Institute of Imagination ELM Science Fair 2026/1448

ELM Science Fair 2026/1448

London Muslim Centre, 46 Whitechapel Road, E1 1JX. The theme is space. Seven stations across one room, drop-in all day, with a staffed tool area.

29 Aug
Saturday, 2026
9:00–17:30
public day · 8h 30m
on site 8:30 · setup 8:30–9:00
weather
400+
children at the fair
estimate, across the whole fair
7
stations
Nature in Motion holds three activities
9
activities
each with its own record · Sounds of the Universe has none yet
16
tables
asked of ELM · distribution not decided
1
on hold
Drawing Stars, not being taken further
7
facilitators named
6 on stations · Jen on support
volunteers
1 per station

Timetable

Delivery, setup, the run of the day, pack-down and Tuesday's collection.

Open →

Risk assessment

One row per activity. Owners named; the hazards and controls are not written yet.

Open →

Volunteer guide

What a volunteer does on the day, and what they are never asked to do.

Open →

Biomimicry

Fourteen examples of nature solving an engineering problem, with 33 print-ready photographs, 31 of them in the pack.

Open →

The day

Friday 28 August

  1. Courier delivers to ELMAddison Lee booked. Materials stay at the venue over the weekend.

Saturday 29 August

  1. 8:30 – 9:00 iOi arrives and sets upTool area first, it takes the mains socket. Volunteers briefed at their station.
  2. 9:00 Doors open
  3. 9:00 – 17:30 Seven stations runningDrop-in.
  4. ~13:00 The midday prayerDhuhr. 15 to 25 minutes with people gathering and leaving.
  5. Staff breaks
  6. ~16:45 The afternoon prayerAsr.
  7. 17:30 Public day ends
  8. Pack down and leave everything ready for collectionTools counted back in. Nothing travels home by hand.

Tuesday 1 September

  1. Courier collects from ELMAddison Lee. Materials are stored at the venue from Friday until then.

The event

East London Mosque Science Fair 2026/1448 flyer
Room
The large room, second floor
Getting there
46 Whitechapel Road, E1 1JX. Seven steps at the front entrance, no visitor parking.
Theme
Space
Zone
Storage
Organiser
ELM Youth Hub
Science Passport
A stamp at each activity, for prizes.
Entry
Ticketed, bought in advance.
Also on
A 360° dome planetarium, an AI and robotics zone, beekeeping and nature displays, pinhole cameras, first aid and CPR.

The stations

A station is a place with a table, a facilitator and a volunteer. An activity is a thing a child does. One station may run several, and each activity keeps its own card, folder and materials list.

Nature's Engineers station · Rayan

Paper engineering

activity

Flat paper folded, cut and curled into 3D buildings, using shapes nature already uses.

papercardtapeglue

Nature Magnifiers

activity

A little lens stuck to a visitor's own phone with Blu Tack. Nothing to charge, nothing to count back in.

lensesBlu Tacknature materials

Nature in Motion station · Brendon · Liber

Wind Tunnel

activity

Five makes tested in the airflow: helicopter, hovercraft, ring, jellyfish, parachute. The fly half on the board.

cellophanecoloured paperemergency blanketsstrawsfeatherslight junk

Junk Modelling Vehicles

activity

Vehicles built out of junk, and run. The roll half. Two chassis and three drives, one of which does not yet work. Its stock comes from the materials area.

bottle capsskewersstrawslolly stickselastic bandsballoons

Rockets

activity

Two builds: a straw air rocket fired off a paper straw, and a balloon on a folded paper fin. The only activity at the fair that throws something.

paper strawspapermasking tapeballoonsscissors

One activity each

Moon Buggies

activity

The English Martyrs LEGO Ramps activity: LEGO buggies on cardboard ramps, exploring slope, speed and distance.

LEGOfoldable rampgratnels
FacilitatorEma
Volunteers1

Sounds of the Universe

activity

Muireann's station, replacing Stop Motion Animation. Hers to prepare; the record waits for her activity document.

FacilitatorMuireann
Volunteers1

Junk Modelling

materials area

The shared stock every making station draws from. Junk collected from iOi and from ELM. Not an activity.

junkcardboardstrawsgluemasking tape
FacilitatorLiber
Volunteers1

Tool area

tools station

Not a children's activity. Mains power, and a facilitator on it whenever it is open. Volunteers use the tools once they have been inducted on them.

drillchompsawsglue gunsrotary tool
Facilitator
Volunteers1

Drawing Stars

on hold

The eight pointed star of Islamic art, drawn by hand. On hold from 18 August, not being taken further.

paperpencilsrulerscompasses
Facilitator
Volunteers

Jen is on Support, not on a station. She is the only name at this event not tied to one, which is the first answer the cover problem has had. Facilitators are as the Monday export of 18 August has them.

Both possible activities came off on 18 August. Drawing Stars is on hold. 360 Space Videos is dropped, and its record is in the archive.

Questions for the Mosque

To send to East London Mosque
Do we have storage space where we can leave our things on Friday and pick them up on Tuesday?
What happens at prayer time? Is that a good time for our team to have a break?
Where can our van unload?
Please send a fire exit plan of the building, with our rooms marked and, ideally, the sockets and the number of tables available to us.

Questions for you

1 · How is a station covered while its facilitator is away?

A volunteer may not be left alone with children, so breaks and the two prayers fall on stations with nobody to hand over to.

2 · What time do we leave?

Pack-down has no end, and the venue needs a time for the room.

3 · What happens at Quiet Creative Space?

A sentence on what a child does there gives it a type, a card and a materials file. It is the last station with none.

4 · When does the tool induction happen?

Volunteers use the tools once inducted, and the 8:30 to 9:00 window already holds the station briefings. It is also not only the tool area: any station with a tool on it needs it.

5 · Who owns the risk assessments?

Six of the ten rows have an owner, taken from the Monday export. Nature Magnifiers, Rockets, Junk Modelling Vehicles and Junk Modelling have none, and no row has a hazard or a control written against it.

6 · Is Nature in Motion one table or three?

It runs the wind tunnel, junk modelling vehicles and rockets. One facilitator and one volunteer is the figure for a station, so this decides whether it needs one pair of adults or three, and how much floor it takes.

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