Families are invited to reuse the salvaged toy parts provided to make their own inventive characters with the artist group FrankenToyMobile. Workshop facilitators help children creatively mix-up toy parts such as a furry toy bunny with muscular Hulk arms.

Launched in June 2015, the FrankenToyMobile is a pedal-powered maker space that encourages imagination and curiosity by providing free, hands-on workshops where youth and adults reuse toys as raw material for original creations. By inviting youth to modify “junk” toys into objects that they feel express their identity and personality, we encourage them to experiment, challenge dominant ideas about gendered toys, and see the world as being full of possibility. To date, we have served 3700 people through more than 70 workshops in public spaces around Chicago.

The FrankenToyMobile was created by artists Andrés Lemus-Spont, Marya Spont-Lemus, Louis Fernandez, and Michael Pecirno. Learn more about the team and other contributors.