Toys...

For next month’s Toy Building Workshop at the Spark!Lab, Steve and I had a long discussion about the kinds of toys we use to play with when we were kids. But aside from the regular off the shelf toys like Barbie dolls, robots, GI Joes, trucks, cooking se, legos and etc., I recall that I also had some toys that we just made from found objects. This had me thinking that back then kids had to be more creative and imaginative when they were playing. A chair is no longer just a piece of furniture you sit on but it can also be a race car, a bus, a sari-sari store or even a control chamber of a gigantic robot!



I remember that my brother and I used to lay our dining chairs side by side on the floor and pretend that it’s an autobot that transforms into a cool Transformer robot. We both loved watching Transformers- now this is way before Shia Lebouf became a star, even before he was born! On other days, the chairs will be individual robots that combine into Voltron!

Then during Christmas time, we would flatten bottle caps and string them up to make something like a tambourine for Christmas caroling around the block. I also remember some friends who made their own go carts out of scrap wood and wheels.

I browsed online to see what other home-made toys are out there. I even found a couple that not only are hand-made but also explain some science concepts. I tried to make some of them at the Spark!Lab to see how easy or difficult they might be for kids to make.

Balloon-powered car

a wind-up toy car from CDs, rubberband and a pencil

The Cartesian Diver

I remember that our Physics teacher in high school, Mr. Pascual, showed this one to us. But he used beakers, flasks and test tubes to make it so it looked really complicated and cool. He, or another classmate, would ask a volunteer student questions and if the student is telling the truth then the test tube will sink to the bottom. If it stays up, then the student is lying. There sure were a lot of embarrassed classmates then!

I showed the Cartesian Diver as part of the “Everyday Science” program at the Robinson’s Children’s Library a couple of years back. But this time I used simple materials: a two-liter soda bottle and a ball pen cap or eye dropper weighed down with a pinch of clay.

                            

A bird in a cage thaumatrope

A climbing monkey- which would later become the climbing Sparky!

What toys did you make when you were a kid?