Rubber band vehicles ... ...

Well despite the sunshine it's autumn (well more or less) so we can expect more cold weather and no doubt more rain, so here's an easy project for a rainy day.

These aren't by any means a new idea, but they are easy, cost very little (if you have stuff lying about like me) and they are also good as a teaching aid.


Here they are -

The won't win any design awards, but they are fun.

All these are made from scrap bits of wood, and they are all powered by rubber bands, they are basic I'll admit, but they can be messed about with, and it's more about what you can do with your imagination, and it shows how you can store energy.

All you need are some bits of wood, some rubber bands and a few tools.

The Tank - 

See anything familiar about it ?

Okay, calling it a tank might be stretching things a bit, but I used to make these as a kid, from a rubber band a pencil a match stick and an old cotton reel, much to my nans, and my aunts annoyance if memory serves. 

I've just used slightly different materials, but the principal is the same, the rubber band drives the wheel, and the stick (in this case a bit of dowel) holds it steady (ish)

The rubber band is held in place by a bit of skewer that sits in a groove, this stops the whole thing from just unwinding on the spot, I did have to add a little bit of rubber to the wheel though, this was because it slipped a fair bit on our floors as we don't have carpet.

Next the bike - 

It's a bike honest.

Again I'm reaching a little, but it has two wheels, front and back, that makes it a bike in my book, as with the tank this is driven by one wheel with a rubber band through it, each wheel is actually made in two parts (all will become clear later)

With the back wheel I added a small nail sandwiched between the two parts of the wheel to stop the rubber band just twisting about with out moving the bike, I've made a small diagram of what I'm on about.


The bike drive wheel -

Hopefully that goes some way to explaining how it works.

For the front wheel I just used a small piece of dowel as an axle that goes through the wooden frame of the bike, or you could just glue it onto the frame, the rubber band also goes through the frame of the bike, and as long as you make sure you can secure it, the bike should move easily, you can just use a couple of small hooks in a similar way to the paddle boat, which is up next.

If you want an easy way to make wheels for this type of thing then I'd suggest buying a set of hole saws, they can be picked up for very little money for a set like the one in the picture below, great for making wheels, and cutting holes oddly enough.

Hole saws - 

I have about 4 sets of these for some reason.

And last, but not least we have the paddle boat - 

Likes to paddle.

I'm pretty sure you've seen this done before, if not where have you been ? these used to be the staple of most kids toy boxes years ago, they are great fun, and they also explain how those old paddle steamers used to work, obviously we've replaced the steam with rubber bands, but the principal is the same, that being big paddle drives boat.

Here's a diagram showing how to make a simple paddle - 

Quick and simple, but quite effective.

And there you have it, a lesson in wood working, and potential energy (or is it kinetic ? I forget) and it's also fun.

Just in case you are wondering if any of these work, I have video evidence, all be it slightly shaky and a bit too short, but you'll get the idea, have fun.

Thanks for reading.

Electronics kit fun ... ...

It's been a while since I posted, and seeing as I haven't as yet finished some of the projects I have on the go I thought I'd post about the electronics kit we got for our son to mess around with (and hopefully learn from)

I can remember playing with these types of kit when I went to school, but they have come along way since then, much more interactive and fun, which I guess is the main thing, if it's fun kids generally get into it more.

Here is the kit we got -

Hours of fun & learning.

So I guess this is kind of a review for the kit, which comes from Maplins ---> Amazing all in 1 connect & learn. it costs £16.99 (it was on offer when we bought it)

All in all for the price I think it's a great introduction into how electricity works, it has various things to do, from simple circuits, like making an led light with a battery, including a switch to control the light and some more advanced stuff like a motorised basket ball game, and there are options for making the basic experiments more interesting, one of which we tried when we got the kit out the other day.

Although it says 8+ on the box my six year old son soon got to grips with it, and don't worry if you aren't the most technical person around, it's easy for adults too ;-)

Here is a picture of my son and daughter playing with one of the experiments -

We added a bell to this one.

Another picture of the experiment -

Some of the wiring looks a little messy, I kind of rushed it :-)

This was an extension of the basket ball game, the hoop is connected to a motor which makes it move from side to side, to make it more difficult, there is also a little ball and a small plastic launcher for it, the circuit for this experiment is pretty simple to put together, and as an after thought I added the bell, and thanks to the little micro switch that's in the red tray that catches the ball we were able to make the bell sound every a basket was scored, there are other things you can add to it as well.

The basket ball game - 

With ball launcher.

The instructions are easy to follow, with step by step how to's, and they cover pretty much all of the things this kit can do. One of the other experiments we tried was the bubble blower, this actually does three different things by way of various attachments, it has two nozzles that you can either use to blow bubbles with or make a small polystyrene ball hover (this one got a good reaction) it also acts like a hoover, and the third attachment is a little hose and filter, so you can teach them about circuits and also how a hoover works.

The instructions - 

Parts list, and step by step instructions.

You can see that each experiment has a parts list, and if there are any things that need putting together it will also show you how to do that, it gives easy to follow instructions on how it should be wired up, and things you can try after it's working.

Things to try with the bubble blower - 

Further experiments.

Here are some pictures of some more wiring diagrams, ranging from the easiest to more complex ones.

They are easy to follow.

These diagrams show how you can expand the basic experiments.

You can't really go wrong with this kit, as long as you follow the diagrams you should be fine, most of the parts are encased in clear plastic, like the battery boxes,switches and led's.

Pictures of some of the parts - 

Switch.

Each experiment uses 1 or 2 batteries.

All the components connect to white / light grey plastic boards by way of pegs on the undersides, this means it's easy to get everything lined up, and it's secure so that things don't rattle apart, all electrical connections are made using springs, which also fit securely into the boards, the springs are quite small so not ideal for really small children.

The spring connectors - 

You can see how they fit into the board.

Making connections easy.

If you want to have some fun with electronics this is a good starting place, it has plenty to do, and you can expand on some of the experiments to add extra interest, for example there is a flapping duck experiment, you could connect this to the maze challenge, so that if you touch the wire the duck flaps, or you could use a bell instead, or you could us both, and like we did with the basket ball game you can add what you want, why not connect the duck and every time some one scores a basket it will flap like mad, it is also possible to connect everything up at once, although this may get a little hectic.

It's a great kit for mum or dad to teach the small ones a little bit about electricity and most of all it's fun as well as informative.

Thanks for reading.

A star is born ... ...

Instead of buying a load of new christmas decorations this year we have been making our own, we have made them out of paper,pine cones,card and for the stars below wire and string, much more fun than fighting through shops looking for decorations that probably won't last half as long, it's good for the kids to do some christmas crafts as well.

Here's the stars -

They may not be to every one's taste.

The colour of the silver spray didn't really come out in the picture, they are easy enough to make, all you need is some wire (I used gardening wire) and some string, any string will do, or wool. You can also make them from string instead of wire, but it's a little harder to keep it altogether, you can spray them what ever colour you like, we used silver and some glitter spray, you can use gold as well.

Making them doesn't take long, although if you spray them you will need to wait a short while for the paint to dry. If you use wire you will need a jig (no fiddles involved) to make the basic star shape, unless of course you feel like making them free hand.

To make the jig you'll need some nails, a piece of wood, a hammer and a template, which you can either print out from your pc or draw on a bit of paper, then all you do is place the paper onto the wood and hammer nails into it at all the angles of your shape.

The jig with nails already hammered in - 

It should look something like this.

It makes it a lot easier to bend the wire into shape using a jig. Next take a piece of string and wind it round all the nails to make a star, basically you use the string to measure how much wire you will need, you want to leave a little extra wire so you can twist it together.

Using the string to measure - 

Measuring done.

Time to get some wire, you can see that I've used slightly more string than is needed, this will make it easier to fix the wire together. Next get your wire and use the string to measure out a length of it, then cut it (I should have mentioned that you may need wire cutters, or pliers) then all you need to do is wind the wire around the nails in the same way you did the string, thinner wire will bend easier, I got ours from the garden section at b&q.

Once that's done twist the wire together where the two ends join, again pliers will do the job, depending on how thick the wire is, then all that's left is to wind your string of choice around the wire frame, when you are happy with it, either tie the string to the frame and cut off any extra, or you can use a spot of glue to fix it. 

You don't have to spray them, you could use paints from a pot, get the kids to do it or you could just cover them in glue and glitter or anything else that you feel like really, it's up to you.

A close up - 

Still didn't manage to get the glitter to show, it's there I promise.

And that's it, they may not be flashy shiny plastic type shop bought ones, but to be honest I think they look better, and they'll last for a while, and even if you don't want to hang them on your tree if you got the kids to decorate them they will have had a great time, and that's what it's all about, and you don't have to make stars, why not try different shapes ? like snowmen or christmas trees ?

Thanks for reading.