18 popup ideas to test the market before committing to a 100-person venue.

"Regional science-fair winners re-present their projects — pitched down to an 8–12-year-old crowd."

Watch 3–4 short student talks, handle the project boards and props, then vote on the one they'd most want to try themselves.

"A competition-math teen explains one surprising, practical idea — like why your phone's encryption is just clock arithmetic."

Follow a single big idea (modular arithmetic, the pigeonhole principle, or why shuffles aren't random) through a hands-on puzzle they solve in pairs.

"A FIRST/VEX robotics team brings their competition bot, demos it, and lets kids drive it."

See the robot run its routine, learn how it senses-decides-moves, then take turns driving it through a simple course.

"Two college CS students live-code a tiny browser game in 90 minutes while kids shout out the features."

Call out what the game should do (a jumping cat? a power-up?), watch it appear on screen, and get the finished game's link to keep playing at home.

"A teen explains what a neural net actually is — using candy-sorting rules — then runs a live image classifier on the kids' own drawings."

Sort candy by 'rules' to feel how a model learns, then draw something and watch an AI try to guess it live.

"Everyone builds the same KiwiCo crate in pairs — the lowest-friction way to test a hands-on event."

Open a crate, follow the steps with a buddy, and walk out with a finished build (catapult, arcade, automaton).

"Program a wearable step-counter or a two-player reaction game on a real micro:bit."

Snap a micro:bit to a battery, drag-and-drop code in the browser, and flash it to build a working gadget they test against a friend.

"Build a hand-cranked moving sculpture out of cardboard, dowels, and cams."

Design a character, build the cam mechanism that makes it bob/spin, and crank it to life.

"Make a greeting card or poster that genuinely lights up — no soldering."

Lay copper-tape circuits, add LEDs and a coin-cell battery, and design art around their working light.

"Teams race to build the tallest free-standing tower that survives a marshmallow on top."

Work in teams against the clock, test and rebuild, and measure the survivors in a final showdown.

"Make a 10-second animated film with clay characters and a phone."

Sculpt characters, shoot frame-by-frame with a free app, and screen everyone's films at the end.

"Build a tiny vibrating robot that scribbles its own art across the table."

Wire a motor to a battery, mount markers, and race or 'art-battle' their bots.

"Ship a playable game in two hours — no materials, infinitely repeatable."

Pick a theme, build a game in Scratch, and play each other's creations in a closing arcade.

"Learn to 'talk to' an image model — then critique and remix what it makes."

Write and refine prompts on a supervised station, then discuss what the AI got right, wrong, and weird (a real responsible-AI conversation).

"Parent-and-kid pairs build one kit together — and the parents leave sold."

Team up with their grown-up to build a kit side by side; the parent sees exactly what a Hi, Bot session feels like.

"Half student presentations, half free-play build stations — tests both formats in one session."

Watch a few short student demos, then rotate through open build stations at their own pace.

"Safely take apart a donated toaster, keyboard, or remote to see what's really inside."

Disassemble donated electronics with real (kid-safe) tools, sort the parts, and learn what each component does.

"Write code that makes beats — coding for the kids who think they hate coding."

Build a short looping track in Sonic Pi or Scratch, layer sounds, and play the room their creation.