Making a Magnet Wall

What can you do with a thousand flat refrigerator magnets?  That was the question I had when we received a donation of old magnets.  They were part of an advertising campaign from 2005 for a local theme park.  Sometimes it simply the shear number of a certain material that helps us develop an activity in MAKESHOP.

I thought it would be cool to make patterns or pixel drawings using the magnets on one of our metal pegboard walls.  I basically wanted to different colors of magnets.

So I got some light paint and some dark paint and started painting as many magnets as possible.  I prototyped some other ideas to change the color of the magnets (glue black and white paper to the surface, spray paint, etc).  Just painting them with a roller seemed to work the best.

I figured that having just two different colors would make it easier for visitors to create simple patterns on the wall.

Also, magnets are always fun to play with.

-Kevin