hardware, and bring it to life with real-time voice, vision, edge AI, and memory. Whether you’re into robots, AI companions, smart devices or IoT, you’ll get hands-on experience – and leave with a working prototype you’ve built yourself. Learn more.
Creatures, Creatures Come One Come All!
Those Mobile Maker Club Creature Lab is where scientific thinking and creativity merge as participants design creatures inspired by real or imaginary ecosystems. As an environmental innovation space, this lab emphasizes practical sustainability by reusing discarded materials to explore waste reduction, material life cycle and resource efficiency. Through construction and reimagining, participants change from seeing materials as disposable to recognizing them as adaptable, functional resources. Through this project, young makers explore basic engineering, electricity, renewable energy, and creative design. It is exciting for every student to test ideas, solve problems and customize their projects.
Counterculture Labs: DIY Biology and Citizen Science
Counterculture Labs has been coming to Maker Faire for over a decade and building cultures and community in the East Bay for even longer. Their view: Biotechnology has the potential to affect our lives as much or more than computers in the 20th century. From mycology to micromitigation, kombucha to Covid, they are ready to talk about it. And speaking of cultured creatures, visitors to the smelter can visit the kombucha petting zoo, see a running bioreactor, and check out our agar art!
Not only are there more workshops and activities in leather work, painting with light, jewelry making, and Tinkercad, you can build a model of a cell, exhibitors offer many practical activities about the different areas when the event, shows you their process and set up opportunities for learning and inspiration.
Admission to Maker Faire Bay Area is required for workshops and is not included in the workshop ticket price. Learn more about when and where these activities take place on our SCHEDULE PAGE and about hands-on activities HERE.
