Nurturing Students’ Creativity at the Mini Maker Faire

Blippar Education teamed up with the Institute of Imagination, yet again, to celebrate children’s creativity - this time for the Mini Maker Faire. The faire is dedicated to inspiring the next generation of makers. It encourages children to re-imagine the world through playfulness and experimentation. Blippar and iOi sparked the children's imaginations with a hands-on, brains-on approach that fused physical installations, multimedia storytelling and augmented reality (AR) magic.

The children were tasked with thinking about their city and imagining all the different animals that might live in these urban spaces. We then asked them to create a picture story about one of these animals. Once complete they were given the opportunity to narrate their story in a recording studio, with all the enthusiasm and passion they could muster.

Now it was time to bring their drawings to life! The children were whisked to the 'blipp making station' to learn how to make their very own augmented reality experiences. With our AR creation tool Blippbuilder the kids brought their drawings to life with the videos they had recorded earlier and decorated with other images. Simply scan the drawing below with the Blippar app and get a peek at one of the dozens of blipps that have been created.

The final step was to place their animals in a magical urban forest, complete with cardboard trees, overflowing leaves and secret dens for them to draw whatever their imaginations conjured.

Once finished, everyone explored the urban forest to hunt out each other’s drawings. Pointing the Blippar app at these creations brought them to life as pop-up augmented reality digital stories.

Tom Doust, Director of Experience and Learning at iOi, described the workshops as “pushing the boundaries in creating an immersive environment that was completely child-led”. Science, art and tech were brought together in an “innovative, experimental way which pushed the children's imagination to a new level”. He commented that the “dynamic effect of utilising and teaching the children augmented reality not only created a meaningful legacy for the project but also showcased the ways in which new tech can push the boundaries of imagination”.

Don’t forget, you can also get involved in creating magical educational experiences with Blippar! Just fill out this form https://blippar.com/en/contact-us/#education or contact us directly at education@blippar.com.