I learnt a lot on Saturday.  With every maker event there are opportunities for collaborations and family learning activities, and this weekend’s #MakeBelieve focus was about young people imagining the tech of the future.

That saw paired projects with peers, intergenerational activities and individual inspirations and inventions at Leeds City Museum – all part of the awesome programme from the Leeds International Festival, and curated by Playful Leeds.

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We transported Leeds Raspberry Jam to the festival with a range of family-friendly challenges.

Digital making projects using Raspberry Pi included Minecraft hacks with Python, gaming with Scratch and exploring connections with GPIO.

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With imagination as the catalyst for invention, it was great to see how challenges progressed and digital stories changed directions with questions and input from others; not necessarily from a coding perspective.

We also had examples of projects from the group of digital makers at Swallow Hill, who have been making Yorkshire-themed robots and taking inspiration from the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s #Pioneers programme.

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So what did I learn?  On reflection later that evening, and catching up with the day’s news:

I want to bring back my imagination and gawp at the future like a child again.  And then I’ll reflect like an adult.  And then as a child.  And as an inventor.  I’ll reflect on them all as inspiration and insight, thanks.

Shout out to Playful Anywhere for inviting us along and curating a Maker event in Leeds for, literally, everyone.  Through the eyes of the children and their inventions, I came away with so many ideas.

And to @BloodyNoraDJ for the images taken on the day – every one a unique maker story 😀