Booby Traps

As evidenced by the huge success of the "Home Alone" franchise, kids love booby traps. After watching that movie my kid spent days threading string through the house, hiding, and setting traps of his own design. Although I don't suggest getting in the way of that exploration, after a while, it is time to show a kid how to catch food, or crooks, if they need to.
The trap, or treadle snare as it is more rightly called, that we are going to make is modified from its most practical application (left) for tamer indoor fun. The way we will build this snare won't kill your cat, but will be a blast for the kids and demonstrate the principles involved. That being said, to avoid any random accident, and to teach good skills, always watch the traps while playing with them, and disarm them when not monitoring them personally.

You will need, 4-8 rubber bands, string, pencil (unsharpened) or dowel, Ottoman or stool, and a couple of narrow (1/4") sticks ; Your particular arrangement will determine the necessary lengths. Light weight material is better for the cross member, as the tension the rubber bands provide to the string and noose need to hold its weight (lest it slip and release the trap).

1. With the rubber bands make a chain.
2. Tie a length of string to each end of the chain. The rubber bands will provide the spring tension that the sapling does in the illustration above.
3. Tie one end to an anchor point, and thread it under the chair or ottoman.
4. on the opposite end make a 5" diameter noose and then tie the pencil, in the middle about 8" back toward the rubber band chain.
5. Now set up the trap as you see below, and above.
6.Two cross members the top usually being part of the stool or ottoman, and at least two treadles laid on top of the bottom cross member at one end and the ground at the other. The string should be pulled tight, the noose laid open on top of the treadles, and the trigger set; by putting the pencil in position, perpendicular to the cross members.
Now you can throw a small stuffed animal on top and watch what happens. The trapped item will vanish it gets snatched so fast. If things aren't quite right the trap may need adjusting; make sure the noose is large enough, tension tight enough on string, and that the object you are trapping has something about it that makes it easy for the snare to grab. The item in our video is a dog toy with lots of little arms.

Beach Combing

Fantastic finds can be made at the beach without the aid of a medal detector. All sorts of debris is washed up or left behind. From rocks and bottle glass, to a sharks tooth or a "My Little Pony."

Hit the beach and make a project of searching for treasure. Build it up with talk of treasure all the way to the beach. It's all about perceived value and the better yo say it's gonna be, the better it will be assuming you've got enough game to keep the fun rolling when you get to the beach. If you don't, take someone who does. Everything counts as treasure when it's found. Trash can go in the dumpster when you leave the beach and you'll have done the sand a service. Below is our last haul. All of it was wrapped in seaweed or buried mostly in sand when we found it, and it stayed sticky until we got a chance to wash it in fresh water. You're the only one who notices, the kids usually don't care. Also, they will pick up sticks and seaweed, and even carcasses. My son found and kept the castle wall, "My Little Pony" and the red plastic heart went to his cousin Sara, also on the expedition, and the bucket and shovel went to the youngest member of team.

These are artifacts of one of my personal best days. It was Ocean Beach circa 1994. I went at lunch from San Francisco State and there where ribbons
of gorgeous rock of all different colors. Plus I scored the tooth! I keep this in a cigar box I lined with velvet, and still enjoy opening it to remember that day. Treasure in a box. As promised.

Extreme Gutter Racing

When you are a kid getting wet is just about as good as it gets. In the summer my son has always been a fool for the pool, the sprinkler, water balloons or any other vehicle for wetness. That love of wet isn’t seasonal for kids. Most kids will head out into the rain and splash and get dripped on until they are forced to come in and get dry.

Water appeals to our limbic senses; like fire, it fascinates. For a developing brain, so much is gleamed in play with water. Mix that with a good race and you’ve got a winning activity. A gutter race is a race in a gutter flowing with water, and can be run by anything that will float and be carried by the gutter’s current: Leafs, corks, paper boats, and even sticks can work well.

Extreme gutter racing however requires a small investment of time. First a premium course needs to be scouted out. This is a great activity, and can give a purpose to those walks through the neighborhood. You are seeking a nice down hill course uninterrupted by intersections (unless the water keeps flowing at the turn). The longer the course, the better. Ideally few parked cars and low traffic as well. Also, inside and outside bends, and even rapids as the water travels over cracks in the concrete or over drains (assuming they won't eat the boats. So this can require some true scouting.

College campuses often have a section of road off limits to cars and perfect for the job. The best course I have found recently is an hour plane ride from my house. It was a long utility driveway from a public parking lot down to the beach. Because it was unplanned we had to use what was available to us. With some experimenting we found the best leaves we could and had at it. To keep the race fair, use the same item as your opponent for a boat. But in extreme gutter racing anything goes. Build obstacles with small collections of rocks.

The next required element for Extreme gutter racing is time invested in building a boat. Corks are great because they never stop. But the ante can be up’d by using something that could get loaded up with water and sink, like a bottle cap raft made out of a few caps glued together. Put a sail on it. Paint it. Name your ship, and head out to the races.

Find your spot. Make your boats. Wait for the right day. Race. With all the time invested we teach long term goals, and elements of planning larger projects. And, as always, the more invested, the more enjoyed.

Video feedback: Rainy day fun

One of the coolest and simplest examples of infinity is the phenomenon observed when two mirrors face each other; each in parallel planes, reflecting the others reflection, as far back into the reflection as we can follow. Hmmm.

If a microphone comes too close to its monitor (the speaker) it squeals. A similar phenomenon can be produced with a video camera and its monitor, but, it squeals visually. We call it video feedback. The most simple examples look very similar the mirror phenomenon. The most controlled can resemble galaxies, cells, or bleeding mandalas of light.

Older TVs and tube cameras give a softer feeling to the feedback than LCD screens and chip cameras. However, old tube cameras can be damaged over time, the same way your eyes might by staring at the sun. Don't worry, if you have a tube camera, you know it because it is probably 30 years old. Along with messing with the focus and exposure on the camera, the tint and color balance etc on the TV itself are another level of control over the effect you get. Older knob control TVs can be changed without the use of a remote, and so no display on the screen during experimentation. That will only be relevant if you or your kid really geeks out, and start clocking serious hours. In that case, wait for garbage day in your neighborhood, go out and pick up a New old TV.  Recycle, Recycle, Recycle. You might even find an old tube camera.

So here's what to do. Plug any camera into a monitor so that if it is pointed at you, then you appear on the monitor. Then, point the camera at the TV and zoom out. You should see a TV inside of a TV inside of a TV ad infinitum. Rotate the camera on its Z Axis, and the ever shrinking TVs will spiral into the distance. Now Zoom in slowly. The images begin to overlap, degenerate, creating patterns. By controlling the light source, ambient light, focus, zoom, exposure etc., Very cool moving images can be produced. 

These photos here were shot off the TV on 2 and 1/4" slides. No computer assisted in the making of these images until they were scanned for publishing here. 

Have fun!

Rolling Ball Sculpture/ Machine

I'll never forget the first time I saw a rolling ball machine as a child. It was a simple affair, but, I played with it for the better part of a day. Over the years I have made attempts to build my own out of wood, metal, and even clay with varying success. Then I found cardboard. Using Recycled cardboard to build toys is one of my passions, and inside of and hour you can build a pretty cool rolling ball machine.

The first machine I built with my son was literally made from heavy card-stock clippings left over from another project. We creased them to make a channel and glued them together. Only 2 or 3 specialized pieces were cut.




The second example below is more structured, and took a little longer to make. We spent a couple of hours getting it right. This video shows the ball rolling off the foam base, but, there are a couple of magnets at the bottom that are meant to collect the ball bearing as it exited the ramp, and another magnet at the top of the sculpture for ball storage. I only mention this because again, imagination is the only limitation.
There is no limit to what supplies might be used. String, paper towel tubes, a spare piece of pipe, a bell hung where it will ring as the ball passes. Whatever.

As to some general rules for quick construction I offer these ideas. Using a metal yard stick cut strips of card stock or cardboard for some of your channels (ramps). After you have enough strips,use the yardstick again as a guide to burnish straight down the center of the cardboard strip. Now it will be easy to fold a nice straight channel for the ball to roll down. Glue guns will be your best tool for assembly. As always; Be Careful! They are hot.

I have used towers for vertical support, or a diorama configuration. To build a diorama, simply cut the top and one face off of a box of your desired size. You can then use the walls as pivot points for your sculpture, and the base to mount tower style supports. The ball can even pierce the wall and travel out and then back in again.

Making rounded turns can be accomplished by cutting short sections of your channel and gluing them at ever increasing bends; similar to the scales of a snake or that of armor.

Holes can be put in the bottom of channels to allow the ball to fall through to the channel below.

Stops can be placed at the end of runs where the ball needs to change direction quickly.

Have Fun!

Make an electric water gun

My mantra is “Don’t buy it Make it.” I’m not cheap, I could spend time making fun with my kid, or, I could spend time at work making money and then time at the store for a toy that will be loved no more than anything we make together. It can be a real challenge to find the supplies on hand to accomplish your task unless you are “handy” or a “collector” etc. Imagination will always bridge the gap where supplies are lacking. Supplies and tools will never bridge the gap where imagination is lacking. The project in this article worked out for me at the time. I had everything on hand and was willing to use it. It could be an expensive project otherwise, but substitutions can always be made. This is only one possible iteration. Frankly, the true subject of this article is doing whatever you want with whatever you’ve got.

So my son and I were are at Target, and my son sees the Spiderman web blaster wrist attachment that shoots aerosol foam party string. He definitely wants it. Frankly, when I was about his age Spiderman was on TV too, and there was some variation of the same toy. I wanted it. But, it was a little too big for his 4.5 yrs old hand, and it requires refills. So I nixed it. He was not happy, but I promised we would build a better one.

As I said, this was a dream of mine 30 years prior. I knew how bad he wanted the toy, and I knew that my version had better be good if it was going to satisfy. So here’s what we did, and what we used. We built an electric squirt gun that sprayed off his wrist, out of a 1.5-liter water bladder in a pack on his back.

We used a couple feet of surgical tubing, a water pump (from a broken Swiffer floor mop), a wrist guard from his skateboard pads, electric switch, 9V battery, a couple feet of wire, and a camel back water pack, an old squirt gun. The tubing was from a parachute launcher we built. The pump was salvaged from the Swiffer (along with most of the rest of it) before it was thrown out, the switch and wire were from something long ago, the battery new, the wrist brace and camelback were sacrificed (but not totally ruined). In fact we’ll probably reuse all this stuff again, because he doesn’t use it much anymore because it doesn’t fit anymore. Below is a picture of the assembled project. Cost prohibits me from redoing it with step-by-step pictures.

First, we took off the camelback’s hose to the mouth. We used a silicone glue to bid the intake of the Swiffer pump. Out of the Pump we attached the surgical tubing. We didn’t need glue because it was a snug fit. Though, as a note here, Krazy glue and other similar glues can often harden soft rubbers and not work well on slippery plastics like the outlet the this pump was made of, so I always try for fit or use silicone. Roughing up slippery surfaces can help glues to adhere. Shoe Goo is a good product; it binds well to a lot and keeps some flexibility. We measured the tubing out of the backpack and down the arm, and cut it off with some to spare, we could always trim it back if it is too long. From the squirt gun, we salvaged the nozzle (were the water comes out), and the hose connecting to the nozzle. We connected the hose to the surgical tubing. In our case we stepped the gauge of the hose up by sliding a thicker one over the first and then into the surgical tubing for a perfect fit. Then we inserted the hose and nozzle to the wrist on the skate pad. Lastly we connected the wires at the pump to the battery and then to the switch, making sure the pump is pumping in the correct direction before we soldered the wires. We made sure that the switch easily reached his hand, and so the last piece to be done would be to attach the switch while it was on my son’s arm.

Any piece of this could be reworked. The bladder could be a 7Up bottle in a backpack and the wrist brace a sweatband. You could mount a bladder on your hip or even simply add a pump and battery with an intermittent switch to a large water gun. Or, take a large pump water gun and make a pump only wrist blaster. Any set of project instructions can be used as a springboard for your imagination to satisfy your desire with the tools and supplies you have on hand.

How To Make a Toy Parachute

So this will be the first in a series of toys in my "Chop Chop" series. They are quick and easy; Bam! Done! You can always take time to make this with your kid, but, usually I treat this like a paper airplane. Make it and hand it off to be attached to Something, and played with. With Supplies on hand, it will take 5 minutes. This project can be scaled, and, materials swapped. The Best Parachute My son and I ever made (exactly the same way, just not a bag) was from the skin of a kid's umbrella. So, Recylce Materials into toys.

Parachutes are excellent fun. Boys and Girls love them. Throw them off stairs, balconies, wad and throw them, use a pole to lift them from the inside enter and let them drop. 

SUPPLIES: plastic grocery bag, scissors, string

1. Lay out your bag.

 
2. cut it in half (2 broad sides).

3. Grab the center of the bag with your index and thumb, make a ring with your other fingers and pull the edges down (like a ghost).

4. As far back as you can from the point, cut straight across (or at a very subtle arc).

5. So now you have a circle. It doesn't need to be a perfect circle to work perfectly.

6. Using a sharpie, mark 5 points at equal distance around the circumference of the circle.

7. Take the string and fold it over five times equal in length to about 1.5 times the diameter of your chute.

8. Cut the looped end of the string at each end. You should now have five fairly equal lengths of string.

9. Grab your chute at one of the marked points and pinch it.

10. Tie one end of the string and the small pinched tab of chute together in a knot.

11. Then tie the remaining string back around itself just once, or it may slip. This method of securing the string to the chute is far more durable than taping or punching a hole, and it takes the same time.

12. Repeat steps 9-11 at each of the 5 marks around the perimeter of the chute.

13. Pinch the center of your chute and pull the strings even and taught.

14. Tie it to something. Chop Chop. Bam! Done!

Afterward: You may find that the parachute spins as it descends. This is caused by air spilling out from under one side of the canopy, thereby causing it to spin. By cutting a hole in the top center of your chute, or slits on it's surface. A fun project may be to experiment with different hole and slit patterns, or even canopy shapes.

Space Stations & Dioramas

Space Stations and Dioramas are great ideas for kids projects when you've got some fun shaped packing foam or cardboard. Whether you're going to get Medieval or Futuristic will inform your choice of decoration.

Kids recycling projects Materials can be found everywhere. Laser guns can be made from specialized plastic pieces taken out of and old VCR, or drawn on and cut out of cardboard. Old broken toys are great! Sometimes you can salvage a ray-gun with lights and a noise from one that gat stepped on and was headed to the trash.

We can use existing miniature spacecraft or soldiers (or princes, princesses and ponies), or make them out of cardboard. Above is a simple space station with lasers drawn on heavy white card-stock and a few vehicles. The Red car and white tank were folded over like a greeting card, drawn on with a sharpie, and painted in the case of the car. They each took 2-5 minutes to make. It's not just fun doing projects with kids, it can teach valuable lessons in techniques and values.

Glue guns are really useful in the making of these toys. The glue creates strong immediate bonds. Apply the glue either directly to the item, or in more delicate efforts, make a puddle of hot glue and run the edge of the surface desired to be glued through the puddle. Teach your child right away to respect the gun, cause it can burn. Hot glue keeps burning after it gets stuck to you. That being said, my son is 6 and uses the glue gun under my supervision. We've had an accident, it clearly hurt (all night). Mostly I do the glue gun work while he "holds something in place" or is concepting. The trick is to keep a dialogue going and continue to include them wherever possible. Remember, all over the world little kids are sewing your shoes on industrial machines; and their parents aren't supervising. Kids can do a lot, and more the earlier we start with them. Stay in your comfort zone, try new things.

Science and Art of Kids Cardboard Projects

Any kids craft project should be designed to accomplish a few objectives.

1. Have Fun spending time together, and Make something Really Cool.
2. Kick-start and Mentor your child's Creative Spirit and Ability.
3. Teach physical Craft Skills; proper and affective use of tools and materials.
4. Save trips to the Toy store and Bank, while Reusing on hand Supplies.
5. Give a Return on Investment by providing your child with a "toy" that will occupy their imagination and time while you cook dinner.

Throughout this Blog I'm posting some pictures and video of projects as examples to excite you. Future articles will deal with the How-To aspects of a particular medium.

Then there are a few rules to follow to making the experience fun for you and your child.

1. The type of project we choose to do should be Informed by our Kids.
2. Never let our limited imagination limit our kid's.
3. In the mind of the child we should only be their Production Monkey.

In reality, the servant must retain the role of master by helping to create realistic options for the completion of a project on time and budget. That being said, really try to let them invest their imagination.

The more your child feels the project reflects their vision, the longer and greater they will enjoy it, and the time spent together. This means finding ways to do as directed, while being the guide.

A simple example of this last point might play out like this.

"Hey Jack" says dad. "I've got an hour today free and thought we could build something out of this cardboard we've got.

Should we build a toy or a vehicle or a fort with it?"

So as the "real guide" we have set up some parameters around time, and materials; offered general direction about what might be possible, but still given a wide berth for their imaginations.

Now Jack says "a rocket ship that blasts off and fires things with a computer..."

The way to respond to this overwhelming request is to satisfy the basic requests without killing yourself, but, still blowing the kid away.

Here's how it could be handled. Assuming in this case we have the cardboard to make a sizable rocket. We build the rocket, install a stomp rocket out a port hole, or mount a Nerf-gun on a tourate

, then tape a small flashlight and calculator to the inside of the rocket. Easy enough and all criteria have been met. You are a hero, and hopefully they are still in diapers, because they're gonna **** their pants.

So "Feel the force, Let it flow through you..." fight it and your toast.

The project will always be more fun if you are BOTH working on it.