The merry Makers (Les joyeux Patenteux)
By Jean Sebastien Busque
The Merry Makers is a TV show where JS and Fred, two likeable yet slightly irreverent tinkerers, work on awesome projects and show young people how to make tons of practical stuff while cultivating their curiosity and know-how!
Type: Commercial, Education
What inspired you or what is the idea that got you started?
The Merry Makers materialized as the pandemic and lockdown brought many to reconsider how much time we – kids included - spend in front of screens. With free time on our hands, we decided to use those very hands – and our brains – to make all sorts of stuff: carpentry, crafts, bread! Our series seeks to inspire the youth to undertake their own projects and reap the satisfaction that comes with it.
What is your project about and how does it work?
In each episode, JS and Fred challenge themselves to create fun and surprising thingamajigs, real show-stopping projects that combine science, creativity, and the unexpected. They’ll also show the audience how to make and repair all sorts of things that are lying around the house. And they’ll spark their young audience’s creativity by getting them to identify weird stuff and to figure out what some rather odd objects are actually used for.
This series draws upon the mindset all tinkerers everywhere have in common. It celebrates healthy curiosity, learning how to figure things out, and the idea that when you work together, you can find a solution for just about anything. Sometimes the challenges are simple, and sometimes they’re totally nuts! We swap know-how to create new things and get stuff done while having fun all along the way. The results might not always be perfect, but you’ll know you made it yourself, the way you wanted, and that’s something everyone can be proud of!
What did you learn by doing this project?
Making is like a muscle, the more you do it the better you will get!
What impact does your project have on others as well as yourself?
We hope to get young people to cultivate their curiosity and know-how.
