Ideations & Test Models
The first Greater Newark Maker Faire showcased makers from all over the area and demonstrated to children and adults how easy it is to be a maker themselves. NJIT's Industrial Design department wanted to make the event especially fun for kids with hands-on activities for kids including creating a customizable creature toy. For the most time- and cost-effective design, we created a Mr.-Potato-Head-inspired body with various parts out of laser cut acrylic.

Final Design
The final pieces needed to be tightly arranged so we could get the most out of one sheet of acrylic. Kids had several options for legs, arms, heads, tails, and even wings. They could also add LED lights, googly eyes, and vinyl stickers.

Results
While we assembled some example NiJITs to help get the children started, many of them came up with creatures that were beyond anything we had imagined. While many started with the egg body, we also had extra body pieces that were not assembled for them to experiment with and start from scratch. With those pieces, along with the mixing of pieces such as wings being used for legs, heads being used for arms, and lights being used for eyes, some incredibly creative NiJITs came to life.