In this tutorial we learn how to recycle plastic bottles to make a toy windmill. First, cut the bottle in half so you just have the cap end of it. Then, use the scissors to cut strips in the plastic, all running next to each other. Once you have all of these cut, pull the stri ...more
In this tutorial, we learn how to recycle a plastic bottle to make a toy bottle rocket. First, take a large plastic bottle and a sharp knife, then cut it in half. After this, take the side with the cap on it and then paint on the inside of the bottle. You can paint whatever yo ...more
Watch and learn how to make this awesome DIY toy car that runs off solar power. This makeshift mini-vehicle is made from a plastic bottle, small motor, tires, supports and a solar panel. See if you can replicate this interesting solar toy, or see if you can come up with a bett ...more
In this how-to video, you will learn how to perform basic circuit bending. You will need a screw driver, alligator clips, solder, a soldering iron, wires, a wire stripper, a button or switch, and a drill. Open up the device you want to circuit bend. Once the side of the board ...more
Here's a DIY dream. Solar-power, recycled bottles, snap'n'go toy car! Simple. How easy to transform trash into toys. Plastic bottles take 700 years to decompose in a landfill. And annually, America uses over 150 billion plastic water bottles. The inventor of this solar powe ...more
Not everything at the dollar store is a bargain, or even safe to use. Learn to spot the difference between an item that's cheap, and a cheap item. Step 1 Make sure the item really is just $1. Some so-called dollar stores sell items for a lot more as well, which you may not re ...more
It's not the best part of owning a pet, but somebody's gotta do it. You Will Need * An empty, dry bathtub * A large garbage bag * Paper towels or dishtowels * Dishwashing detergent or other mild soap * Clean bedding—aspen shavings, pelleted paper, or hay * And a dustpan and br ...more
Since the invention of the mechanical clock, enclosure of the commons, and proletarianization of labor, the alarm clock has been the bane of our existence. While not actually evil, it does represent the constant and uncompromising glare of our owners shaking a patronizing fing ...more
Thrift stores! As a Steampunk, they can be your best friend, but it's easy to make a tragic mistake. This hands-on guide will help you navigate the murky waters of successful thrifting in order to find the hidden gems that will make your Steampunk outfit complete! Thrift Stor ...more
It feels strange to be walking through an open field in a small village in the English countryside. There's no one else around — just the four of us: me, my husband, my 12-year-old son, and my adult niece. The day is spectacular, particularly for England. The sun is shining, a ...more
It's been done for ages, but for most of us, "regift" entered our vocabulary after the 98th episode of Seinfeld—"The Label Maker." In this episode, Elaine calls Dr. Whatley (played by Bryan Cranston) a "regifter" after he gives Jerry a label maker—the same label maker that Ela ...more
Wow! No longer do you have to buy those huge marble machine roller coaster toys — you can DIY one! This video covers the materials, tools and techniques used to make a homemade rolling ball marble machine. If you haven't seen this rolling ball marble machine toy in action yet, ...more
This linked modular origami ball, composed of many touching triangles, reminds us of building those large bridges and skyscrapers with our plastic link toys as a kid. This modular origami ball works on the same premise, only it's made of paper. Before you embark on folding th ...more
If you are shooting a film with featuring the iconic X-Men team member Wolverine or want to dress yourself or someone else as him for some other reason, the claws are the most important part. They're what makes Wolverine Wolverine, at least externally (he didn't always have ch ...more
Why should women get all the pretty hats at Easter time? You can make a fun and seasonal Easter hat for a boy quite easily! This video shows you how to take a plain hat and turn it into a birds nest hat. You will need: a hat (a plastic party fedora will work just fine), a wide ...more
There's probably a reason that laser pointers are banned from most schools: They're just to fun to put down! Whether you're using them as a pointer, to distract your classmates, or to very wickedly point them in people's eyes, they are toys that are quite addicting. Make your ...more
Everybody had a yo-yo at one point in their life; some when they were just little children, some when they were bored teenagers, some when they found the kid inside of them they never knew of, and even some when they felt retirement was just not very fun. It just goes to show ...more
Everybody had a yo-yo at one point in their life; some when they were just little children, some when they were bored teenagers, some when they found the kid inside of them they never knew of, and even some when they felt retirement was just not very fun. It just goes to show ...more
Everybody had a yo-yo at one point in their life; some when they were just little children, some when they were bored teenagers, some when they found the kid inside of them they never knew of, and even some when they felt retirement was just not very fun. It just goes to show ...more
Everybody had a yo-yo at one point in their life; some when they were just little children, some when they were bored teenagers, some when they found the kid inside of them they never knew of, and even some when they felt retirement was just not very fun. It just goes to show ...more
Everybody had a yo-yo at one point in their life; some when they were just little children, some when they were bored teenagers, some when they found the kid inside of them they never knew of, and even some when they felt retirement was just not very fun. It just goes to show ...more
Everybody had a yo-yo at one point in their life; some when they were just little children, some when they were bored teenagers, some when they found the kid inside of them they never knew of, and even some when they felt retirement was just not very fun. It just goes to show ...more
Everybody had a yo-yo at one point in their life; some when they were just little children, some when they were bored teenagers, some when they found the kid inside of them they never knew of, and even some when they felt retirement was just not very fun. It just goes to show ...more
Create and animate a stop motion LEGO brickfilm! Yes, that's right... you can make your very own animated brickfilm, but wait... what exactly is a brickfilm? Brickfilms are animated films using LEGO, Mega Bloks, or other plastic construction building block toys. Most are stop ...more
Everybody had a yo-yo at one point in their life; some when they were just little children, some when they were bored teenagers, some when they found the kid inside of them they never knew of, and even some when they felt retirement was just not very fun. It just goes to show ...more
Everybody had a yo-yo at one point in their life; some when they were just little children, some when they were bored teenagers, some when they found the kid inside of them they never knew of, and even some when they felt retirement was just not very fun. It just goes to show ...more
Action figures may be on the way out as mainstream toys, but all your old ones are awesome, we swear. If you don't mind modifying your precious toys a little bit, check out this video to learn how to insert LED lights into plastic action figures and make them light up awesomely.
Here's a fun little hack you can try at home with your kids. The purpose of this tutorial is to teach you how to make this fun toy gun. It's a very simple and economical project. Tools and Materials: You will need the following: 1 glue gun (you can purchase these at your loc ...more
In this tutorial, we learn how to make a silicone mold of a toy figurine. First, roll out clay and press the bottom of the figurine into the center. Next, use a plastic bottle to create the mold box. Cut the bottom off of the bottle, then press the bottle into the clay to make ...more
I never knew Smurfs had hair on their skin. I guess they are plush toys now instead of plastic. cast: Hank Azaria Paul Reubens Anton Yelchin Jonathan Winters Kenan Thompson Alan Cumming Neil Patrick Harris Fred Armisen Jayma Mays George Lopez Gary Basaraba Dominique Kelley So ...more
Remember how when you were a kid you used to make bedsheet tents and act out Godzilla scenes with your toys, pretending to put on a movie? You can totally do that for a living - though, admittedly, you're going to have to step up your puppets a notch. Check out this tutorial ...more
Here's a fun weekend project you can use to add to a common toy. Get a yo-yo with concave sides, a few pieces of thin plastic (like from a CD case) and a few lithium-powered LEDs. Then follow this tutorial and get a yo yo that lights up when you play with it!
Start with a regular plastic toy gun, like a squirt gun or NERF gun. Then, spray paint it a matte black. Once it dries, take several different colors of rub'n'buff and apply with your fingers. Now, you have your own steampunk style ray gun! Or, High Velocity Electrochemical Pr ...more
Etsy seller TangBaby has faux happy birthday cake postcards for sale. Each postcard is made to order and has that deliciously satisfying plastic toy food texture (and smell, I'm hoping).
In this video, learn how to put together a bunch of plastic K'Nex and make a super cool, functioning iPod or iPhone dock. This stand is easy to make and cheap, plus it's always fun to build with this classic kid's toy. So, follow along and build this easy, cheap dock and start ...more
With this tinkerer's tutorial, you'll learn how to assemble a fence from plastic LEGO toy blocks, a design certain to compliment most any LEGO house. For a detailed walkthrough of the assembly process, watch this free video guide.
This tinkerer's tutorial will walk you through the process of assembling a house frame from plastic toy LEGO blocks, a necessary component of any LEGO house. For detailed, step-by-step instructions, watch this free video how-to.
K'NEX is the world's most famous constructive toy, which means you can build just about anything. You can take the K'NEX plastic pieces and build all kinds of contraptions, everything from boats to airplanes to robots to weapons. Watch this video tutorial to see how to build ...more
K'NEX is the world's most famous constructive toy, which means you can build just about anything. You can take the K'NEX plastic pieces and build all kinds of contraptions, everything from boats to airplanes to robots to weapons. Watch this two-part video tutorial to see how ...more
K'NEX is the world's most famous constructive toy, which means you can build just about anything. You can take the K'NEX plastic pieces and build all kinds of contraptions, everything from boats to airplanes to robots to weapons. Watch this two-part video tutorial to see how ...more
K'NEX is the world's most famous constructive toy, which means you can build just about anything. You can take the K'NEX plastic pieces and build all kinds of contraptions, everything from boats to airplanes to robots to weapons. Watch this two-part video tutorial to see how ...more
K'NEX is the world's most famous constructive toy, which means you can build just about anything. You can take the K'NEX plastic pieces and build all kinds of contraptions, everything from boats to airplanes to robots to weapons. Watch this video tutorial to see how to build ...more
K'NEX is the world's most famous constructive toy, which means you can build just about anything. You can take the K'NEX plastic pieces and build all kinds of contraptions, everything from boats to airplanes to robots to weapons. Watch this video tutorial to see how to build ...more
Watch this in-depth video tutorial on how to animate LEGOs for stop motion animated brickfilms. This is a detailed peek behind the scenes of stop-motion animation from the director of the "Circle Circle Dot Dot" music video, Blunty3000. Brickfilms are animated films using LEG ...more
If you're into animation, you can't pass this up... see how to widen a LEGO mini-figure's arm motion for brickfilms. Brickfilms are animated films using LEGO, Mega Bloks, or other plastic construction building block toys. Most are stop motion, but some brickfilms are even made ...more
As a kid, my favorite thing to do at the Natural History museum was a midday stop, when my family strolled past an antiquated looking vending machine in the museum's musty basement. The Mold-A-Rama machine was oddly shaped, George Jetson-esque, and spewed out made-to-order, br ...more
Angry Birds finally hits LEGOs. It was only a matter of time before some LEGO maniac constructed Angry Birds from those popular little plastic building blocks. Stop motion brickfilms are sure to follow. Tsang Yiu Keung has constructed the entire cast of Angry Birds in LEGO, t ...more
In this video by Dogmantics, dog trainer Emily Larlham goes over how to make an interactive dog toy for your pooch to play with just a plastic container, a pair of scissors, and some dog food. "Experiment with different shapes and sizes of container, remember never use glass ...more
Turn a 'toy' radar gun into the real thing! Cops don't even have one like this! While this is a completely new and different design, the inspiration for this video is from an article by Ken Delahoussaye in MAKE Magazine. Just watch this video tutorial on how to hack a toy rada ...more
What do you get when you take a run-of-the-mill kitchen knife and add a simple synthesizer circuit? Behold, the Syntheslicer! Creator Jonathan M. Guberman writes: The Drawdio is a toy that attaches to a pencil and uses the conductive properties of graphite to make noise from ...more
How to stop a dog from digging holes in a yard First it's important to understand why dogs dig. Dogs are not mad when they dig. They dig for a number of reasons. They might be trying to bury a toy. They also dig because they are hot and they want a cool place to lay down. They ...more
Hmm... wondering what to do with a lazy Sunday afternoon? Why not build a volcano that can erupt? Have fun and make a mess, all in the name of science! You Will Need: • 6 c. flour • 2 c. salt • 1 c. water • Small plastic bottle • Baking sheet • Acrylic paint • Paint br ...more
It's not too uncommon for your basement to become extraordinarily messy, as that is where unused items tend to migate. Has your basement become the catch-all place for stuff you don’t know what to do with? Take a deep breath, go downstairs, and get the clutter under control o ...more
K'NEX is one of the most popular construction toys on the market, right next to Lincoln Logs and LEGOs, but what makes K'NEX stand out is the fact that children can build mechanically derived toys. Instead of blocks or little logs, kids use interconnecting plastic rods and con ...more
K'NEX is one of the most popular construction toys on the market, right next to Lincoln Logs and LEGOs, but what makes K'NEX stand out is the fact that children can build mechanically derived toys. Instead of blocks or little logs, kids use interconnecting plastic rods and con ...more
K'NEX is one of the most popular construction toys on the market, right next to Lincoln Logs and LEGOs, but what makes K'NEX stand out is the fact that children can build mechanically derived toys. Instead of blocks or little logs, kids use interconnecting plastic rods and con ...more
K'NEX is one of the most popular construction toys on the market, right next to Lincoln Logs and LEGOs, but what makes K'NEX stand out is the fact that children can build mechanically derived toys. Instead of blocks or little logs, kids use interconnecting plastic rods and con ...more
If you haven't had a pile of pipe and fittings to play with before, it's hard to see what is so cool about a plain, plastic pipe. All it does in the house is carry the poop away. Really, who cares? It's hard to even decide where to begin here. The first chance I personally ha ...more
When was the last time you took some time out of your day to play with your favorite action figure? Or build an entire town of Legos? Well, it’s time for you to dust off that old toy chest for this week’s Phone Snap challenge! To kick off Phone Snap’s very first weekly photo ...more
Planning the Trip Get lots of brochures Send for brochures of the places you will be visiting. Make a travel book with the brochures to get the grandchildren and their families excited. The best place to contact for these brochures are the Visitors Bureaus or the Chamber of ...more