What have you made for your kids or grandkids?

[JAndrew]

HMEM,

I'm hoping to start a thread of pictures, plans, designs, or ideas for simple children's toys. As an example here's some pictures of a pretty ingenious 3d printed toy from Thingiverse.com:

Here's the link to anyone interested: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:90302

I could see a small kid being entertained by this toy for quite a while, screwing and unscrewing the parts together. And it serves the purpose of teaching them basic mechanics.

Toys like this teach basic physics, simple machines and most importantly, toys that are custom made teach kids not to live as a drone accepting the world only as a consumer of readily available products. Learning that an artisan can shape the world and objects around himself is something too many kids lack now. They need to see that designing and producing objects is not any type of mystical wizardry :wall: but simply a skilled hand and a sharp mind.

Sorry to get all preachy. Hopefully you all have some good input.

Parameters of the project would be: Fairly simple to make, safe (no sharp edges or flames), entertaining to kids ranging from 1.5yrs old to 12 yrs old and made from any material (wood, metal, plastic, etc).

Thanks in advance!
-J.Andrew

 

[Tin Falcon]

My son has had one of these for many years .Actuly we still have it in good condition. I made one for the rowdy neighbor kids.
I have a pattern I made somewhere.
Not my pattern but gets the idea across. the one I made used a piece of dowel. and thinner string and smaller hole.

http://laserkerf.com/climbing_bear.pdf
the one we have and the one I made we just put a face on with marker.

A fancy store bought version.

https://www.lehmans.com/p-3012-climbing-bear.aspx
Tin

 

[JAndrew]

TinFalcon,

Took me a minute to figure this one out. Very cool though! Exactly what this thread was aiming for!

Thanks,
-JAndrew

 

[Draw-Tech]

Hi JAndrew

I read your thread and thought about this plane I put together for an aviator friend of mine, that I originally made from Poplar, and liked the way it came out, and decided to make one for me. The body was made from Walnut, Wheels, Wing Struts, Engine parts Ebony, Large wings are Poplar, Prop, Tail Wing, Tail are Birch, Engine block from Blood wood, and Landing gear and axles are Maple. I have attached full plans for the plane for download. (free) I couldn't find the drawings so I redrew them yesterday and today.
Great Thread Idea
Jack
Draw-Tech
draw-tech.net

View attachment Biplane.pdf

 

[David Morrow]

A metal coin bank for a friend's daughter :

http://ldrider.ca/cnc/pelicanbank1/pelicanbank1.htm

 

[JAndrew]

Draw-Tech,
Very cool! I like how casually you say that you "re-drew these plans up last night"! Ha! That would take me weeks to figure out! Thanks for the plans!

Mr. Morrow,

Thanks for the pictures of the pelican bank! You've got quite a few impressive projects on your website. I especially liked your coolant flood system. I'm rigging up something similar myself. Thanks again for the contribution!

-J.Andrew

 

[DICKEYBIRD]

Thanks, great thread!

I made a pop-gun for oldest grandson a few years ago. He loves it but I'm not so sure how well my daughter likes it.





I also made him a slide whistle. I like things that make noise.



Made grandaughter a broom to help Papaw clean up the shop.





There are others but who knows where the pics are.

 

[JAndrew]

DickeyBird,

Nice projects! I notice there's no safety string on the cork of that Pop-Gun! You folks must have lived in constant terror with a 3ft assassin roaming your house. The bristles on your broom look incredibly uniform. I'm curious how you did that. As to the slide whistle...it's very sharp! I bet it makes a far better noise than any of the crappy electronic toys! Reminds me of retirement ceremonies in the Navy and chiming the CO on-board.

Thanks for the post!

-J.Andrew

 

[DICKEYBIRD]

Thanks, I wish I could say I was patient enough to have made the broom head from scratch but I'm not. I had a large brush on hand from a yard sale & cut it down to size. I added a birch dowel for the handle, stained it and engraved the brass plate on my little CNC mill.

The pic of the pop-gun was made before it had made it through the testing program. I definitely added a lanyard and shortened the barrel twice before it was finished. As originally built, the thing would shoot a synthetic wine cork with incredible velocity.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

How about a bubble blowing machine!!! First I built the radial engine. Then I needed something to drive with it. I have two granddaughters who love blowing bubbles---What could be more logical---

 

[Tinkerer58]

I don't have any pics, but when my son was at high school he came home with a science competition project. The aim of the project was to get a marble to travel a distance of 1 meter in the slowest possible time. Well how do you do that, well of course the first thoughts were to design the longest possible zig zag ramp with the slightest incline and measure in a direct line from the top to the bottom to be 1 meter. Well that could become a contentious issue depending on how you look at it.
After a lot of thought I decided to get a clock movement, a thin string 1 meter long with a marble glued to the end of the string.
So extend the hour spindle with a 5mm diameter brass tube and glue the other end of the string to it, mount it on a 1.2 meter plank and screw to a base. Put the battery into the clock movement and about 63 hours later the string is wound in to the spindle and the marble has traveled 1 meter in 63 hours. The second slowest in the competition was 36 seconds LOL. That was my moment of genius and I have never had one since, or maybe it was my moment of madness.

 

[Draw-Tech]

Hi Brian

Now that's an incredible machine for sure.

Jack
Draw-Tech

 

[Tin Falcon]

So extend the hour spindle with a 5mm diameter brass tube and glue the other end of the string to it, mount it on a 1.2 meter plank and screw to a base. Put the battery into the clock movement and about 63 hours later the string is wound in to the spindle and the marble has traveled 1 meter in 63 hours.

gee that sound way fast to me the circumference of a 5mm rod is 15.7 mm and the hour hand moves on revolution every 12 hours . 0r 31.4 mm in 24 hours shouldn't it have taken a month ?? Maybe I am not accounting for the sting wrapping itself onto of layers causing acceleration . Or maybe you had the minute hand.

since 63 x 15.7 = 989 me thinks you had the rod connected to the minute hand and could have gone 60 times slower hope I am not bursting your bubble.
still cool and you did win.

Tin

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Draw Tech---I love the wooden airplane.---Brian

 

[Tinkerer58]

Tin it may have been the minute hand it was 18 years ago, I was just trying to illustrate what ideas one can come up with when you think way out of the square. You can find answers to problems in totally different areas not associated with what you're doing when thinking outside the square and teach your kids to do the same, it helps them to also be able to solve problems that come up in everyday life. I try to look at things as a challange not a problem, doesn't always work but it's the best way to look at things.

 

[MachineTom]

One for my brother , this one for my son,
now my BIN wants one.

Fires 10 ga Black Powder blanks, no projectile, but BIG Bang from one ounce of BP.

 

[jwcnc1911]

@Brian, the bubble machine is freakin awesome! My boys would love something like that! You got any video of it?

@MachineTom, did you make that cannon from drawings or your own design? That really cool! I know a guy who knew a guy who dated a girl who's dad had a brother's uncle who made one that shoots golf balls. Side note... did you know the BATFE considers these and tator guns as weapons?

 

[JAndrew]

Mr. Rupnow,
Very cool! I bet you'd be hard pressed to find a more intricate bubble machine anywhere in the world! Thanks for the post!

TinFalcon,
I notice your posts often have a tendency to both make my head hurt and inspire me to work on my sub-par math skills!

Tinkerer58,
Brilliant! I love those science olympiad type challenges. As a sixth grader I took part in a Reflection Relay using mirrors and flashlights. Thanks for the idea should the situation ever arise!

MachineTom,
Beautiful cannon! I like the contours. A good brass cannon in on my list of "someday I'll make a..." projects. There's a Robert Heinlein quote about a man and his brass cannon in the book "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress." I'll find the quote and post it later so I don't murder it. That book is easily in my top 5 favorites as it strongly parallels the American Revolution but in this case the colony is the Moon and the tyrannical governing body is the Earth! Thanks for the post. What is the bore diameter of that beast? Looks beefy.

JWCNC1911,
What has this nation come to...? Maybe it is time to colonize the Moon and revolt from Earth. HA!

Thanks all,
-J.Andrew

 

[deverett]

When I was quite young - primary schol age - we used to make cotton reel 'tanks'. Great fun battling against another one and seeing how steep an incline they would climb. Recently I made one for my youngest grandson who was very pleased with it.



We used to use wooden cotton reels, but they are no longer available - on this side of the pond - and the plastic ones don't seem as good. The bearing is a bit of candle with the wick removed and the resulting hole enlarged.


Dave
The Emerald Isle

 

[JAndrew]

Deverett,

Simple and provides hours of entertainment! You're right you don't see wooden spools very often anymore but I suppose you could even use a large enough piece of wooden dowel and not be out to much time. Thanks for the post.

-J.Andrew