Members of the Austin Bike Zoo demonstrate their butterfly bike.

Before Maker Faire starts tomorrow in New York, K-12 students got a chance to see some of the exhibits before the masses descend on the New York Hall of Science.

“We want to make sure kids get here even if their parents don’t,” said MAKE founder Dale Dougherty.

At Education Day kids got to play with 3D modeling, make a marshmallow shooter, manipulate robots, build geometric designs, and eat pancakes from the Lego Pancake Bot, a 3D printer made from Legos that “prints” out pancake batter onto a griddle.

The students were at ease with all the technology.

“They figure it out very quickly,” said Karen Howard, community marketing manager with Autodesk and Instructables. “They’re better with the software than me sometimes.”