Robot Garage First Birthday Party

The Robot Garage is turning one and celebrating with a free Birthday Party--packed with fun, educational activities for the whole family. Building enthusiasts and the community at-large will have a chance to experience, explore, and play at this “geeky but cool” family hotspot in  the Birmingham Rail District during this special celebration, Friday, June 1, from 10 am to 8pm.

After celebrating 200+ children’s parties in their first year, The Robot Garage is excited to have a party of their own! Drop-In open building with LEGO®, LaQ®, and DUPLO®
building materials will be free for the whole day. In addition, other free activities include: robotics demonstrations, hands-on “Sumo” robot competitions, a community LEGO® mosaic, and various displays built with LEGO®, Makedo™ and LaQ®.

Treat Dreams, the Ferndale micro ice creamery, will be on-site with their ice cream truck selling frozen goodies at the First Birthday Party. Motor City Franks will also be on-site, selling classic Detroit and Chicago-style hot dogs, Faygo, and Better Made potato chips.

The Birthday Party will also offer a preview of The Robot Garage Summer Camps. The popular weeklong summer camps will run again this year, from June 25 – August 24 for grades 1-8. These weekly camps offer a hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) experience for all levels to create with LEGO® bricks, as well as
explore robotics, gears, motors, and related computer programming skills. This summer, campers and community will collaborate on two large permanent LEGO® mosaics—one of the Detroit skyline and one of a robot!

Additionally, partygoers will have the chance to shop The Robot Garage store, which features an ever-expanding collection of fun and educational toys from all over the world. The store features rare and unusual brands, such a Fischer Technic -- a nuts-and-bolt  building brand of yesteryear, LaQ®--a colorful and flexible building system from Japan, and Makedo™--a series of kits that allow you to turn disposable packaging into toys and playthings.

“This first year has been incredible. The community at-large has supported The Robot Garage in so many ways. We have our economic challenges in Michigan but there could be no better place to start a new business like this. Our family of customers, teachers and students is truly our guiding voice as we continue to roll out new programs and grow. It’s been truly inspiring to watch students advance from ‘assemblers’ following instructions to ‘builders’ who are problem solving and creating unique and innovative creations,” says owner Sarah Jacobs.

The owners, husband and wife Sarah and Jonathan Jacobs, have had an incubator approach to business development – consistently optimizing programming to meet the community’s needs. Kids’ birthday parties have been a surprisingly popular offering at The Robot Garage.

“Sometimes we have as many as ten in one weekend! Parents love that the activities are educational, and kids are delighted to get to build with their friends for a few hours,” says Sarah. Demand for birthday parties and input from students and parents have shaped the class curricula and schedules.