Make: Online: Kids Archives

Kids Archive: Kids

February 7, 2010

Study structures with straws

The forces that affect buildings and other structures can be modeled inexpensively and quickly by using the humble drinking straw. Usually, the projects built with drinking straws are rapid build. Storage can be an issue if you plan on having students work the design over multiple classes, or saving the structure for reference. This really becomes a problem if you are doing the same project with a full load of 5 classes. By doing the project in a single class period, you can easily reuse the straws, having students discard any cut ones and replenish them with new for the next group.

For fasteners, there are a few options. Tape can work, but is hard to remove if you are reusing straws. This can be good if you are aiming for a more durable product. Sewing pins can be used over an over again. Having students count out the pins they need and keeping them in plastic cups is works for multiple classes. As a new batch of kids collects their supplies, they just check to see that the last group left the right number of pins in the cup. This can occur at the same time they get the straws they will need. Some towers are built with paper clips as the fastener. If you do this, you may give the option of using wire cutters and pliers to modify the pins.

In introducing the ideas of the project, you will want to discuss the forces of tension, compression, torsion and shear. As students build, they should be able to recognize the forces that affect buildings and other structures and devise ways to compensate for them.

Often in straw towers, you will want to incorporate the differences between live load and dead load. Sometimes called dynamic load and static load, you can model them by having the tower hold a weight, representing the live or dynamic load. You can also have students become more aware of factor of safety and failure analysis of their structure.

The building of these towers can lead to a competitive situation. You can have students all build with the same materials, and set the grades on how high the towers stand while holding the live load. One way of doing the calculation is to set the highest and lowest possible grade, 100 and 75 for example. Then you measure the towers, identifying the tallest structure. If the tallest tower is 50 inches, then each inch is worth 1/2 point. The group with the tallest load bearing tower gets the 100. A tower that holds the live load at 40 inches would get a 95. The group that has the ball on the floor gets the 75. The other groups in between get grades based on the height of the ball, or other load.

You can also use a project like this to examine the forces affecting a building during an earthquake.

Have you built a straw tower as a student, or have you used the project as a teacher? How well does a project like this work in homeschooling? What techniques work well, and what resources are really helpful?

February 3, 2010

How-To: Adjustable kids' bike jump

Insructables user murphtron writes:

My son started riding a 16" bike at 4 years old without training wheels. (He was first on a push bike without training wheels or pedals at about 3 1/2.) One day he decided to build a jump in the back yard. So he found a piece of 2 x 12 ramp (with random lumber laying around) and piled up some logs. He discovered it was a bit tricky to ride in the grass and hit his narrow ramp. So I said, 'hey, let's go in the street (dead end) and try this.' First one brick was used to provide vertical lift, and then a second brick. He loved it.

With two bricks, the ramp becomes a bit wobbly. Plus, a 2 x 12 is a bit narrow, and a few times he rode off the ramp's side. So I decided to build a jump with the following qualities:

Wider ramp

Adjustable height, so it will last for a few years as he grows

Portable, so I could drag it to the dead end or local schoolyard playground.

Safer (while still providing ample opportunity for skinned elbows and broken bones)

February 2, 2010

Young Makers at the Exploratorium

Last Saturday, we had the first Open MAKE day at the Exploratorium as part of the Young Makers program. The day's program focused on hands-on activities for building circuits.

The program also featured BlinkyBugs and Bristlebots and welcomed their makers, Ken Murphy of Blinkybug.com, and Windell Oskay and Lenore Edman of Evil Mad Scientists Laboratories.

January 31, 2010

Using paper airplanes to learn about flight

Need a way to help the youth around you learn about flight? Try out paper airplanes! Most people know how to make a basic paper airplane, but there are other designs out there, some even claiming to be the ultimate paper airplane design. Inside the Dangerous Book for Boys is a two page section on paper airplanes with a few alternate designs you may have not tried.

Some of the concepts you'll want to feature are lift, drag, thrust and gravity. A project with such inexpensive materials as this is also a great way to help make students aware of the design process. By using working paper models, you can also help students grasp airfoil design and theory. By adjusting their designs and making additional iterations, students can see real examples of how and why planes fly.There are some great resources for understanding flight and designs for paper airplanes. Share with us the comments how you have used airplanes in the classroom as a student and teacher.

January 27, 2010

Open MAKE at the Exploratorium, this Saturday

Michelle Hlubinka, MAKE's Education Director, sent us this announcement about the upcoming Open MAKE at the SF Exploratorium:

As part of our ongoing quest to encourage more young people to exercise their innate curiosity and creativity by making things, this Saturday, January 30th, we're kicking off a four-month collaboration with the Exploratorium's Learning Studio, TechShop, and Disney-Pixar.

Our calendar of upcoming themes and makers at the Exploratorium:

January 30th: Bristlebots & Blinkybugs -- Ken Murphy and Windell Oskay & Lenore Edman
February 27th: Wearables & Soft Circuitry -- Adrian Freed
March 27th: Make Your Own Kind of Music -- Walter Kitundu and Krys Bobrowski
April 24th: Motors & Mechanisms -- Brad Prether and Ernie Fosselius

Each Saturday we meet follows a simple schedule:

11:00 Dale Dougherty interviews makers in the McBean Theatre
12:30 Featured makers and hands-on making on the museum floor
3:00 Events end

It's a first experiment in a new program we call Young Makers, in which we intend to create an infrastructure to nurture kids who want to learn by making, beyond what they can do with construction kits. We hope to fulfill a dire need: satisfying a little bit of what shop classes used to do before they, lamentably, started getting booted out of schools. The idea behind Young Makers is to create a community, both on-line and physical, that brings together like-minded kids, adult mentors, and fabrication facilities -- those who love to build and to learn by making. The role of the mentors is to help young people find a project vision if they don't already have one, and then to help them realize that vision. Along the way mentors will expose the underlying math, science, and engineering principles behind the projects, teach tool usage and safety, and collectively all participants -- youth and mentors alike -- will create a collaborative culture of innovation and experimentation. The Maker Faire becomes the deadline, and offers a stage for the resulting projects to be exhibited and explained. Monthly meetings will be used to build the kind of collaborative culture we feel is crucial to the program. Namely, a culture that embraces failure, encourages cross-disciplinary projects that meld math, science, technology, and art, and a culture that is both open-ended and open-minded.

We feel the Young Makers program distinguishes itself in several ways from other programs such as robotics competitions and science fairs. In particular, there are no winners and losers, and the projects are open-ended and child driven. Moreover, there are very few boundaries -- just like the Maker Faire, anything that is cool is fair game.

(Thanks to Tony DeRose of Pixar for the writeup about the program, from which I've borrowed liberally.)

January 23, 2010

R/C plane from trash

Twitter user ChristineMMTTM points us to this video record of the process of building a remote control airplane from junk that could be scavenged from most household trash. Projects like this are a great way to learn problem solving, and important concepts of aerodynamics. Could this be done with a full-size class of regular education students?

January 15, 2010

Young Makers

Maker Jon Sarriugarte of Oakland, California raises his daughter Zolle in the air at the 2008 Maker Faire in the Bay Area.

At a higher education conference (dgree.org) last week, I met Marie who told me the following story about her young daughter, Annika.

"I have a son who is a whiz at math. I've kind of understood what he needs and where he's going. My daughter was different and I didn't really understand who she was and what she did. Then I became familiar with MAKE. I recognized that she's the kind of kid who's always off doing something, making something out of parts she finds around the house. I realized she's a maker. I was so happy."

When I wrote Marie asking if it was okay to write about Annika, she responded with a quote from her daughter: "Did you tell him that if you turn your back on me for one minute, I start making?" What a great kid!

I can't tell you how much that means to me. I feel fortunate that we produce a magazine that helped a mother discover her own daughter in a new way. I don't think it's the only such example out there. I wonder how many kids there are that could benefit from being seen as makers.

Young Makers Program

Last summer, Tony DeRose, of Pixar, talked to me about an idea for developing a program for young makers. He and his kids built a Potato Gatling Gun and brought it to Maker Faire last year. They had such a great experience, taking an idea and developing it in their garage shop, and bringing their work to share with others at Maker Faire. Tony felt that more kids should have this kind of experience.

In addition to talking to me, Tony had been talking with folks at the Exploratorium in San Francisco about what he thought then were "two different things: 1) how to use Pixar's cachet to promote science and math education, and 2) his family's love of making." Tony was introduced to Karen Wilkinson and Mike Petrich who have run the Learning Studio at the Exploratorium for years. (They've organized the Exploratorium's participation in Maker Faire each year.) The Learning Studio is dedicated to the idea that science and math education can be advanced by tinkering and that places like science centers should encourage more creative ways of making and doing. They saw Tony's interests as a way to try out some new ideas at the Exploratorium and work more closely with us at MAKE.

We talked about getting kids to meet makers and demonstrate different modes of making. We wanted to explore projects in areas such as circuit-building, soft circuits, music, and mechanics. Mike and Karen want to have making become a regular part of the Exploratorium experience. We also want to find places where kids can work with mentors to make things. So, we also brought Jim Newton and TechShop in as partners. Together, we've come up with a Young Makers program for the Bay Area, which is now ready for a trial run.

I'll use Tony's words to give an overview of Young Maker program:

People learn in many different ways, but many learn best by building things. Building toys such as Lego blocks offer powerful and open-ended experiences for younger children. Unfortunately, as shop classes have closed over the past few decades, there remains very little infrastructure to nurture older kids and teens who want to expand beyond construction kits.

The Young Makers program is intended to create such an infrastructure. The idea is to create a community, both online and physical, that brings together like-minded kids, adult mentors, and fabrication facilities. Mentors help young makers define a project vision if they don't already have one, and then guide the kids in realizing that vision. Along the way, both kids and their mentors will expose the underlying math, science, and engineering principles behind the projects, explore tool usage and safety, and collectively create a collaborative culture of innovation and experimentation. Maker Faire becomes the deadline, and offers a stage for the resulting projects to be exhibited and explained.

In my view, we'd like to help develop young makers and encourage them to participate in Maker Faire. We'll be creating a special kids area at Maker Faire this year and we will invite kids to exhibit their projects. Our initial focus is on teens from middle school through high school.

Kickoff of Open MAKE at the Exploratorium

As part of the Young Makers program, the Exploratorium will host "Open MAKE" on the last Saturday of the month, beginning January 30th, continuing on February 27th and March 27th and concluding on April 24th.

The goal of the program is to encourage kids to make, show them different things they can learn to make, and work with kids who'd like to bring some of their work to Maker Faire.

On each Saturday, we will start with a "Meet The Makers" program in the McBean Theater from 11am-12pm. From 12:30-3:00 pm, we'll be "In the Studio" where kids can do projects and learn from other makers.

For our first program on January 30th, our theme is making simple circuits for small robots. Our featured makers will be Ken Murphy, maker of Blinkybugs, and Windell Oskay and Lenore Edman of Evil Mad Scientists Labs, who created Bristlebots. Kids will be able to make Blinkybugs and Bristlebots in the studio.

(We're still firming up the list of makers for future dates.)

If you have kids (or can borrow some), please join us at the Exploratorium, January 30th. I'll blog about what we learn from creating this program. We'd hope to see Young Maker programs develop in other communities as well.

January 12, 2010

Alex Rider contest WINNERS!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Alex Rider Dream Gadget Contest! We had a great time checking out all of the entries with lasers, grappling hooks, and other spy-stealth goodies, all designed by Alex Rider fans ages 8-18. It was a hard decision, but the winners are in!

Grand Prize Winner:

The Listening Cup by "nic", who writes:

Many people have used cups to eavesdrop through walls and doors, but I don't think it works very well. This is the eavesdropping cup with a modern improvement: It has a built-in mic and small amplifier circuit built into the fake bottom. A small earbud speaker on the very bottom of the cup lets the user hear everything.

Project Materials:

an opaque plastic cup

a small circle of plastic to form the fake bottom

circular PCB

an amplifier IC (like the LM386)

a small speaker, like an earbud speaker or similar (can be pretty much any size, just so long it fits in the cup!)

a small microphone sensor

a little trimpot to adjust volume

a coin cell or an external (hopefully hidden) power source

Nic will receive the grand prize package which includes:

A signed collection of hardcover Alex Rider novels
iPod nano with a personalized message from author Anthony Horowitz
A backpack full of goodies and gadgets from the Maker Shed
And The Listening Cup will be built by MAKE Labs and featured on Make: Online!

Runners Up:

Copter Cam Aerial Recon/Surveillance unit by "The Bear Builder," who writes:

This looks like a fountain pen. Inside is a disposable flying camera and transmitter based on the design of an ash tree seed pod, and vertically launched with a simple rubber band catapult up to about 200 feet up. As it slowly spirals down, it feeds a 360-degree scan of the area via wi-fi to Alex's PDA or cell phone. Software in the PDA decodes the spiral scan into a scrollable 360-degree still image in 2-D or 3-D.

Project Materials: Advanced lithium watch battery is tiny, holds a charge a long time but has high output for the short run time of the camera and transmitter. The copter part is made of molded plastic, so as not to show up on radar, and the single airfoil blade contains the transmitter wire embedded in its leading edge. The really complicated part is the software in the PDA that senses repeating bright and dark points in the spinning video feed and lines them up to progressively build a scanned image much like an early mechanical TV camera. By layering identical angles from two offset heights, you can create stereoscopic 3-D stills as well.

Inspiration for creating this gadget: We play with rubber-band-launched whirligig toys in the summer time, and it is fun in fall to watch ash and maple seeds fly down. This unit is based mostly on an ash tree seed which fits the secret fountain pen better than the fatter maple leaf pod shape. Right now university researchers are working on radio-controlled versions of this idea, called "monocopters", but my version is non-motorized, slim and small; a light-weight, one-time-use spy tool version that's very stealthy. The rubber band launcher is low-tech, efficient, common and innocuous, a good thing for spy tools.

Scenario in which you would use this gadget: Anywhere you need a quick bird's-eye view, you would shoot this silently up overhead, and grab a 360-degree scrollable aerial view, in 2-D at night, optional 3-D in daylight. Good for getting a current sense of the "Big Picture" where you don't have Google Maps, or seeing the bad guys you are chasing from a safe distance, revealing any ambush they may have planned. What's on the roof of that building? How do I get out of this maze? The copter cam can show you.

Altoids Tin Rangefinder by "electronicsguru," who writes:

This is a fully operational "time-of-flight" style laser rangefinder that fits perfectly inside of an Altoids tin. Enclosed in the tin are 4 things : #1: x7 viewfinder #2: Nd:YAG transmitting laser with appropriate circuitry #3: Receiver with appropriate circuitry and LCD screen #4: 6 VDC Li-PO battery pack To use the rangefinder, the lid is first opened. Since the viewfinder is on the same hinge, when the lid opens, it pops up as well. Then the battery pack is connected to the circuits, powering them up. Then the receiver is pulled up, then the laser it pulled up. The receiver and laser are already perfectly calibrated to align.The laser transmits continually and the receiver picks it up. The range, azimuth, and elevation is then shown on the LCD connected the receiver circuit board in whatever units Alex chooses. To stabilize the rangefinder, three stick pens with holes drilled in then 3/4 of the way up are held together with a steel pin. The writing end sticks into whatever strata Alex happens to be on, while the opposite end has adhesive dots to stick to the bottom of the tin.

Scenario in which you would use this gadget: Alex Rider is behind enemy lines in a foreign country and in a jam. There is an enemy fortification in the distance preventing him from continuing his mission and he needs to hit it with some artillery fire from support behind him. He uses the rangefinder to calculate the azimuth and elevation of the target as well as the distance away from him so the artillery will not hit him. He calls in the information to the support and they hit it dead on. Alex is victorious and can continue with his mission.

The Bear Builder and electronicsguru will each receive:

A signed hardcover copy of Crocodile Tears
An Alex Rider t-shirt

Congrats to the three winners and thanks to everybody who participated!

Rocking horse from vintage Vespa

Don't know grandpa's name, but the lucky grandson he made this thing for is "Diego". [via Boing Boing]

January 9, 2010

Lego minifig snowperson

I assume that minifigs are gender-neutral in the absence of characteristic clothing or hairpieces. Danes Bjarne Tveskov and family are responsible for Lego Leslie, here. [via The Brothers Brick]

December 30, 2009

Intern's Corner: DIY LED yo-yo side caps

MAKE: Intern's Corner
Every other week, MAKE's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Make: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Eric Chu, engineering intern

There aren't many low-budget ways to customize one's yo-yo. The most common ones are either painting or dyeing, but they're limited: paint chips off with time, and dyeing is only for plastic yo-yos.

Being a yo-yo fanatic, I regularly visit the blog yoyoskills.com for yo-yo news. There I recently read a post about spin-activated LED side caps that fit into the side of yo-yos. They're low-cost ($6) and look very cool; a perfect customizing add-on for a yo-yo. Unfortunately, they only come in one size, thus only fitting a few yo-yos.

I thought it'd be a fun project to make my own set (and it was!). I used a One Drop Project yo-yo.

How It Works
Using the centrifugal force generated by the spinning of the yo-yo, the spring, acting as the switch, is pulled outward. It makes contact with the positive leads of the LEDs, thus completing the circuit, turning the LEDs on.

It looks great in action, day or night. Check out the video:

I'll be writing up the project as a DIY article soon. Look for it in MAKE Volume 22 this spring.

December 24, 2009

In the Maker Shed: Paper airplane books

Making paper airplanes with your kids is a lot of fun, and best of all it's inexpensive! You are never too old, or too young, to fold up some paper and marvel at the mystery of flight. Each of these books will show you how to make some truly unique planes, not just the standard detention-hall variety.

Fantastic Flight book:
These aren't your ordinary paper airplanes. These airplanes loop, circle back, flap their wings and spin, tumble, soar, and, of course, glide. Fantastic Flight reveals how to combine aerodynamics, origami, and a single sheet of paper to create phenomenal flying fun.

Gliding Flight book:
Gliding Flight is a return to paper airplane basics: one person, one piece of paper, and a few folds later, one airplane. Using a refreshingly inventive approach to designs and flying characteristics, you can make 20 original paper planes, such as the Stealth, the Wind Devil, the Glart, and the Skid Kid. In the current age of electronic toys, The Gliding Light proves you can still have fun with a simple sheet of paper and a little imagination.

December 23, 2009

In the Maker Shed: Blinkybug Kit

The Blinkybugs are here! These little electro-mechanical insects respond to movement, wind, and vibrations by blinking their LED eyes. Blinkybugs are fun for all ages...and addicting too!

December 22, 2009

New in the Maker Shed: Solar Grasshopper Kit

The snap-together Solar Grasshopper kit uses solar energy to generate electricity and propel itself around. It's an easy to assemble electronics project that's great for first-time experimenters with little or no experience. Ages 10 and up.

December 17, 2009

New in the Maker Shed: Compressed Air Rocket Kit

Hundreds of makers all over the world have built compressed air rockets since we published the project in MAKE, Volume 15 (included in the kit). Now all the parts for making your own launcher and rockets are available in the Maker Shed! Just add a bicycle pump, masking tape, and two standard 9v batteries and you are ready to blast these paper and tape rockets hundreds of feet in the air!

Tonight, midnight PST, is your last chance to take advantage of our FREE shipping promotion in the Maker Shed. Get all the details about this great offer here.

December 16, 2009

Intern's Corner: IdeaPaint -- whiteboard a whole wall

MAKE: Intern's Corner
Every other week, MAKE's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Make: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Ed Troxell, photo intern

I'm the photo intern at MAKE but I like to do more than just one thing, like starting my own magazine and shooting videos. A couple months ago I came across IdeaPaint in Inc. Magazine -- it's this cool paint that you can apply to any surface and turn it into a whiteboard. It comes in ten colors and can be used pretty much anywhere in your home, office, school, you name it, as long as the surface is smooth and flat. It's great for team meetings, kids' rooms, and brainstorming.

I sent the link over to MAKE managing editor Shawn Connally, and the next thing I know we've got a can of orange IdeaPaint on its way to the office for us to test out. We're gonna make an orangeboard!

December 15, 2009

In the Maker Shed: Co-Robot kit

This little robot is tough! Run by a single motor, the Co-Robot kit walks with a decidedly "angry" pace. If he falls over, he is able to pick himself up and continue marching about thanks to an amazing gear mechanism. Over 50,000 of these kits have been sold in Japan. Instructions are in Japanese, but they features highly detailed assembly pictures.

December 12, 2009

Tactical assault carriages for babies

I recall late great UT-Austin Philosophy professor Robert Solomon once saying in lecture, "We're lucky babies are so helpless, because if they had any power at all they would destroy the world." Well, Chinese artist Shi Jinsong is apparently trying to immanentize that particular eschaton by arming the world's infants with engines of destruction worthy of a Space Marine Terminator. Way to go, dude. [via Dude Craft]

December 11, 2009

Happy Hanukkah, everybody!

Sweet little breadboard Menorah project at Sparkle Labs.

Festive Hanukkah LED Menorah

December 7, 2009

New in the Maker Shed: Eye Can Art Kits for kids

Choose one of our 3 different Eye Can Art Kits and make dramatic-looking collograph printed images, multiple-layered drawings on melted wax, or Japanese-style brush painting. Each of the kits include everything you need and more. The easy-to-follow instruction booklets provide clear steps to follow, suggest ideas to explore, and describe professional artists that use these same techniques in their own work.