Building Joyful Connections with Chain Reactions

Imagine constructing a Rube Goldberg machine with friends miles (if not time zones) apart! In this workshop, we will co-construct a collaborative chain reaction over Zoom that focuses on building joyful connections. As learning designers and tinkerers from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the Exploratorium in San Francisco, we believe that collaboration is core to playful learning experiences and that centering hands-on play is key. This workshop will build on top of these values by scaffolding how to virtually build creative connections through a variety of different means that culminate in a large-scale, multi-step chain reaction. We hope that participants will leave with a greater sense of flexibility in virtual making experiences with Zoom, a renewed sense of delight and joy with new and old friends, and ways to apply an experience like this in their own spaces.