skills thrills

BEST OF ARVIND GUPTA

SCIENCE

SKILLS & THRILLS


SCIENCE SKILLS & THRILLS

SC

IEN

CE

sk

ill

s &

th

ril

ls

AR

VIN

D G

UP

TA

i l l u s t r a t i o n : v e n k i

K E R A L A S T A T E I N S T I T U T E O F C H I L D R E N ’ S L I T E R A T U R E

KERALA STATE INSTITUTE OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

“Where is the money to buy science kits? With sixty children doing experiments, I will go bonkers..”Serious teachers have always raised such questions. With paucity of funds and poor infrastructure - how does one do justice to activity based science? But inspired teachers have faith in the resources and resilience of children. They know that ‘activities’ con-stitute great learning and children love them. The models the children and teachers make themselves remain more enduring. There are amazing possibili-ties of doing creative science using simple, readily available materials. Shri Arvind Gupta after his graduation from IIT Kanpur, devoted his life for science education in schools in India. He has developed a number of models for promoting and popularising activity based science teaching. This book unfolds the amaz-ing world of creative models and toys that even the poorest child can make and develop a lot from the junk around him.This is a collection of shri Arvind Gupta’s best writ-ings from his 13 books.

ISBN 978- 81- 906266- 1-3 KSICL 562/E1 Rs. 100.00

First Edition February 2008 ISBN 978- 81- 906266- 1- 3 Sl No: 562/ E1 Rs: 100.00

Science Skills and Thrills (English)Activity

This edition © illustration & design Kerala State Institute of Children’s Literature, Thiruvananthapuram.

© text Arvind GuptaIllustration & Design Venki

Published by Rubin DCruz, Director, Kerala State Institute of Children’s LiteratureSanskrit College Campus, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695034

Editor B Prasad

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means -graphic, electronic or mechanical - without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Printed atAkshara Offset, Thiruvananthapuram 695 035




KERALA STATE INSTITUTE OF CHILDREN’S

LITERATURE

KERALA

hmbn¨p hfcpI

CS LI

Where is the money to buy

science kits? With sixty children

doing experimentsI will go bonkers.

The whole world is a garbage pit,

Collect some junk and make a kit.

All children like to rip open toys and see what is inside. The best thing a

child can do with a toy is to break it.

I can barely complete the

curriculum. Where is the time to do

experiments?

Serious teachers have always raised

such questions. These are legitimate

concerns. With paucity of funds and

poor infrastructure - how does one do

justice to activity based science? There

is enough evidence the world over to

show that ready made kits gather

dust. The models the children and

teachers make themselves remain

more enduring. There are amazing

possibilities of doing creative science

using simple, readily available materi-

als.

The Second World War saw sev-

eral countries devastated. Under se-

vere economic hardships many poor

countries reconstructed school build-

ings. But then they had little money

left to set up science laboratories -

which were expensive to set up. In the

late 1950’s J. P. Stephenson a British

teacher wrote a book showing the

possibilities of doing process based

science using utterly simple materials.

The title of the book was Sug-

gestions for Science Teachers in

Devastated Countries. This book

took the world by storm. It showed

that expensive, fancy equipment were

far removed from the lives of ordinary

children - in fact very alienating. Unesco

CREATIVITYTHROUGH

READILY AVAILABLEMATERIALS

agreed to widen and deepen the

scope of the book and thus came

out the famous Unesco Source

Book for Science Teaching - the

bible for science activities. In 1963,

this book was translated in Hindi,

Marathi, and some other regional lan-

guages. The vernacular editions have

unfortunately been out of print for

decades.

Inspired teachers don’t get

bogged down by rules and regula-

tions. The weighty state curriculum

does not cow them down. Instead,

they carve out a special niche for

themselves. They have faith in the

resources and resilience of children.

The limitation of the chalk-and-talk

method are well known. They know

that “activities” constitute great

learning and children love them. They

involve children as partners in orga-

nizing activities. They inspire children

to recycle, reuse, reinvent waste into

joyous toys and simple science mod-

els.

This is my twelfth book on sci-

ence activities. All my books have

been digitized. They can be easily

downloaded. I can’t print photo-

graphs in my books because they will

make them expensive. But there are

1000 coloured photographs of TOYS

FROM TRASH on my web site. All

these and several other interesting

books on science activities, educa-

tion and peace can be downloaded

for free from my website:

http:// arvindguptatoys.com

Arvind Gupta

4SCIENCE SKILLS & THRILLS

Cut two rabbits from heavycardboard, using the patternshown in the picture. Colourthe front and back of therabbits using sketch pens.With a pencil make a holethrough the middle of eachrabbit just below the head.

Make a neat hole with smoothedges. Tie a piece of stringthrough the hole of eachrabbit. Tie one end of eachstring to the leg of a table,just high enough so that therabbit’s legs touch the floor.Back up, taking the rabbitswith you, to the end of thestring.

Make the rabbits stand up andlean a bit towards the table.When you jerk the string,the rabbits will walk towardsthe table. These rabbits walkbest on a smooth floor. Thefirst rabbit to reach the legof the table will be thewinner.

You will need 2 pieces of cardboard about 25 cm long,pencil, scissors, sketch pens and two 30 cm pieces of string.

EASY TO DRAW

RABBIT RACE

Drawing basicand simpleshapes. Observeyour surroundingsand try somenew shapes.

5SCIENCE: SKILLS & THRILLS

BIRD OF PEACE

2. Fold it inhalf.

3. Mark out thebird of peaceand cut onlyon the solidlines. Donot cut thedotted lines.

4. Fold alongthe dottedlines andthen makethe bird ofpeace standon its base.

A very elegant bird of peace can be made from a piece of stiff paper.This exquisite bird stands like a piece of sculpture.

1. Take athick 30cm x 15cm paper.

CARDSHEET BIRD

Cut out the body and head ofthe bird from cardboard.Colour both sides of thebody with crayons. Paintthe eyes with brightcolours.

Cut a slit through the bodynear the shoulders for thewings. Make another smallslit at the rear for the tailto be slipped and glued inposition. Fold colouredpaper in an accordionshape to make the wings.

Tuck the wings and glue thetail. Then hang the birdwith a thin string.


LETTER Y TREE

1. Use a thick sketchpen (preferably ofbrown colour) tomake a Y that is astall as your paper.

2. Make lots of small Yshaped branches in thetree. Some branches willbe sideways, others willbe upside down.The Y’s will becomesmaller and smaller as youproceed and go towardsthe end of the branches.

3. Anchor your tree trunkto the ground by givingit roots. Make anothersmall Y tree in thebackground. Does itlook further away?

4. What season do youwant your tree to bein? Winter, summer,spring or monsoon? Addleave, grass etc. ac-cording to the season.

Stand up and stretch your arms to the sky. You are like a tree with a trunk andbranches. Trees are easy to make if you start with the letter Y.


PAPER STRUCTURES

1. Fold a sheet of paper in a ‘V’shape and stand it on its edge.

3. Can you fold another sheetin a different way so as tosupport the weight of thebook? The illustrations showa few ways of doing it.Once you have foldedseveral sheets into shapesthat will support the book,there is still one otherinvestigation you shouldmake.Will all the structures beequally strong?

4. One of the ways of testing astructure is to keep loading thestructure until it crumples orcollapses. This gives us aninkling of the strength of thestructure. You will find thatone method of folding willsupport more books thananother. By trial and error youwill be able to decide that onestructure is really strongerthan all the others. So, keeppiling more and more booksuntil the structure gives way.Once I folded a postcard (14cm x 9 cm) into a 9 cm highcylinder. Then I loaded it withbooks. To my surprise thepostcard cylinder could supporta load of 4 kgs without crum-bling !

2. Place a book on top.Will it support theweight of the book?

Maybe, the paper willhold its weight, butcrumples when moreweight is added.

By simple experiments you can learn a great deal of paper engineering.


PAPER AEROPLANE

1. Take a sheet of Xeroxpaper 21.5-cm x 28-cm. Fold the paper inhalf along the length.

2. Open the paper andfold both cornersdown towards thecentre.

3. Fold one sideagain towards thecentre along thedotted line.

5. Make sure the foldsare sharply creased.

4. Fold the other sidealong the dottedline.

7. Fold one side overalong the left-handdotted line.

6. Turn the paper over.

Make a simple aeroplance to understand the various forcesacting on it during flight.


8. Fold theother sideover alongthe righthanddotted line.

9. From the bottomthe plane shouldlook like this.

10. Use a piece of cellotape to hold thebody of the planetogether. Give itswings a slight up-ward tilt.

11. Launch your plane. Tryincreasing its thrust bythrowing it harder. Ifthe plane flutters andslips from side-to-sidetry putting a paper clip.

13. What happens to theposition of the centre of

gravity if you add a paperclip? Where should you place

the paper clip for the longestflight? Adding a paper clip not

only changes the plane’s balancepoint but also adds to the plane’s weight. Try put-ting two paper clips in the same position. Does theplane stay up in the air as long as with one clip? Tryadding three paper clips. What happens now? Whatwould happen if you put 8 paper clips? Realaeroplanes are made of lightweight metals. Planesmust also have their cargo carefully balanced beforetake off.

12. The position of the paper clipchanges the point at which theplane’s weight is balanced.This point is called the centreof gravity. To find the centreof gravity of your plane try tobalance it on one finger. Theplane’s centre of gravity iswhere it balances on onefinger.

14.Throw your plane into the windand then try throwing it withthe wind. Compare the twoflights. In which direction doesthe wind seem to give the planemore lift? Which way does theflight last longer?

Real planes try to take off andland into the wind. Why? Trymaking two 1.3 cm cuts 3.5 cmapart in the back edge of eachwing. Fold the paper betweenthe cuts at a slightly upwardangle.

15.These flaps will help theplane go up or down.Launch the plane with theflaps at an upward angle.Do the flaps change theflight of the plane? Flattenthe flaps and check.Theflaps change the directionof the flight. As the planemoves through the air, theflaps push against the air.With an equal force, theair pushes back againstthe flaps.

16.Make anotheraeroplane model.Foldthe edges of thewings upwardsabout 2.5 cm fromthe ends. The foldshould be parallel tothe plane’s body andat right angles tothe surface of thewings. These right-angle folds act asvertical stabilizers.Avertical stabilizermakes the plane flylevel and helps stopside-to-side sway-ing. The wings ofthe plane act ashorizontal stabilizers.They help preventbumpy, up-and-down movement.

10

GUM

GUM


Using paper make houses of different sizes.

PAPER HOUSE

1. Take a stiff squarepaper with an edgelength of about 20cm. Fold 16 smallsquares in it.

2. Cut along six quarterlines as shown.

3. Put one middle squareexactly on top of theother and stick themwith glue. They willmake the triangularroof of the house.

5. Using different sizesof squares you canmake houses ofdifferent sizes. Youcan cut doors andwindows in them. Theoutline of the housecan be drawn on abig cardboard. Chil-dren can make therooms,furniture,kitchen etc on thecardboard and thencover it with thepaper house.

4. Stick the two end squares tomake the side wall of thehouse.Do the same on the other sideto complete the house.


Create an ear - flapping rabbit.

RABBIT

1. Fold a 10 cm edgelength square alongthe diagonal to makea triangle.

2. Fold this big triangleinto half to make asmall triangle.

3. This small triangle willhave a ‘V’ shape.Draw the ears of therabbit with a curveddotted line.

4. Cut only along thedotted curved lineto make the earsof the rabbit.

5. Fold along thestraight dotted lineto make the frontlegs of the rabbit.Hold the rabbit withthe left hand asshown and move thetail back and forthwill the right hand.The rabbit with flapits ears.

Fold a rectangular sheet of paper inhalf. Make cuts in the margin andfold the cut strips back to make apretty pattern.You can make thisshelf stand.

SELF STANDING SHELF


Tangram is a thousand year old Chinese puzzle. In this a square is cut into sevenpieces.Then all the seven pieces are joined together to

create different patterns - geometric designs, humans, birds, animals.All the seven pieces have to be used for each design.

There are thousands of different designs to make.

1. Mark 16 smallsquares in a card-board square of edge10 cm.

2. Draw the lines asshown.

3. Cut along the linesand you have theseven pieces of theTangram.

TANGRAM


TANGRAM

Try different forms using all 7 pieces every time.


1. Take a 10 cm x 20 cmrectangular sheet ofpaper. Fold twosquares in it.

JUMPING FROG

This is an amazing paper toy. It needs a special size of rectangular paper where the length is double the width. The frog has a special spring folded from the paper

itself. When you press the spring it makes the frog leap and jump.

2. Fold criss-cross diagonalsin both the squares. Allthe four creases should bein the same direction.

4. Reverse the paper. Tapthe centres of bothsquares to get twocups. Push to make atriangle.

5. Repeat the same for theright side.

6. Bring all the fourstanding triangularears to the left andright hand sidecorners and crease.

7. Bisect the internalangles To makethe legs jut out.

8. The model when reversedlooks like a tortoise.Crease its backbone.

9. Crease the left andright hand edges ofthe diamond shapeto the backbone.

3. Reverse the paper. Itwill look like twohillocks. Fold theedges of the hills tothe midline.


10. Fold the base triangleupwards, and insert theleft flap in the pocket ofthe triangle to make alock.

11. Similarly, lock theright flap.

12. Make a Z shaped springby first folding the frogbackwards and thenforwards.

13. Press the spring to makethe frog jump and leap.

SIMPLE PENDULUM

Hold a string with a stone tied to the end sothat it can swing without touching anything.Give it a slight push so that it swings gently.Make the string longer and shorter andnotice whether the stone swings quickly orslowly.

Take a 1 metre long string and hang it by a nailso that it swings freely. Give it a light pushso that it starts swinging gently. You will findthat the time the stone takes to go from oneside to the other is one second when thestring is one metre long. Count sixty swingsto understand how long one minute is.

Practice counting swings with your eyes shutwhile your friend watches the swingingstone. In this way you can learn to countseconds even without a swinging stone.


A B C Pictures

Find the alphabets in the pictures. Make some on your own.


A B C Pictures


18

A

B

C

A B

A

B

C

A

B

C


A B C Pictures


19

A

B

C

A B

A

B

C

A

B

C


THREE BLADE FAN

This is a two minute toy. It is a very simple toy to make and it is great fun to play with.

1. Cut three long stripsfrom an old postcardeach about 1.5 cmwide. Fold each stripA, B, C in half from theright to the left.

2. Take strips A and B andput A inside B like this.

3. Weave strip C intoplace.

4. Pull the strips in thedirection as shown ...

5. ...to make a tightpaper knot. Theinterlocking of thethree strips makes abowl like form.

6. Put this fan on ablunt point of a penciland run with it. Thefan will rotate.


FLAPPING BIRD

Children in Japan have been making this flapping bird for the last 300 years.You do not require a scissors or glue to make it. You just need a

paper square and your fingers.

1. Start with asquare. Fold acriss-cross. Thenturn over. You willfind a hillock.

2. Fold a plus sign inthe oppositedirection.

3. Fold to make abud - a quartersquare.

4. Fold left and rightflaps to thevertical centreline.

5. Fold the toptriangle to makea cobra head.

6. Lift one layer to the baseof the top triangle to folda diamond.

7. Similarly make anotherdiamond on the reverse.

This is the bird-base.

8. Lift the cut portions between the twowings.

9. Fold a beak on theneck.

10. Gently curve thewings downwards.

11. Hold the bottom of the bird’sneck with one hand and pull itstail repeatedly with the other.Its wings will flap.


MATCHBOX RIDER

All it takes to make this matchbox train is an old cardboard matchbox and somethread. As you move your hand the toy matchbox moves on the thread rail track.

1. Make four holes on thematchbox- two on thedrawer and two on thestrike surfaces.

2. Take a needle with a 1.5meter long string. Poke theneedle from the strikesurface hole into thedrawer hole.

3. Thread the needlethrough the otherholes too.

4. This is the threadedmatchbox.

5. Now tiethe twoends ofthe threadto com-plete themecha-nism.

6. Hold the string in both hands. Turn andtwist the left hand. The matchbox willtravel on the string track towards yourleft hand.

7. You can stick the picture of a rabbit on the matchbox andenjoy the rabbit hop at your fingertips. The mechanismmoves only in one direction and you will have to bring itback once it reaches the left-hand end.

8. Hang the left stringloop of the mecha-nism by a nail andstick a cut out of alizard on it. Onpulling the left andright strings alter-nately, the lizard willslowly climb up. Thistoy is based onfriction.


SLOTTED ANIMALS

These slotted animals can be made out of the cardboard cover of exercise books.You do not require any glue or staples. These animals are collapsible and can be

flattened when not in use. The body parts of the animals are interchangeable.Design a cat, A horse...

(From Making Things by Ann Sayre Wiseman)


PAPER PATTERNS

To make these cut-out repeat patterns all your will need are some paper squares(news papers will do) and a pair of scissors.

First fold the paper in half.

1. Fold the top layer of the bottom edge uptothe folded edge. Turn over and do thesame behind.

2. Fold the right edge to the left edge.

3. Fold the top layer of the left edge to thefolded edge. Turn over and do the samebehind. This gives you a little square ofpaper with sixteen layers. By cutting intothis shape and unfolding you can discovermany interesting patterns.

4. Simply cutting away each cornerof the little square, for example willcreate a grill (Jaali) like pattern.

5. By cutting these two curves youwill achieve a more complex pat-tern.

6. Experiment in this way and when you find a pattern which you like make severalones. You can stick them together to decorate the cover of a book or perhaps todecorate a wall. You can make lovely greeting cards by sticking the cut-out ofone colour on a background card sheet of a different colour.


CHATTER BOX

1. Fold all four corners of asquare to meet at thecentre. Turn this enve-lope and fold all 4corners once again tothe centre. Take thisdouble envelope baseand fold its two oppo-site flaps in the middle.These two triangles willmake the upper andlower halves of thechatterbox’s face.

2. Creasealong themiddle lineand drawthe face.

3. Slip your thumbunder the upperhalf of the faceand pinch thecentre crease, sothat the nosestands out. Pinchthe bottomcentre creasetoo.

4. Hold the side corners with the thumb and indexfingers of both your hands so that the two halves ofthe face are brought together. By moving your handsyou will be able to make the chatterbox chatter.

Let’s make an interesting chatter box.

X

26

S M T W T F S

X


FOLDING CALENDAR

This wonderful calendar was designed by the Sita School located on the outskirts ofBangalore. Children paint, print and sell these calendars by the thousands to raise

money for their school.

1. Take a square of paper25 cm x 25 cm.

2. Fold it in half. 3. Open it.

4. Again fold it in half. 5. To make a plus sign.

6. Now fold it alongboth diagonalsand squash.

7. To make a small squarespringy shape. We need 3such pieces.

X

27

S M T W T F S

X

X

X

10 cms


8. Take two suchspringy pieces. Glueone on top of theother.

10. You could use thislovely foldable model todepict a picture story,calendar or whateverelse you wish.

9. Similarly, glue the thirdspringy piece to theprevious two.The assembly will openand close like anaccordion.

DISAPPEARING DOT

1. You will need a piece of cardsheet, a sketch pen and aruler. Draw an X on the rightside of te card.

2. Draw a dot 10 cm to the left ofthe X .

3. Hold the paper at arm’s length infront of you and look hard at the

X, you will now be able to see thedot out of the corner of your eye.

4. Keep concentrating on the X andslowly bring the paper closer toyour eyes. Suddenly the dot willdisappear completely from view.


PULLBACK CAR

Mr. K.V.S. Kartha - an active member of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP),devised this very delightful car. On being pulled back this car stores energy. On

leaving it - this energy is released and the car dashes forwards.

1. Take a small plastic soap case andmake four holes in it with a dividerpoint.

2. Heat the tip of a longneedle.

3. And poke it in the center of acheap quality plastic button.

4. Put two such button and needle assembliesin the holes of the soap case. Heat the eyeend of the needles to affix one button each.

5. Now tie some sewing thread onthe thin end of a 20 cm longbroomstick.

6. Tape or tie thebroomstick wellto the side of thesoap case. Tiethe other end ofthe thread to theneedle of thefront wheels.


7. Now keep the car on the ground andpull it back. You can see the threadrolling up on the needle axle. Thisresults in the broomstick bowing downand storing energy.

8. On releasing the car the storedenergy in the broomstick propels thecar forwards.

TIK-TIKI

1. Cut a small rubber bandand weave it through ashirt buttonhole. Tie aknot in the two ends ofthe rubber band.

2. Take a 50 cm longpiece of thickstring. Tie a seriesof knots along thewhole length ofthe string. Thedistance betweenthe knots shouldbe 2 to 3 cm. Tieone end of thestring to thebutton hole.

3. Stretch the rubberband and slide it on asoda water bottle cap.

4. Hold the cap in your left hand. Gently press the stringwith your right thumb and index finger, and run themalong the length of the string. At each knot the fingersslow down and the button hits the cap and makes ametallic tap. As the hand runs along the string therewill be a series of tik-tikis.

30

7.5cm

2.5cm

600

X

y

X y

7.5 cm


DANCING DOLL

You will need one sheet of paper, pencil, ruler, scissors and craft knife, glue,compass and protractor.

1. To make the skirt draw twoconcentric circles of 2.5 and 7.5cm radius. Draw a horizontal linethrough the centre of the circles.

2. Draw 60 degree anglesabove and below theline from the centre Thecircle will be now dividedinto six segments.

3. Mark the circumferenceof the outer circle atpoints half-way be-tween each radial line.

4. From these midpointsdraw six slant lines asshown.

5. Cut along five of theselines. Make further cutsas shown and discard theshaded area.

6. Form a cone by bringingpoints X and Y together.Glue them to completethe skirt.

7. To make the doll:cut a 7.5 cm squareof paper and fold itin half. Draw half thedoll as shown.

8. Cut through both thelayers of the paper in onego. Discard the shadedarea. Cut along the slitlines.

9. Unfold and shape thelower part. Overlap thetwo ends and glue themtogether.


10. Raise the little tabs and gluethem on the underside. Thenfix the upper body to theskirt. Rearrange the arms.

11. Balance the doll on a tipof a pencil. Blow on theskirt and the doll willspin round and round.

PAPER CRACKER

1. Take a 20 cm x 30 cm sheetof rectangular paper. Markout six equal sectors alongthe width of thepaper. Keep folding thesectors until just two remain.

2. Crease the model inhalf so that the foldsare exposed.

3. Push the bottom righthand corner inwards toform two cones

4. Hold thelower leftcorner withyour thumband indexfinger andjerk theconesquickly intothe air.

5. You willhear a loudBANG! Andthe coneswill disap-pear.


SPRINGY CAT

This is a fun toy. It is very simple too. As you fan the cat with a notebook it

jumps on its springy feet.

1. Remove thedrawer from anempty matchbox. This will bethe cat’s body.

2. Take four strips of old Xerox paper 5cm x 1 cm. Put glue on one end andwrap a light seed shell to make thecat’s paw.

3. The detailsof makingthe paws areshown in thisdrawing.

4. Glue the four legs tothe match box drawer.

5. Fix a face and tail to make the cat lookrealistic.

6. Place the cat on the ground and fan it with anotebook. The cat will jump on its springy feet.


BAMBOO POPGUN

1. Take a 30 cm long piece of bamboowith an internal bore of 8-10 mm. Thebamboo should be open at one endand closed at the other.

2. Cut the bamboo at a distance of8 cm from its closed end.

3. Place a 5 mm thick bamboo stick in thebore of the small piece. Hammer a fewthin wedges to secure the bamboo stickin place. The bamboo stick attached tothe handle now becomes the plunger.

4. How to make the pellets for the popgun?Dip a piece of newspaper in water. Tearout a piece of this soggy newspaper andmake a little pellet out of it. Push thispellet into the bamboo bore with theplunger, until it just reaches the otherend of the bamboo. Remove the plungerand place a second newspaper pellet asshown in Fig 4.

5. Using the plunger push this pelletin with force. You will be surprisedto see the first pellet come out witha loud bang. When you push thesecond pellet, the air column be-tween the two pellets gets com-pressed and pushes the first pelletto come out with a bang. As thishappens, the second pellet occupiesthe position of the first one.

This is an illustrious example of an ingenious folk toy.


SAIL CAR

The awesome power of wind is being increasingly used in our country to produceelectricity. This little sail car also demonstrates the power of the wind. The breeze

from the ceiling fan is enough to make the car run.

1. First, mark out a rect-angle 3.5 cm x 2 cm ona film-roll case. Thenmake four holes with adivider point.

2. The four holesfor the two axlesare shown.

3. For making the wheels you need fourbuttons made of cheap plastic.These buttons have a protrudingplastic pip in the middle. Take a 5 cmlong needle and heat its tip.

4. Insert the needle tip inthe center pip of thebutton. The hot needlemelts the plastic andgoes in.

5. Fit these one-wheel axlesinto the holes of the film-roll case. Now heat theother tip of the needleand fix the second wheel.

6. Make a vertical holethrough the center of thecar. The hole should be bigenough to accommodate aballpen refill into it.

7. Double-fold a postcardand mark the two areaand slits as shown.

8. Cut the two arcs andthe slits.

9. Now weave the ball-pen refillthrough the slits in the postcard.Fix the refill along with thepostcard sail in the car


CAP TOP

1. Take a plastic capof a white film reelbottle. Make ahole in its centrewith a divider.

2. Tightly fit the metal part of a 5 cmlong refill in this hole (refills withlong brass tips are best).

3. Now hold theplastic refill andspin this almostperfect top.

4. This toy has got all the attributes of agreat top - a low centre of gravity anda large moment of inertia.

10. Replace the cap of the case.You can tie a thin string tothe car and keep it on thesmooth floor under theceiling fan. The breeze willpropel the car.


MUSICAL BALLOON

This musical instrument, which produces melodious notes, reminds one of the snakecharmer's musical instrument – the Been.

1. For making it you will need a film-rollcase, a sketch pen, an empty ball-penrefill, a torn balloon and some ordinaryhand- tools.

2. Cut the middle portion of the cap of thefilmroll case with a sharp knife. The holeshould be about 1.5 cm in diameter. Itsshape is not important.

3. Make a hole in the middle of the baseof the case. Use pointed scissors towiden this hole. The hole should be justlarge enough to squeeze a sketch penthrough it.

4. Make a small hole on the cylindricalsurface of the case about 1 cm fromthe open end by using a divider point.This hole should be just big enough toenable a ball-pen refill to fit into it.

5. Take the sketch pen and snip offits pointed end. Make two smallholes at a distance of 1 cm and 3cm from this end. Cut a balloon asshown.

6. Press fit thesketch penand ball-penrefill in thefilm-roll case.

7. Stretch theballoon onthe mouth ofthe case.Replace thecap on thecase to keepthe stretchedballoon inplace.

8. The completeassembly ofthe musicalinstrument isshown here.

37

4cm

1cm


9. Now gently slide the sketchpen upwards so that it justtouches the stretchedballoon. Simultaneously, blowthrough the refill. At oneparticular position of thesketch pen, you will hear aclear and loud musical note.Fix the sketch pen in thisposition and keep blowing.By opening and closing theholes, as in the case of aflute, you can play a fewnotes. The balloon acts likea stretched membrane ordiaphragm and begins tovibrate when you blow in.The plastic case acts like asound box.

SIMPLE SPINNER

1. Cut a 2 cm long piece from an old ball-penrefill.

2. And make a hole in its centerwith a divider point.

3.Take a thin wire of length 9 cm and fold itinto U shaped wire

4. Weave the refill spinner in the U-shaped wire.

5. Wrap the twoends of the wireon the plasticrefill, leavingenough clearancefor the spinner torotate.

6. On blowing through the refill,the spinner rotates. Forobtaining maximum speed -adjust the wires so that air isdirected towards the ends ofthe spinner.


TUMBLING CAPSULE

1. Empty medicine capsules can be used, or else take an old capsule, slide open its twohalves and empty out its contents. Place a cycle steel ball in one half of the capsuleand then close its lid.

3. Use wire hooksto affix severalV shapedchannels on avertical softboard. Theslopes of thechannel shouldbe just enoughto make thecapsule roll.On placing thecapsule on thehigh end ofthe top chan-nel, it rollsdown into thesecond, thenthe third andfinally downthe fourth.

2. Fold a long card stripin the middle to forma V shaped channel.Place the capsule inthe channel. Ontilting the channel,the capsule somer-saults and rolls fromthe higher to thelower level.


PAPER BALL

You will need 20 hexagons and glue, to make this Paper Ball.

1. Take one hexagon andfold every other one ofits corners to thecentre. Make firmcreases, then let thelittle triangular flaps soformed stand at rightangles to the mainarea. Do the samewith four more pieces.

2. Join twopieces bygluing theouter sidesof two flapstogether.

3. Similarly glue a third piece to the firsttwo. Add two more pieces (followingdirection of the arrow in the diagram)with the fifth piece glued also to thefirst piece...

4. ... to complete a standing struc-ture which has five triangularsides with little flaps in between.

6. The completed twenty-piece ball.

5. Now make a chain by gluing the remain-ing ten hexagons together in line. Notethat the first three pieces are joined asshown in step 3 but the fourth piece isdifferently placed. Glue the two ends ofthe chain together. Then glue the topand bottom sections in place.

40

A

B

B

A


MERRY GO-ROUND

Sanjay Kapur, a student of class eleven, designed this lovely toy. To make this all youneed is the outer case of a cigarette packet, a toothpick, an old refill,

an eraser, glue and scissors.

1. Open out a cigarette packet case and cut along the two dotted lines. The round-about has a starshaped thimble at the top and a square at the base. These are joinedtogether by four pillars. The big piece form the top star and the square base. The fourpillars will come from the small piece.

2. Cut square A as shown. Valley-fold itsdiagonals and mountain-fold its midlinesso as to form a thimble-like star.

3. Cut a smaller square B fromthe remaining portion. Applyglue on its four-corners andmake a small hole in its middle.

4. Mark out the midlines of the smallrectangular piece and cut alongthem, to get four small rectangles.

5. Fold a 3-mm upright leg in theserectangles and apply glue.

6. Stick with gluethe straight endsof these rectan-gular pillars tothe star-shapedthimble, suchthat the uprightlegs are in thesame orientation.

7. Glue the legsto the cornerof the squarebase tocomplete therotating part.

41

8. Poke an eraser with a divider point and fur atoothpick in it.Stick the eraser at one end of the cigarette packet.

10. Place the roundabout on the toothpick and blow through the refill. The air will strike the vertical pillars and make the merry-go-round whirl.

9. Fold this pack along the dotted lines and stickan empty refill for blowing.


NEWTON’S DISC

1. Cut a circular discof diameter 6-cmfrom a tetrapack. Insert anempty ball-penrefill in a rubberwasher.

2. Fix the rubber washerin the center of thedisc. Stick a piece ofpaper with the sevencolors of the spectrum- VIBGYOR, painted onthis disc. Pivot thedisc on the brass tip ofan ordinary ball-penrefill.

3. Spin the disc with the top ofthe refill and see all the sevencolors combine to look gray-ish-white. The plastic refill, onits own brass tip, makes for avery smooth bearing.

8. Poke an eraser with a divider pointand fix a toothpick in it. Stick theeraser at one end of the cigarettepacket.

9. Fold this pack along the dotted linesand stick an empty refill for blowing.

10. Place theroundabout onthe toothpickand blowthrough therefill. The airwill strike thevertical pillarsand make themerry-go-round whirl.


DANCING DOLL

When you turn the handle of this toy, the dancingdoll goes round and round.

1. Take a film-roll case and make ahole in its base. This hole should bejust big enough to press fit a plasticrefill. Also make a horizontal hole inthe case, 1.5 cm from the base.

2. Cut two circular or octagonaldiscs, 3 cm in diameter, from anold slipper. Make holes in thecenters of these discs.

3. Snip off the heads of 16 steel pinswith scissors.

4. Fix eight pins equidistantly on therim of each disc. Fix a nail for thehandle near the edge of one disc.

5. Attach a ball-pen refill to the baseof the case. Pass a nail through thecenter of the disc with the handle.Pass this nail through the holes inthe case.

6. Cut a doll from a doubled-up cardsheet and stick a refill through it. Fixthis refill into the center of the otherrubber disc.


8. On rotating the handle, the vertical gearrotates. The pins of this vertical gearmesh with the pins of the horizontal gear,making the dancing doll go round andround. The driver gear moves in thevertical plane whereas the driven gearmoves in the horizontal plane.

7. Place thisdoll-discassembly onthe refillattached tothe base ofthe case.

SPINNING SODA-CAP1. Hammer a soda

bottle metal cap tomake it flat. Hammertwo holes with a nailin this disc.The holeshould be at thesame distance fromthe centre.

2. Take 1-metre ofstring. Weavethe stringthrough thetwo holes ofthe disc and tiethe ends into aknot.

4. Once there are several twists on either side of the disc, quickly pullthe string by moving both yourhands apart. Bring your handsclose again to release thetension in the string.The toy will getrewound in thisprocess.

3. To wind the toyfirst hold the twoloop ends of thestring in yourfingers and give ita few twists.


MATCHBOX TIPPER TRUCK

You must have seen tipper trucks unloading sand, stones or coal. You can readilymake a working model of a tipper truck - incorporating several simple elements of

machines like lever, fulcrum and wheels.

1. You will need two empty matchboxes, an old refill 2 long needles, 4 buttons, oneeraser, blade, matchsticks, candle and some rubber adhesive like Fevibond or cyclepuncture solution.

2. Take a matchbox and separate itsdrawer from the outer shell. Cut theouter shell so that it fits into thedrawer. The cut shell becomes theDRIVER’S CABIN.

3. Make a hole in the Driver’s Cabin. Slipanother matchbox shell on the drawer.This will be the BODY of the tipper.

4. Take another drawer. Cut and bend its tongueinto the body of the truck. You can eitherstick this tongue inside this body, or else youcan wedge it with a piece of matchstick. Thisswivelling drawer makes the LOADING PLAT-FORM of the dumper truck.

5. Make two pairs of WHEELS usingcheap quality show- buttons, 2-cmlong pieces of ball pen refills asbearings and long needles as axles.You need buttons, which melt with ahot needle.


6. Cut a rubber eraser into 4 pieces. Stick thesepieces in two pairs below the body. Thedistance between each pair should be equalto the thickness of a ball pen refill.

7. Insert the two pair of wheelsbetween the rubber pieces.

8. Insert a matchstick from thehole in the driver’s cabin. Thematchstick lever will act like alever.

9. Load some pebbles as cargo in thetruck. On pressing the matchstick leverfrom inside the driver’s cabin, the load-ing platform will be raised to unload thecargo. The tipper truck will run verysmoothly on being pushed.

EASY TO DRAW


ROTATING FAN

The rotating fan is based on an old traditional toy. The materials used for making thisfan are a film-roll case; a cycle spoke with two nipple nuts, a rubber cap from an injec-

tion bottle and about 50 cm of strong thread.

1. First make a 5 mmhole in the basecenter of the film-rollcase. Make two holesin the cylindricalsurface of the case,about 1 cm below itsopen mouth.

2. Pierce a dividerpoint through thecap centre of thefilm-roll case.

3. Cut a 7 cm long cycle spoke.Fix the case cap to the spoke'sthreaded end by tightening twonipple nuts.

4. Make a hole in theinjection-bottle capby using a dividerpoint.

5. Place the spoke in the caseholes and insert the injection-bottle rubber cap. The rubbercap prevents the spoke fromcoming out of the case. Tiethe string to the middle of thecycle spoke. Weave the otherend through the base hole ofthe case. Tie a piece of rubberat the end of the string for agood grip. Now rotate the fanso that the string loops aroundthe spoke.

6. Pull the stringdownwards andthen hold it loose.The fan will spin inone direction andin the process thestring gets re-wound on thespoke. On pullingthe string again,the fan rotates inthe oppositedirection.

The rotating capacts like a fly-wheel. Because ofthis stored energythe fan tends torotate even afterthe thread hasunwrapped fromthe spoke. In theprocess the stringgets rewound onthe spoke.


MOUTH ORGAN

Sri Najeeb, an activist of the Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), first showed thistoy to me. It is a simple mouth organ made from an old cigarette packet.

1. First remove the drawer of the cigarettepacket as shown.

2. Fold it midway along thelength and cut out an arcas shown.

3. Crease the midline of thesidewall so that they cave in,making a V-groove.

4. Tuck both ends of the drawer intothe case as shown.

5. Now fold the outer case in themiddle so that the two strips ofthe drawer almost meet with avery thin gap between them.

6. Place the organ gently between your lipsand blow into it. You will hear a musicalnote. This toy is based on Bernoulli'sprinciple, according to which when airblows at high speed between the twostripes, it creates a low-pressure zoneand makes the strips vibrate.This in turnproduces the sound.


LOOP GLIDER

It is amazing that two paper loops fixed at the endsof a straw can glide so elegantly.

1. Cut two strips ofpaper, one mea-suring 2 cm x 16cm and the other2 cm x 10 cm.

2. Cut a stiff drinking straw or a lightreed of 15 cm long.

3. Bend the small strip into a loop sothat its ends overlap a bit. Tape theoverlapping ends together. Do thesame with the large strip.

4. With a piece of sticky tape at-tach the small loop to one end ofthe straw.

6. To fly the glider, hold it high with the small loopin the front and throw gently. The loop glider willglide through the air. If the glider wobbles,adjust the position of the loops.

5. Attach the largeloop to theother end.


LEAF ZOO

People, Banyan, Mango, RoseEach has a distinctive poseOne’s beak, another a clawThis a stomach, that a paw

Stick them neatly with same glueAnd after you have made a fewGo ahead, discover some moreHow about trying a dinosaur?


SILENT MOTION FILM

Here is another way of making a short, soundless motion film.

1. Take an old plastic jarlid approx.10 cm indiameter and make ahole in its center witha divider point.

2. Insert the brass tip of aball pen refill in thishole. The jar lid shouldrotate smoothly on therefill tip pivot.

3. Cut a strip of cardsheet long enough togo around the circum-ference of the lid.Draw gradually chang-ing pictures on thisstrip. Cut slits betweenthe pictures.

5. On rotating the lidyou'll see an ani-mated motion pictureof a man running.You could make abird fly or a jokerthrow up eggs. For abetter view, colourthe outside of theslit strip black.

4. Glue the strip onthe rim of the lidwith the picturesinside.

EASY TO DRAW


This fun pistol could throw a match stick several feet away.

1. To make this ingenious pistol youwill require a wooden or a plasticclothes clip, a rubber band and amatchstick.

2. Place the matchstick and the rubber band asshown in the picture.

3. The rubber band will be in tension. If youpress the clip in this position then...

4. The matchstick will shootforward. A woodenclothes clip and a thickerstick works better.

FUNNY MONEY

1. Pull an alu-minium hangerinto a diamondshape.

2. Make a hole inan injectionbottle capand insert itin the hook.

4. When you stopthe coin will stillbe perched on thecap. This is a verydramatic way todemonstratecentripetal force.

3. Place a coin on therubber cap. Swingthe hanger in a fullcircle. Continuespinning fast. Thecoin will not fall

CLOTHES CLIP PISTOL


SWINGING ACROBAT

You will need: two empty matchboxes two wood battens, about 2 x 25 cm, string, scissors,nail, glue, sticky tape, pencil, ruler and colouring materials.

1. Push part ofone matchboxtray from itscasing and cutaway the end.

2. Cut into thesides of thetray, abovethe edge ofthe casing.

3. Bend the bottomof the tray asshown, so thatthe side flapsoverlap….

4 ....and fasten them togetherwith a spot of glue. Thisforms the acrobat’s head.Now make two holes in eachside of the box with a nail.

5. Cut two pieces ofstring at least 12-cmlong. Neatly wrap asmall piece of stickytape around one endof each (to stop theends from fraying),and thread onethrough the top twoholes and one throughthe bottom two holes.

6. Tie a knot ineach protrud-ing end, closeto the side ofthe box.

7. Take the tray from theother empty matchboxand cut it in halflengthwise.

8. Then cut each half as shownto make four similar pieces.These will become theacrobat’s arms and legs.Pierce a hole in one end ofeach as shown. In two of thepieces, pierce another twoholes, 1-cm apart, at theother end.

9. Slip the armsand legs on tothe string ends. Tie aknot in each string closeto the arm or leg….


10…. and cut off anysurplus.

11. Prepare thehandles bypiercing twoholes, 1-cmapart, in oneend of eachof your bat-tens

12. Place the acrobaton a table, headdown, betweenthe two handles asshown. Take apiece ofstring,about 20cmlong, and wrapsticky tape aroundone end. Threadthis end throughthe upper mostholes in the

handles and arms…

13…. then take thestring backthrough thelower holesand tie a knotto completethe loop. Cutoff any surplusstring.

14. Bring downthe acrobatto lie be-tween thehandles.Draw in theface andperhaps acolourfulcostume.

15. Pull the two handles apart and theacrobat should swing up and aroundwith his legs flying.

IMPORTANT: Before using this toy makesure the strings are crossed at points Aand B as in fig 14. Sometimes thestrings become twisted, or crossed thewrong way, and this prevents the toyfrom working properly.

A

B


CIRCLING AIRPLANE

On winding this toy, a small airplane can be made to go round and round in circles. It is based on the principle of conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy.

1. Make holes in themiddle of the capand the base of afilm-roll case byusing a divider point.

2. Bend a cyclespoke at rightangles. The verti-cal leg with thethreads should be9 cm long. Oncethe nipple nut istightened on thethreads, it pre-vents the spokefrom fallingthrough the case.The cap of thecase and its basebecome the bear-ings for the rotat-ing spoke.

3. Snip a safetypin and insert itin the body ofa sketch pen.

4. Mark out the outline of an airplane on adoubled-up postcard. Cut this outlineand shape it into an airplane.

5. Make a hole in the aircraft's body nearthe main wing. Stick a 2 cm long refillin this hole with some adhesive.


6. Make a hole in an old rubber slipperso that the film-roll case can bepress fitted into it. Make anothersmall hole in the slipper to press fitthe sketch pen. Fix the airplane tothe spoke. Tie a 25 cm long stringto the cycle spoke. Weave itthrough the eyelets of the twosafety pins as shown. Tie a smallstone at the other end of thestring. On rotating the airplane byhand, the string gets wound on thespoke and the stone is raised up. Ifthe toy is now kept on the table,the stone descends slowly, thusrotating the vertical spoke. This willmake the airplane go round andround in circles, to the utter delightof your friends!

This simple pump was designed by Suresh Vaidyarajan. Any hollow tube - PVC, metal oreven a 30 cm long Papaya stem can be made to pump up water. Hold the tube with yourleft hand and move it up and down into a bucket of water. Keep the palm of your righthand on the top of the tube and open and close it with each up and down reciprocation.Soon water will start squirting out. Here the up-down motion of the left hand does thepumping while the right palm acts like a valve.

INERTIA PUMP


PUMP FROM THE DUMP

This pump too consists of a piston, cylinder and two valves all salvaged from odds and bits. With each up and

down movement of the piston water will leap out in largegushes and delight you no end.

1. The PISTON is made outof 3 to 5 mm. thickrubber slipper sole. Placea film roll bottle on thisrubber and mark out thecircle of the piston.

2. Cut it with a scissors andthen sandpaper its rim ona cement floor until itgoes snugly into the filmroll bottle cylinder.

3. Make a hole in the center ofthe piston with a nail. Makeanother hole leaving amargin of 4 mm from therim. This hole should be 5mm in diameter.

4. Stick a plastic milk bag flapon one side of this hole. Thisis the delivery valve. Press fita cycle spoke in the centralhole of the piston. The cyclespoke connecting rod willmove the piston up anddown.

5. The CYLINDER is madeof a plastic film rollbottle. Make a hole witha hot needle in thecentre of its base toenable the spoke topass through. Another 5mm hole is made in thebase near the rim forthe water outlet.

6. A 5 mm thickslipper rubber iscut to fit thecircular base ofthe bottle A holeis made in itscenter to enablethe spoke tocome out.


7. Another hole is made inthis rubber gasketcorresponding to thewater outlet. Thisrubber gasket stuck onthe base of the bottleacts as a support forthe spoke and alsoprevents leakage.

8. The SUCTIONVALVE is madeby punching a6 mm hole inthe center ofthe bottle cap.

9. A milk bag flap is stuck to oneside of this hole using rubbersolution The milk bag strip actsas a ‘flap valve’ opening andclosing the hole and lettingwater flow in only one direc-tion.

10.The pump needs to sit on a base or a pedestal otherwise its suction valve will get choked. Make 3 holes on the serrated rim of a poster color bottle cap with a hot needle. The cap makes a sturdy base for the pump.

EASY TO DRAW

11.Assemble the pump by inserting thepiston into the cylinder. Close thesuction valve cap. Stand the pumpon its base in a reservoir ofwater. Reciprocate the cyclespoke a few times and waterwill gush out of thedelivery pipe. Boththe valves openupwards. You cansee the valvesopen and closelike a fish’s mouth.This working modelof an actual pumpdoes not have ahandle like a realhand pump. You’llhave to rack yourbrains to figure it out.

58

1.7cm


CRANKY DOLL

As you rotate the handle of this little machine, the doll on top jumps up and down.

1. This cranky doll can be easily madeby using a film-roll case, a thickstraw, a thin wire of length 12 cm,a refill, a card sheet, glue andsome hand-tools.

2. Using a divider point, make two holes in thecylindrical surface of the film-roll case, at adistance of 1.7 cm from the open end. Make an8 mm wide hole at the center of the bottle base.Use scissors to make straight cuts from themouth of the case to the holes.

3. Take a thick straw of length 5 cm and witha divider make a hole at one end. Alsobevel cut the corners of this end. Take athin wire of length 12 cm and bend it like aU-shaped crank and handle as shown.

4. Slip the straw in the crank. Gentlyslip the wire crank through the cutsin the holes by pressing the mouth ofthe case. The straw will come out ofthe base hole of the case.

5. Cut the outline of adoll from a card sheet.Affix a small ball-penrefill to the doll. Slipthis refill into thestraw.

6. Now, as you rotate thehandle, the U-shapedcrank moves in a circle,making the straw moveup and down. The doll,which is attached tothe straw, also jumpsup and down. Thepistons of a car enginemove up and downinside the cylinder. Thismakes the crankshaftgo round and round. Inour small machine therotary motion of thehandle gets convertedinto the straight-linemotion of the straw.


BOXERS

You will need: thick card or soft wood, thin card, craft knife, nail,string, pencil, ruler and sketch pens.

1. Cut the thick card orbalsa wood into two 3x 20 cm strips.

2. Prepare two 3 x15 cm strips ofthin card. Draw asimple side-viewof a man oneach, filling up asmuch of thespace as youcan, and cutthem out.

3. Prepare four1.5 x 6 cmstrips of thincard and drawthe shape ofan arm, withboxing glove,on each. Cutthem out.

4. Place acut-out armon eachside of oneman anduse the nailto pierce aholethroughboth thearms andbody.

5. Wrap a piece of stickytape around one end ofthe string and thread itthrough the hole in oneof the arms and tieknots in the string closeto the arm on eitherside. Thread the stringthrough the body andtie another knot. Threadthrough the other armand tie a final knot.

6. Make sure thearms swingfreely and thentrim off thesurplus string.Draw and colourthe man tomake him looklike a boxer.Repeat steps 4-7 with theother pieces.

7. Place the two stripsof thick card or softwood on a flatsurface 1 cm apart,one above theother.Place the twoboxers on thesestrips, 5 cm fromthe left and rightedges.Make sure that they face each other andthattheir feet rest on the bottom edge. Pierce holesthrough their ankles and thighs and the supportingstrips behind. These should be about 1 cm abovethe lower edge of each strip.

8. Join the boxers to the support-ing strips by threading stringthrough each of the holes andtying knots in front and behind.Trim off the surplus string.

9. Hold the stripsat either end,and move themfrom side toside. The boxerswill fight withtheir armsswinging.


HAND SHADOWS

Making shadow pictures is great fun. All you need is an electric light without a shadeand a sheet. To throw shadow picture on the sheet you must have your hands

between the light and the screen. You will have to adjust your hands and fingers tomake interesting and convincing pictures on the screen.


MAGIC WINDMILL

This windmill is essentially a propeller on a notched stick.Its working has puzzled and baffled people for over a century.

1. Take a 25 cm long reed stick, or even a usedsketch pen or a pencil with a rubber on oneend will do. Cut 5-6 notches on it using aknife or a triangular file.

2. The ice-cream stick(an old ball pen refill isbetter) is used tostroke the notches.Make a small propellerabout 3 cm longfrom another icecream stick(or thickcardsheet).

3. Put a loose pin or nail throughthe propeller hole and fix it atthe end of the notched stick.

4. Holding your forefinger on the far side of the notched stick and your thumb on the nearside, stroke the ice-cream stick back and forth on the notches. The propeller will turn inone direction. Now loosen your forefinger and let your thumb press against the stick,stroking the stick back and forth all the while. The propeller will now turn in the oppositedirection. The horizontal and vertical vibrations of the notched stick are not the samefrequency and amplitude. The resulting vibrating motion of the stick and thus of the pinis elliptical. Depending on the finger pressure and the side, which is rubbed, theseelliptical vibrations can be clockwise or anticlockwise. The friction between the pin andthe propeller sets the propeller in motion.


2. Make a similar cut onthe upper left-handside.

3. Slip both theslits into eachother so thatthey interlocktogether.

5. Throw it high in theair and it will twistand turn around onits way to theground. Try makingFlying Fishes ofvarious sizes andcolours. This is thesimplest and themost amazing flyingobject that youcan make. The fishwill twist and turnround and round asit comes to theground.

4. The fish is nowcomplete.

EASY TO DRAW

FLYING FISH

1. To make it all you need is a stripof old newspaper. The stripshould be 2 cm wide and about12 cm long. Place the strip in ahorizontal position. On the lowerright- hand side, about 1.5 cm.from the end, cut a slit half-way across the strip.

This is the simplest and the most amazing flying object that you can make. The fish willtwist and turn round and round as it comes to the ground.


MATCHBOX DRUM

This sound toy is easy to make. Small children like it very much.

EASY TO DRAW

5. Hold thematchbox inyour hand andshake toproduce rhyth-mic sounds.

1. You will need an empty match-box, a bamboo stick, a pieceof string, a small stone.

2. Make a hole on each of thetwo ends of the matchbox.Fix a stick vertically asshown.

3. Tie one end of thethread around the boxto fix the sticks. Tie astone at the otherend.

4. Adjust the string length so that thestone strikes the broad surface of thematchbox.


MATCHBOX PISTOL

1. You need two empty matchboxes, two rubber bands,a used matchstick, a piece of cardboard and glue.

4. Hold the toywith one handand push up thecase of thematchbox Withthe other hand.On releasing therubber band thebullet flies off.

2. Fix two matchboxes with therubber band as shown.

3. Pull the free rubber band backwardsover the matchboxes and fix the looseend on the tip of the matchstick. Placea tiny rolled piece of card paper nearmatchstick.

EASY TO DRAW

On releasing the rubber band the bullet flies off.

65

a

b

a

a

b

a

a

b

b

Small hollow bamboo stick or thick refill

Palm leaf mid-rib


WIND MILL

Take two strips of palm leaf each about 20 cm longand 2 cm wide. Follow the steps to complete the windmill.

Fold here

Cut vanes toequal length

SCREECHER

1. You need a piece of paperabout 6 cm x 10 cm. Bringthe shorter edges of thepaper together and fold inthe middle.

2. Cut two tiny V shapedpieces from the folded edge.And fold the left edge to theright. Do the same behind.

3. Now let the two side piecesstand out from the middlesection.

4. Hold the papervertically be-tween the firstand secondfingers as shownand bring it toyour lips. Blowhard and it willproduce a pierc-ing screech.

Palm leaf mid-rib

Small hollow bamboo stickor thick refill

66

C

AB

DE

F


IT LEVITATES, IT SPINS, IT WRITES!

This is simply a terrific toy. You can while away hours playing with it. It also gives you a tremendous feel of what magnetic levitation is all about.

It costs less than ten rupees.

1. You need an old rubber slipper, discardedCD, 6 ring magnets (17.5 mm OD, 7.5 mmID, 3 mm thick - they cost 1 rupee each),one pencil and few simple hand tools.

2 & 3 First mark out 8 equal sectors inthe discarded CD. Cut one sectorusing a big scissors. Cut the lowercorners at an angle.

4. Take two ring magnets and press fitthem in a pencil. They are just right tofit into a pencil. You might have toscrape the pencil a bit. The polarities ofthe magnets do not matter.

5. Cut a rect-angle 15 cmx 7.5 cmfrom an oldrubber slip-per.

6. From one endmark out linesat 2 cm, 6.5cm and 12.5cm. Make 5cm wide cutson these lines.

8. If you now place the pencil it will levitate in air with its tip resting on

the CD. Now twirl the rear end of the penciland it will keep spinning for a long time. Youmay have to adjust the positions of thepencil magnets a bit to get the pencil tolevitate.

7. Now insert the CD piece. Place 2 ringmagnets in the rubber slit next to theCD. These magnets must have poleswhich attract the pencil magnetclose to the writing end. Insert twomore ring magnets in the other slits.These magnets must repel the pencilmagnet (away from the writing end).

A, B attract C. D, E repel F.


BALANCING NAILS

Can you balance a dozen nails on the head of one nail!Sounds impossible! But it can be very easily done.

1. Get a dozen 10 cm long nails.Arrange them...

2. ....in the order shown in the picture. Five nailshave heads to the right: the other five haveheads to the left. This takes care of 11 nails.

3. The last nail is put exactly inline with the first nail. It restsbetween the heads of all thenails.

4. Now, grip the ends of the two vertical nails andlift up the entire assembly. You will be surprisedto see that the nails jut out like roof poles with-out falling.

6. Gently place theassembly on thehead of this nail.You will be sur-prised to see theentire assemblyof a dozen nailsneatly rests onthe head of onesingle nail! Theassembly is quitestable and youcan rock the nailssideways like aswing.

5. On a wooden blockhammer a 12 cm longnail.


BALLOON PUMP

With this simple pump you can actually inflatea balloon and make it POP!

1. You will need two film-reelbottles, 15 cm of old cycle tube,old refill or a stiff straw, andcello-tape.

2. Make a hole in the base of film-reelbottle A by using a divider point.Widen this hole by gently rotating thepointed end of a scissors. The holeshould be about 1 cm in diameter andshould not have any burrs.

3. Make a similar holein another cap.

4. Take 3 cm of sticky tape.The dots show the 'sticky'side.

5. Fold 1 cm of the stickypart on itself. The lower

1 cm would still be sticky.Prepare two such tapes.

6. Stick the glue partof one tape to thecap. The tape willact like a hinge. Itwill open and closelike a valve. Thiswill be the DELIV-ERY VALVE.

7. Paste the othertape on the baseof the film-reelbottle A. This willbe the SUCTIONVALVE.

8. Take another film-reel bottleand make a small hole on itscylindrical surface. Press fita short stiff straw in it forthe delivery pipe. Fix thecap with the delivery valveto the other bottle.


10. Now hold a me-dium size balloonin the deliverypipe. Fix it to thepipe with a rubberband to preventany air leak. Onrepeatedly pump-ing the cycle tubeby holding thetwo bottles, theballoon will inflate.You can "POP" aballoon with thissimple pump.

9. Cut a 22 cm long piece from anold bicycle tube. Stretch and slidethe tube over both the bottles.Bottle B will go lid down, whilebottle A will go bottom-up in thecycle tube. The bottles will beseparated by 15 cm of cycletube. This rubber tube acts like apair of bellows.

MAGNETIC HAND

1. Hold a pencil in your lefthand, the back of whichshould be towards theaudience. Rub the insideof your left wrist withthe other hand, explain-ing that this is to create“magnetic force”.

2. Suddenly openyour fingers -and the pencilappears to besuspendedwithout support.

3. Actually you holdthe pencil with thetip of your rightforefinger, whichyour audiencecannot see.

70

Copper

Enamel

Enamel

Copper


A REVOLUTIONARY MOTOR

A rotating electric motor is amazing fun. And this is, by far the simplestelectric motor on earth!

1. You will need a new, 1.5 volt normal torchbattery, 1 metre of insulated Copper wire(about 20 gauge) used for motor rewinding,one magnet (one from an old radio speakerwill be ideal), two big safety pins, tworubber bands 1 cm wide cut from an oldbicycle tube, some thread and ordinaryhand tools.

2. Take 1 metre of Copper wire (20gauge). Straighten it by running itthrough a piece of cloth. Wind ittightly on a torch battery. Theloops of the wire should be adja-cent to one another. They shouldnot overlap. The coil should haveabout 10 turns.

3. When the coil isremoved from thebattery it opensup like a spring.

4. Tie the coil at severalplaces with little bitsof string. The stringwill keep the loops ofthe coil in place.

5. The two ends of thecoil should jut dia-metrically outwards.The coil will rotate onthese two ends. So,ensure symmetry andeven distribution ofthe coil’s weight.

6. Now, scrape the enamelfrom three sides of theend leads using a blade.The enamel will remainonly on the BOTTOM ofthe end leads.

7. The copper / enamelsequence leads to make/ break of the circuit.This BRUSH or COMMU-TATOR is the heart ofthis simple motor. If allthe enamel is removedfrom the end leads thenthe motor will not work.The coil is now ready.


9. Salvage an old radio speaker magnet (stan-dard laboratory magnets will do well) andplace it on a new battery with the help of acycle tube rubber band.

10. Stretch out anothercycle tube rubber band(1 cm wide) along thelength of the battery.Now insert the safetypins in the rubber band.

11. The safety pinsserve three pur-poses. They act aspower leads, sup-plying current tothe coil. They arealso bearing sup-ports for the coil.Finally, they alsomake a stand forthe motor.

12. Now pull the pins a littleapart and slip the motor coilin their holes.

13. Give the coil a gentle starting pushand it will start rotating. However, ifthe push is in the wrong direction,then the coil will stop after a while,flip, and rotate in the right direc-tion.

How does the motor work?

When an electric current flows through a wire, itproduces a magnetic field around it. Similarly,when current flows through the motor coil,then the coil becomes an electro-magnet withtwo poles - a North and a South pole.

According to the Law of Magnetism - like polesrepel and unlike poles attract. Following thislaw the North pole of the electro-magnet isattracted to the South pole of the permanentmagnet and is repulsed by its North pole. Thismutual attraction - repulsion makes the motorcoil turn. The coil will stop once its N and Spoles align with the S and N poles of thepermanent magnet. But just when this pointreaches, something happens. Until now, thecopper part of the coil ends were in contactwith the metal strips. But now, the enamelpart of the coil end comes in contact, andbeing an insulator, it switches off the currentto the coil. The coil is no more a magnet, itbecomes demagnetised. Momentum propelsthe coil on until once again the copper on itsleads touches the metal strips. Once againthe coil becomes an electromagnet. In thisway the coil continues to revolve, round andround.

8. Take two long safety pins.


SPINNING BOTTLE

This simple experiment demonstrates Newton’sthird law of motion - that every action has

an equal and opposite reaction.

1. Take a 500 mlplastic waterbottle. With a bigneedle make athrough hole nearthe threaded end.

2. Weave a 8 cm threadthrough this hole andtie a knot to make it aloop.

3. Tie a long threadto this loop.

4. With a big nail make a hole onthe vertical wall of the bottlenear its base. Make anotherhole at the other end.

5. Take two pieces of stiff plasticstraw 3 cms long (old Add Gelrefills are ideal). Cut one end ofthese pieces at a slant. Pressthem in the holes in the orienta-tion shown.

7. Now fill the bottlewith water andhang it by thethread. Two

water jets willgush out androtate the bottle.

6. Apply M-seal or some otheradhesive (kneaded wheat flourdoes well) to prevent leakage.


RUBBER STAMPS

Simple rubber stamps can be made using pieces of old cycle tube, blocks of woodand glue. Children can make lovely collages using these zero-cost rubber stamps.

1. Take a pieceof old cyclerubber tube.

2. Cut it along thelength and openit up...

3. ....to make aflat rubbersheet.

4. Draw a picture of atree and a house onit. Cut the shape ofthe house and tree.

5. Take a blockof flat wood.

6. Stick the rubber house cutouton the block using rubberadhesive (Cycle puncturesolution or Fevibond).

7. Press the rubber stamp onthe ink pad.

8. Print theseshapes on asheet ofpaper.

9. Children canmake lovelypictures usingthese zero-costrubber stamps.


ACROBAT

A very simple and dynamic model. When the toy is spunthe arms and legs of the acrobat fly in the air -

demonstrating centrifugal force.

1. Take a thick card sheet 30 cm x15 cm. Fold it in half.

2. Draw a head and body, two fore-arms, one arm and leg as shown.

3. After cuttingthese there willbe 10 pieces asshown in thepicture.

4. Take a 25 cm strongbroomstick. Apply glueonly on the broomstick.Stick it in the middle ofone head and body.

5. Paste the secondhead and body onthe first (applyglue only to thebroomstick).

6. Weave adoubledthreadthrough alongneedle andtie a knot.

7. Take two upperarms and placethem in betweenthe left shoulderand sew. Do thesame for theright shoulder.


10. Similarly, attach the forearms and legs(one piece each), with thread hinges.The acrobat will now be ready to per-form. Hold the broomstick between thethumb and index finger. Twirl the broom-stick. The acrobat will wildly swing itsarms and legs.

8. Pass the needle through.There would be one knotat one end.

9. Tie a close knot at theother end. The two knotson both sides will make anice movable hinge.

ICE-CREAM STICK BOMB

You just require five used ice-cream sticksfor making this gentle bomb.

1. Hold three ice-creamsticks, A, B and Ctogether at one endwith B on the bottom,spread as shown in thediagram.

2. Insert a fourthstick D, over A,under B and over Cas shown.

3. Insert the last stick, E under A,over B, and under C as shown.The assembly of 5 ice-creamsticks will hold itself together. Trythrowing it up in the air or againsta wall. When it lands, it will “ex-plode” and the sticks will fly in alldirections.


PAPER CLAPPER

I first saw this paper clapper with Dr. Anil Awchat of Pune.It is simple to make and great fun to play with.

1. Take an old A-4 sizeXerox paper and cut it

in half along the length.

2. Fold it in half. 3. And open it again.

4. Fold all the fourcorners as shown.

5. Once again fold inwardsalong the 4 slantingdotted lines.

6. To arrive at this shape.Fold this shape in half.

7. Again fold along thedotted line in half.

8. Fold it on your finger sothat the fold is a bitrounded.

9. Make a crease atright angles on therounded fold. Thiscrease will act likea spring.

10. Nowhold theclapper withyour thumband indexfinger asshown. Onpressing andreleasingyour thumband fingerthe clapperhands willclap.


ROTATING LOOP OF THREAD

This toy was found to be very useful with children suffering from asthma.Children have fun blowing at it. They simultaneously

exercise their lungs.

1. Take a 15 cmlong plasticstraw. Make adent with apencil point inthe middle ofthe straw. Thepencil pointmust not showon the otherend.

2. Put the pencil point in this dent

at an angle.Pushthe point in.

3. And keep pushingthe pencil pointand rotating thepencil to make abig rounded hole.There will be nosharp edges in thishole.

4. Take a 50 cm long piece ofcotton thread. Place oneend of the thread in thishole and gently blow fromthe other end to push thethread through.

5. Tie a smallknot at theends of thethread.Trim the tailof the knot.

6. You will have a loop ofcotton thread hangingfrom the straw.

7. On blowing the wholeloop of thread will rotate.Every fiber in the threadwill get a push and thewhole loop of thread willgo round-and-round. Ifthe knot gets stuck inthe hole then eithermake the knot small ormake the hole bigger.


MULTI STEP POP-UP

A pop-up, in a pop-up in a pop-up. This three-in-onepop-up makes a very pretty step ladder.

1. Fold a sheet of stiffpaper into half.

2. Draw two lines perpendicu-lar to the fold crease andjoin them. Cut along thedotted lines.

3. Fold a crease betweenthe ends of the slits.Fold the paper for-wards and backwardsalong the same line.

4. Finally closethe pop-upand make twomore slits.Fold a creasebetween theends of theslits.

5. At thisstagethe pop-up willlook likethis.

7. On carefullyopening themodel you willfind a multi-step ladder.

6. Again close the pop-up and make twomore slits. Fold acrease between theends of the slits.


SMALL IS STRONG!

1. You will need two identical balloons,10 cm length of plastic tubing and aclothespin. Fold the tube in half andpinch the halves together with theclothespin. Blow up one of the bal-loons so that it is almost fully inflated.Attach the neck to one end of thetubing with a rubber band (you mayhave to try a few times before youget an airtight connection. Inflate thesecond balloon slightly and attach itto other end of the tubing with theremaining rubber band. Open theclamp, allowing air to pass freely fromone balloon to the other.

2. What do you expect would happen?Normally one would expect both theballoons to end up the same size. Butsomething unexpected happens. Thesmall balloon will always empty itscontents into a large balloon.

The explanation is as follows. Fluids in aflexible container assume a shape thathas the smallest surface area. A singlelarge sphere has less surface area thantwo small spheres whose contentsequal the single large one. Since onelarge balloon has less surface area thantwo balloons containing the sameamount of air, the small balloon emptiesits contents into the larger one.

CRAZY MAGNET

Hang a magnet from the cross bar of achair using a 30 cm length of thread.Place a tin or steel sheet on

the floor. Stick a few magnets onthis sheet. Raise it by placing booksbelow so that there is just a littlegap between the hung magnet andthe magnets on the sheet. Nowswing the hanging magnet. It will beattracted by some and repelled bysome of the base magnets. Theresult would be a crazy magnet -which follows a fuzzy logic andwanders as if it were drunk!

We often think big as strong. But sometimes it could be the other way round.


THE CAPTAIN’S HAT STORY

Lillian Oppenheimer told this delightful story to children for over 50 years. Lillian wasthe founder of the Origami Centre in New York. The Captain of the ship finds thatall the passengers in his ship are getting seasick. So, everyday, he invites them all

to the deck to sing and dance and make merry. The people wear their mostcolourful costumes and have great fun. The Captain has a big steel trunk in whichhe has different kinds of caps. He joins in the fun and wears a new cap everyday.

1. Take one full sheet ofnewspaper.

2. Leave thesheet ofnewspa-

perfolded in

halfalong

themiddle

line.

3. Keep folded edge ontop. Now fold from rightto left.

4. Unfold the paper.

5. Fold down the top right -hand corner to meet themiddle line.

6. Fold down the top left -hand corner to meet themiddle fold line.

7. Fold up one single layer ofpaper, from the bottom upas far as it will go.

8. Press the paper flat. Turn it over from side to side.

9. Fold up this singlelayer of paper as faras it will go.

10. Press the paperflat. From theinside open outthe paper a little.

11. This is thecaptain’sfirst cap - aSAILOR’SCAP.

12. The captain used thesame paper to makemore caps.


13. So, hold the cap andcollapse it into...

14. ..this shape. 15. Fold up the topbottom point.

16. Press thepaper flat soas to make...

17. the FIREMAN’SHAT.

18. Press the paper flatand turn it from sideto side.

19. Fold up this bottom point.

20. Hold the front and back of the hat.Carefully open out, and the hat will..

21. ...Again collapse tomake...

22...the SHIKARI CAP. 23. Press the paper flat24. Fold the top layer from

the bottom of the hat.


25. Press the paper flatand turn it over fromside to side.

26. Fold upthis bot-tom layer.

27. Open the paperout to make...

28.... An AIR FORCEOFFICER’S CAP.

29. Well now, pinch thetwo side points...

36. But a TORN SHIRT

30. ...And pull them apart to make the traditional boat - the CAPTAIN’S SHIP.

31. All of a sudden theship gets caught in afierce storm.

32. There is thunder and lighten-ing. One huge wave knocksthe stern (tear one corner).

33. Another wave knocksoff the bow (you tearthe other corner off).

34. One last hugewave knocks ofthe bridge (youtear the trianglein the middle).The ship sinks.

35. The captain loosesall his hats. Thecaptain has nothingleft! (put your headin the hole).


RAJA CAP, NEHRU CAP, KULU CAP

1. With a sheet of newspa-per you can make threecaps. Take a doublespread newspaper sheetand fold it into half.

2. Keep the folded edge ontop and fold the top leftand right corners to themiddle fold line.

3. Fold up the toplayer of paper fromthe bottom intohalf. Then doublefold it.

4. Now upturn the paper. 5. Bring the right and theleft edges to the middleline and crease.

6. Hold thebottomright andleft handcorners.

7. Fold the bottom portioninto half and tuck theedge inside.

8. This caplooks like aKING’S CAP.

9. Now fold the top pointof the King’s cap tothe midpoint on thebase and tuck it in.

10. Open out thelong edges andwear it like a ... 11. ..NEHRU

CAP12. Invert the Nehru cap

and use it as a verynice purse.


13. Slowly press thepurse and squashto flatten it.

14. Fold top and bottompoints along dotted linesand tuck them in thepocket.

15. Open out the line in themiddle to make a newcap.

16. This is a BOX CAPor a KULU.

17. Thisfamouscap isworn inHimachalPradesh.

18. The corners of this cap canbe straightened to form asquare box. These boxes canbe used for a variety ofsorting out and storingactivities.

20. Using different sizes ofnewspapers you canmake big and smallboxes too. You canmake a set of nestingboxes. Without anyglue or scissors, youcan fold these amaz-ing boxes using ordi-nary newspapers.

19. One boxcan beoverturnedas a lid onthe otherto make aclosed giftbox.

EASY TO DRAW


CRICKET CAP

1. Cut a newspaper intotwo parts. The cap willbe made from one part.

2. Fold one part in half fromtop to the bottom.

3. Then fold it from side toside and unfold it again.

4. Fold one half of the topedge in so that it liesalong the centre foldline.

5. Repeat the same withthe other half.

6. Fold the top down tomeet the bottom edgeof the paper.

7. Unfoldthepaperagain.

8. Fold eachof thelongsidelinesalong thefold lines.

9. Then fold the paperin half away fromyou.

10. Pushyourthumbinsideandforefin-ger ontop.

11. Push the top corner downinside itself, along the foldline.

12. This is detaileddrawing.


13. Fold both left and rightedges to the middle line.Press them flat.

14. Then fold the bottom edgeto meet the middle.

15. Fold them again overthe middle.

16. Fasten them down withsticky tape. Turn thepaper over.

17. Fold up the bottomright-hand corner.

18.Then fold the left-hand corner aswell.

19. Fold up the bottompoint to the middle.

20. Then fold the right-hand corner to themiddle.

21. Fold the left cornerto the middle too.

22. Fasten the cornersdown with stickytape.

23. Open out and press it intoshape.

24. And then wear yourCRICKET CAP.


SIMPLE SPINDLE

This is one of the most creative Indian toys. All it requires is a bit of string and an old ice-cream stick.

1. Take two strings each 80 cm long Tieknots in their ends to make them intoloops. Take a piece of icecream stickabout 6 cm long. With a knife or ablade cut ‘V’ notches on both itsends. The notches are to hold thethreads in place.

2. Take one loop of thread. Hold the twoends of the loop between the thumbsof your feet. Insert the stick. Thethread will be in tension while the stickwill be in compression.

3. As in a spring toy wind the stick.The thread will wind too, and therewill be twists in the thread. Holdthe stick otherwise the thread willunwind in the reverse direction.

4. Now, hold on to the stick and placethe other loop. Each thread of thisloop will go into one ‘V’ notch.

5. Make the stick unwind a little. Do thisslowly,in such a way that some of thetwists of the first loop get transferredto the second loop. The ends of thesecond loop must remain free.

6. Now hold the two freeends of the second loopand pull them gently.Watch the stick rotate. Itwill remind you of the oldlathe machine in operation.The pulling of the secondloop and then its gentlerelease results in a rhyth-mic motion. The SimpleSpindle is like a solid ofrevolution. When the twothread triangles rotatethey make cones. You canmake pretty patterns inthe thread triangles. Whenin motion they look amaz-ing. You can also changethese patterns at will.


FLICK KNIFE

This automatic mechanical knife - a RAMPURI CHAKU,is fun to make and a sheer delight to play with

1. To make the Flick Knifeyou will need twowooden ice-creamsticks, two smallrubber bands, amatchstick and apaper knife or blade.Cut one ice-creamstick about 3 cm fromone end.

2. Cut notches in the pieces as shown.Taper the long piece so that it lookslike a knife blade. Cut notches onthe other ice-cream stick too, asshown.

3. Join the cut pieces on the big ice-cream stick by putting a rubberband in each pair of notches. Slip ina piece of matchstick between thesmall piece and the big ice-creamstick. This is the fulcrum and is partof the locking system. You can openand close it by pressing it.

5. Now, if you pressthe left button,the blade will flickopen in a fractionof a second.

4. Now swing the blade andlock it under the small piece


FAN TAILED BIRD

By attaching a simple propellor to a flapping bird you canmake a beautiful fan-tailed bird.

1. Take a 7.5 cm x 3.0 cm strip ofbond paper. Fold its length intothree equal parts. Leaving onethird of the width cut two sectorsalong the length. Repeat thesame at the other short edge.

2. Fold one third of the endstrips inwards and gluethem.

3. Cut a onecentimetre longpiece from an oldball pen plastic refilland flatten one ofits ends by pressingit between yourteeth.

4. Put a pinthrough thisend. The ovalrefill end pre-vents the pinfrom goingthrough.

5. Apply glue (Fevibond / Vamicolis best) on the doubled upends. Stick the end of the pinas shown in the picture.

6. Now turn thestrip and stickthe two gluedportions to-gether.

7. If you now hold the refilland blow through thewide side of this Yshaped propeller then itwill rotate very fast.

8. Fold a FLAPPING BIRD usinga 10 cm square of thickpaper. Cut the bird’s tail asshown by the dotted lines.

9. Apply glue on both the innerportions of the tail and stickthe plastic refill of the fan. Takecare so that the glue does nottouch the head of the pin.

11. The tail fan willrotate giving afeel of the birdin flight.

10. Tie a thread to the birdand then rotate it.


MATCHSTICK MODELS

Make a simple mecanno using cycle valve tubes as jointsand matchsticks as members.

1. These matchstick models usematchsticks as the basicstructural members and cyclevalve tubes as the basicjoints. Cycle valve tube ischeap. A packet of 100 gms.costs Rs.20/- and contains12 metres (50 feet) of valvetube.

2. Cut 1.5 cms. longpieces of thevalve tube.Scrape the sul-phur from thematchstick headswith a blade.

3. Push two matchsticksthrough the two ends ofthe valve tube. This is ajoint-of- two.

4. This flexiblejoint can beused fordepictingangles -acute, right,obtuseangles etc.

5. Threematchsticksand three valvetubes can belooped to makean equilateraltriangle.

6. Other shapes like squares, rectangles,pentagons, hexagons can be made byjoining more matchsticks and valve tubepieces.


9. But no matterhow hard youpress, a triangleremains a triangle.The triangle is theonly rigid polygon.That is why rooftrusses, bridges,electricity towersare made oftriangles. Thetriangles makethem rigid andstrong.

7. If you press the pentagon itchanges shape and

becomes boat shaped.

8. The square whenpressed becomesa rhombus.

THREE DIMENSIONAL MODELS

1. Pierce a hole in the valve tubejoint-of- two, by poking it atright angles either with a longneedle or else a thorn.

2. Insert a thirdmatchstick (slightlysharpened at theend) in this hole.This is a joint-of-three, or simply a T-joint.

3. Take the equilateraltriangle and poke holesin its valve tube jointswith a thorn. Now insertthe three matchstickends of the T-joint inthe holes of the tri-angle.

4. This structureis called aTETRAHEDRON.It has 4 cor-ners, 6 edgesand 4 distinctsurfaces.

5. All its surfacesare equilateraltriangles. Tri-angles are rigid.So this triangularhouse is verystrong.


6. PENTAGONAL BOX 7. In a similar manner twoseparate triangles canbe joined together usingthree matchsticks tomake a PRISM.

8. Two separate squarescan be joined withfour matchsticks tomake a CUBE.

9. Several of thesethree-dimensionalstructures can be puttogether to makedifferent kinds ofhouses and otherconfigurations. Youcan play with thissimple meccano tocreate your ownmodels.

JOINTS OF FOUR, FIVE AND SIX

1. Take two pieces ofvalve tube about 2cms. long. Weave athorn through thehole of one. Thenpierce the thornthrough the centreof the other valvetube.

2. Pull both the ends of thesecond valve tube and slideit over the first one. Gentlyremove the cross, joint- of-four from the thorn.

3. Use these joints tomake a PYRAMID


4. Make a joint-of-four butdo not remove it fromthe thorn. Just like thesecond, insert a thirdvalve tube.

5. The second and the thirdtubes are at right angles tothe first tube. Insert a smallpiece of matchstick in any ofthe four free legs of the ‘H’.

6. Weave this matchstickneedle through thecentre of the other legof the ‘H’.

10. Assemble twelve joints-of-five and thirtymatchsticks to make an ICOSAHEDRON.One pentagonal face of the icosahedroncan be flexed in to make an IGLOO. Withjoints of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, andmatchsticks as members there are manydifferent kinds of models and structureswhich you can make. This is a veryinteresting way to learn solid geometry.

7. Now remove the thornand phase out the sixvalve tube legs toform a star.

8. This is a joint-of-six. For ajoint -of-five, simply cutone of the legs of the ‘H’.

9. You can attachsix matchsticksto the star joint.


GO-NO-GO MATCHBOX

Keeping the thread tight keeps this match box in place.Loosening the thread makes this matchbox slide.

1. Take a cardboardmatchbox drawer andcut two V notches inthe middle of its twolong edges. Make aclear hole in the centreof both ends of thedrawer.

2. Cut an old ballpen refill equal insize to the widthof the drawer.

3. Fix the refill in theV notches of thedrawer with a dabof glue.

4. Weave a 70 cm. longstring through thetwo holes of thedrawer. The threadshould go over therefill. Tie two piecesof folded paper atthe two ends for agood grip.

5. Cover the drawerwith the outer shellof the matchbox.

6. Hold the two ends ofthe string upright. Ifthe string is kept loosethen the matchboxslides down. But if youtighten the string itrubs against the refilland brakes the match-box to a stop. Thisobedient matchbox isbased on the principleof friction and gravity.


LEAPING FROGLEAPING FROG

1. Take an oldcigarettepacket and...

2. .... remove itsinside drawermade of thincard sheet.

3. Fold the twocorners on the topto the middle tomake a triangularhead.

4. Fold the tipof thetriangularheadinwards.

5. The folds on the leftside of the drawer actas a very fine spring.Turn the frog upsidedown and press thespring with your indexfinger to make it leap.Paint the frog greenand stick two eyes tomake it look like a realfrog.

You need a rubber balloon.How to make it Blow air into the balloon. Hold the

opening at the top with both handsas shown so that the air cannotescape. Stretch the balloon out-wards and allow a little air to passout. This will produce a fascinatingsound. A little practice enables youto produce a variety of sounds.

Try out Try using balloons of different

sizes.Find out Is the working of this toy similar to

that of the paper whistle? Why isthere no sound when the opening isbig and the air rushes out?

SIREN

96

A


MAGIC FAN

This captivating traditional folk toy could at one time be bought in village fairs.You cannot buy it today but you can make it at home in no time at all.

1. Roll and stick an old postcard tomake a cylindrical reel, with adiameter of about 2 cm.

2. Fold a sheet of glazed newspaper (10 cmx 50 cm) into a fan with 32 creases.Make sure that all the zigzag creases areof the same width.

3. Fix a thread each on thetwo extreme ends of thecorrugated fan. About 5cm of the thread should beleft trailing out.

4. Trim off the triangularedges of the folded fanas shown.

5. Cut a square (20 cm x 20cm) from a newspaper.Roll it into a hollow stickand glue its edge.

6. Tuck one end ofthe fan in thishollow stick andstaple it.

....the fan opensout gloriouslylike the wingsof a peacock.On sliding thereel upwards,the fan pleatsfold in andsettle snuglyinside the reel.

7. Slip the postcard reelover the fan. The top ofthe reel and the fanshould be at the samelevel, with the free endsof the threads hangingout. Fix the threads tothe postcard reel withcello-tape (Fig A).If younow hold the newspaperstick with one hand andslip down the postcardreel with the other...


SOLAR PINWHEEL

This simple device uses the sun's energy to rotate a pinwheel.

1. Fold a square paper as shownto make a windmill.

2. Glue its corners tothe centre.

3. Make a single dent(not a hole) with apencil at the centre ofthe windmill.

4. With the help of an adult, cutthe bottom out of three oldtin cans. Paint the outside ofthe cans black. Join the threecans together with sometape, to make a long metallichoop.

5. Get a pieceof thin wireand bend itas shown.

7. Stand the cans on two books on a sunny window sill. Watch what happens as the sun warms the cans. The hot air inside the can rises up, sucking cold air from below. This continuous convection current keeps the pinwheel rotating.

Instead of joining three tin cans to make a hollowcylinder, you can make use of the metallic hoop atthe end of the soft broom - the 'Phool Jhadu'.How can you make this windmill turn on a daywhen the sun is not shining?

6. Tape thewire on thetop of thecan andbalance thewindmill onits tip.


A PAPER FLUTE

1. Mark out the patternon a piece of paper.

2. Then cut out the rectan-gular shape with a smallsquare flap on one edge.

3. Roll the paper like acigarette, gluing itsother edge so it doesnot open.

4. This simple roll ofpaper with a littleflap bent over one-end makes a nicepaper flute.

6. Now, insert thetube inside a usedthread reel. Varythe length of thevibrating columnand see if there issome change in thesound.

5. If you place the end withthe flap inside your mouththen you have to blow outto play it. Otherwise, youcan have the flap endoutside, in which case yousuck gently, thus vibratingthe flap against the tube.

EASY TO DRAW


SODA-STRAW FLUTE

1. Flatten out oneend of a soda-straw. Nip, bothlong edges ofthis end with ascissors with a“V” point.

2. Keeping the “V” endoutside suck air fromthe other end. The“V” end will vibrateproducing a musicalnote.

3. You can also keep the“V” end inside the mouthand blow out air. Thestraw will again sound anote. Now keep cuttinglittle lengths of strawwith a scissors. As thestraw becomes shorterthe sound becomesshriller.

4. Cut a few holes on the straw to make itinto a flute By opening and closingthese holes you can play a few noteson the soda-straw flute.

VOICE AMPLIFIER

1. You need a card paper tube,kite paper, glue and scissors.

2. Make a hole of about1 cm diameter nearone end of the tube.Stick a piece of kitepaper near this endsuch that no creasesare formed on it.

The toy is ready.

3. It works like asound boxwhich ampli-fies your voicewhen youbring your lipsnear the holeto speak.

4.Try using different kinds of paper. Why does your voice get amplified?


THE IMPOSSIBLE PUZZLE

This is a very good puzzle to baffle your friends with.

1. Take a rectangle ofpaper about 25 cm longand 15 cm wide. Foldthe rectangle in halffrom bottom to top.

2. Cut a little slot atone end of the paperas shown.

3. Then unfold therectangle. Now foldthe rectangle inhalf from left toright.

4. From the folded side,mark two parallel cutsthat go towards, butdo not quite touchthe slot.

5. Unfold the rectangle.This should be yourfinished result.

6. Now, bring the ends of thepaper towards each other,but not quite together.Thread the strip made by thetwo parallel cuts in Fig (4),through the slot, so that youget a little loop sticking out.

7. Thread the buttonson to a length ofcotton and knot theends so that thebuttons do not falloff.

9. Fold the paper back into placeso that it looks like this. Showthe puzzle to your friends.Ask them if they can removethe buttons without breakingthe cotton thread or tearingthe paper. The secret issimply to repeat the steps in6, 8 and to pull the buttonsback through the loop.

8. Put one of the buttonsthrough the loop.


A FIVE STAR TREAT

With a few, quick folds and with just one cut of the scissors,you can make five stars in one sheet of newspaper.

1. First, cut out a largesquare from a doublespread newspaper sheet.Fold the square in halffrom top to bottom.

2. Fold it in half from left toright.

3. Fold the top left-hand corner downto meet thebottom right-handcorners.

4. Fold the topright-handcorner up tomeet the middleof the diagonalslope.

5. Fold both thetop right-handand bottomleft-handcorners over tomeet thebottom righthand corners.

6. Press the paperflat and turn itover.

7. Fold the paper inhalf, from thetop right-handcorner to thebottom left-hand corner,along the diago-nal fold line.

8. This way you willbe making atriangle.

9. With a scissorscarefully cut awaythe shaded part.

10. Open out the paper carefully and youwill have five stars glittering at you.


MATCHSTICK MATCHING

Move only as many matches as directed and create as many squares as requested.(Squares can overlap or have corners in common.)

CHANGE 2 STICKS CHANGE 3 STICKS CHANGE 4 STICKS

MAKE 2

SQ

UARES

MAKE 3

SQ

UARES

MAKE 4

SQ

UARES

MAKE 5

SQ

UARES


DOUBLE CONE

Most things slide down a ramp, but this double cone seems todefy gravity and climbs uphill. How?

1. You need twofunnels, anold cardboardand a pieceof cycle valvetube.

2. Mate the large circularends of two plastic fun-nels and weave a cyclevalve tube through them.Stretch the valve tubeand tie knots at both itsends. The two funnelsmake a profile of a doublecone.

3. Make a ramp out of twosimilar pieces of old card-board. Place a cylindricalpencil on the higher end ofthis incline. What happens?As is to be expected thepencil rolls down the incline.

4. Now place the doublecone on the lower endof the incline. Thedouble cone tends toclimb upwards. Why?The reason being thatwhen the double coneis kept on the lower endof the ramp, its centerof gravity is higher thanthe road level. So thereis some stored potentialenergy in the doublecone which gets con-verted into kineticenergy.

104

A

B

AB

C

AB

C

D

AB

C

D AC

DB

AC

D

B

C

AC

D

BC

AC

DBC

AC

DB C


WOVEN FISH

You will need several long rectangular strips of slightly stiff paper for weaving thisfish. Fold four long strips of paper (2 cm wide, 50 cm long) in half. These strips

have been shown in different designs and have been named A, B, C and D. Don’tturn around the strips too much.

1. Take strips A and B andput A inside B asshown.

2. Weave strip C intoplace.

3. Now, weave strip Dinto place.

4. Pull the strips to make apaper knot.

5. Fold the top layer of stripB up over the knot.

6. Fold the top layer ofstrip A up over theknot.

7. Now fold the top layerof strip D over the knot.

8. Fold top layer of strip C overthe knot. Take care to weaveit through.

9. The design shouldnow look like this.

105

C

DB C

A

C

BC

AD

D

A

C

B

C

B

CA

D

CB

C

AD

CB

C

AD

CB

AD C

CC

C

C


10. Fold over the bottomlayers of strips A andD and weave themthrough.

11. Pull the strips tight. Turnthe paper over from topto bottom.

12. Fold bottom layers of Band C and weave them.Upturn paper.

13. Fold the top layer ofstrip A backwards.

14. Fold the top layer ofstrip B backwards.

15. The design shouldnow look like this.

16. Trim each strip to the samelength. Don’t trim them tooshort. Tuck the double stripsC and D inside the body ofthe fish. Cut ends to makethe tail of the fish. Make amobile.


SIMPLE RAIN GAUGE

Using a plastic throw away water bottle you can make a very simple rain gauge.It costs almost nothing to make this nice apparatus.

8. You canperiodi-callymeasurethe rainfallwith thehelp of ascale.

1. Take a 1 litreplastic waterbottle. Witha sharp knifecut its neckon thecylindricalpart.

2. The topend willact like afunnel.

3. Invertthe topto makea funnel.

4. This funnel willprevent evapo-ration of water.

5. An empty plastic bottlebeing light will fall downor fly away in the slight-est breeze. So dig a holeand bury the lower end ofthe bottle in the ground.

6. Thisfounda-tion willanchorthe bottlein place.

7. You canalso placethe bottlebetweenfour bricksas shown.This willkeep thebottle inplace andprevent itfrom top-pling.

107

Glue


A COLOURFUL SURPRISE

You need card sheet, an old transparency, glue, scissors and sketch pens to makethis toy. As you pull the transparency the outlines of the fishes in the aquarium

surprisingly become colourful!

1. Take a cardsheet 21 cm x12 cm. Fold itinto three. Cutout a windowfrom the toprectangle. Cutsemicircles onthe right edge.

2. Fold thecard sheetinto suchthat thewindowcomes ontop. This isthe folder.

3. On a white cardsheet 6.5 cm x 6cmdraw a picture ofan aquarium withfishes swimming.Colour the fishes.

4. Cut a piece froman old transpar-ency 6.5 cm x12 cm. Fold itinto half.

5. Stick the colouredcard sheet on onehalf of the trans-parency as shown.

6. Fold the transparency in half.Now draw the outlines of thefishes etc. on the top trans-parency with a sketch pen.

8. Hold the left bottomcorner of the folderwith one hand. Withthe right hand gentlyhold the fold of thetransparency andpull it out. You willbe surprised to find acolourful aquariumemerge out.

7. Slide the transparency in thefolder. The colourful card sheetwill be hidden. The transparencywith the outline will be on top.Now close the folder window.

108

x

y

x600

600

y600

600

y

x60 0 60 0

60 0

x

600 600

y

x

600

600 600

600 600

600


x

y

GRID OF EQUILATERAL TRIANGLES

You could easily fold a grid of equilateral triangles in a paper square. Using nets of these triangles, you could fold a number of 3-D shapes

Tetrahedrons, Octahedrons etc.

1. Cut the biggest square froman A4 size Xerox paper. Foldthe middle crease to maketwo equal rectangles.

2. Open the square and foldthe left hand corner andmove it on the midline (XY)till the left edge passes thebottom corner.

3. This would be theresult. This is a won-derful way to crease60 degree angles.

4. Fold the top cornersuch that its edgesits exactly on topof the left edge.

5. On opening the paper you will findthe left-top edge divided intothree 60 degree angles.

6. Fold the bottom cornerand move it on the mid-line (XY) till the bottomedge passes the leftcorner. Fold the rightcorner such that....

7. ...its edgesitsexactlyon thetopbottomedge.

9. On opening thesquare you willfind several big60 degree equi-lateral triangles.Fold two lines inthe directionsshown...


10....to getthisshape.

11. Fold itagain inhalf.

12. Open the square and foldtwo creases in the direc-tions shown...

13...to get this shape.

14. Fold it againin half.

15. On opening youwill find a grid ofequilateral tri-angles. Fold

the two linesas shown.

16. To get a rectangularshape.

17. On openingthe square willbe divided intoequilateraltriangles.

18. As there are too manytriangles, fold a creaseon top of another toreduce their numbers.

19. Finally assemble a self-locked Tetrahedron, without using any glue or scissors!

110

Represents W Represents G

a b c d e f g h i j k l m

n o p q r s t u v w x y z


BRAILLE CUBE

The device is similar to a Rubik’s cube, but has different patterns of raised dots on its sidescorresponding to the Braille representation of letters in any language. The raised dotsappear in one or more of the six positions arranged in three columns of two rows on eachside of the cube. The cube consists of three segments which can be rotated about a com-mon axis. Thus different dot patterns corresponding to different letters can be formed on itssides. Thus each letter of the alphabet of any Indian language (or for matter any worldlanguage) can thus be represented on any one side of the cube. The dot positions arenumbered 1 to 6 and different patterns of dots on the cube and the letters to which theycorrespond are as seen in the pictures below. With six dot positions, Braille admits of amaximum of 63 dot patterns, more than enough to represent all the letters of any alphabet.All these can be formed on any side of the cube. With a ready chart containing the letters(and their dot patterns) any person can learn the use of the cube within an hour.

Visually impaired people can learn the Braille language with this wonderful cube.It is being manufactured by a charity Vidya Vrikshah based in Chennai and

sold for just two rupees!


HUMMING HANGER

Using an old hanger and a piece of cardboard, few rubber bands and thread, you could make a ‘roarer’ or a hummer.

1. Take a wire hanger.Hold the hook withone thumb and pulldown the middle pointof the big side tomake a diamondshape.

2. Stretch a fewrubber bandsand slide themon the wireframe.

3. Tie a strongthread tothe hook ofthe hanger.Hold oneend of theframe andswing thehanger tomake ahummingnoise.

4. Instead of a wire hangeryou could repeat thisactivity with a card-board frame.

5. Cut the middle ofthe cardboardand...

6. ...stretchrubberbands onthis frame

7. Then swing it.What determinesthe ‘hum’? -

The stretch ofthe rubberbands.

The pattern ofthe rubber bandson the frame.

The speed ofrotation.

112

900 900

450

450

600 600

600

600

600

600

300

300600

600 150

150

300600

600


GEOMETRY BY PAPER FOLDING

Most of these Geometric Exercises in Paper Folding have been inspired bya book of the same name, written by an Indian mathematician in 1893.

His name was T. Sundara Row (anglicised from Rao).

Ninety Degree angle

1. We will start with simple angles. Astraight edge is 180 degrees. If wedouble a straight edge upon itself weget two ninety degree angles.

2. A forty five degree angle is got byfolding any right angle corner intohalf.

60 degree cone

2. How to fold 60 degrees ? Divide a straightedge (180 degrees) into three equal angles.Take a point mid-way on the straight edge ofpaper lift both edges of the paper from thispoint and fold them to approximately 60 de-grees. Before creasing ensure that the edgesare flush with the folds to be creased

Thirty Degree angle

3. Fold the 60 degree angle such that itsone edge doubles on the other.It willbe divided into two 30 degree angles.

Fifteen Degree angle

5. A fifteen degree angle can be got by halv-ing the 30 degree angle. This can be doneby doubling its one edge on the other.

Paper Diamonds

1. First fold asheet ofrectangu-lar paperinto half.

2. And then intoquarter.

3. Fold a tri-angle at theleft-bottom,four foldcorner (thecentre of thepaper).

4. On openingone layeryou will seehalf of thediamond.

5. Open fully to see anelegant rhombus inthe middle of thepaper.

Forty Five Degree angle


6. If you makeseveral parallelcreases at thefour fold cornerthen ...

7. ...on openingyou will see adiamond in adiamond in adiamond - aseries of nest-ing diamonds orrhombuses.

Knotty Pentagon

Regular Hexagon

1. Take a long rectangular strip ofpaper and tie the two looseends into an ordinary knot

2. Gently pull theends to tightenthe knot.

3. Tighten the knotand crease welland you will besurprised to see...

4. a regularPENTA-GON.

1. Fold a rectan-gular sheet ofpaper into half.

2. Fold the doubled upstraight edge intothree equal parts of60 degrees each.Crease well.

3. There will be 6layers of paper onthe top corner.Fold it into atriangle.

4. On opening youwill see a regularHEXAGON in themiddle.

Hexagonal combweb

Octagon

5. If you make severalparallel creases atthe top cornerthen....

6. On opening you willsee a set of nestinghexagons resemblinga cobweb.

1. Fold asheet ofpaper intohalf andthen...

2. into aquarter.

3. Crease the 4fold corneragain into atriangle tomake 8 folds.

4. Crease the8 foldcornersharply.

5. On opening youwill find a regularOCTAGON in thecentre.


PLACE VALUE / DECIMAL POINT

SLIPPER ABACUS RUBBER ABACUS

1. Take an old rubber slipper. Make three 7-8 mm diameter holes on its midline usinga shoemaker’s punch.

1. Cut a 5 cm x 10 cm piece from anold hawai chappal.

3. Using matchsticks you can depict anyscore from 0 to 999 on this counter. Thescore right now is 159.

2. Insert / press fit a pencil / reed in theseholes. The height of the pencil should beonly 9 beads high.

3. This simple abacus can be used toshow place value. The number 293 isdenoted on it.

2. Mark out 3 columns and 9 rows of dots onit. Punch holes on the dots using a 2mmshoemaker’s punch.


DECIMAL ABACUS

1. Cut a 6 cm x 3cm piece from an oldrubber slipper.

2. Stick 4 needles in the rubber sothat they are 4.5 cm above.

3. Cut a 6 cm x 6 cm piece of old postcardMake 3 holes and 2 slits on it. Mark ablack spot on another postcard strip.

4. Attach the postcard piece to therubber with pins. Weave the stripthrough the slits.

5. Cut 5 mm long beads from an old refill. 6. The abacus indicates 520.9. It hasgot a sliding decimal point.


MOTHER TRUCK

1 Take a 20 cm x 30cm piece of shoesole rubber (about8 mm thick). Markout different ve-hicles - engine, car,jeep and van on it.

3. Using a shoe maker’s punchmake two holes of 8 mmdiameter near the base ofeach vehicle.

4. The finished rubber carswill look like this.

5. Make several buttonwheel pairs. Use 1.5cm long pieces of aball-pen body asbearings.

7. You can also fix wheelson the Mother Truck.Fix the wheels on thevehicles to make themrun. Join all the ve-hicles into a train.

6. These pieces will snapinto the holes of therubber vehicles. You canfix or remove the wheelsat will.

2.Cut these shapes with asharp knife.


SUDARSHAN CHAKRA

1. Poke a hole inthe rubber cap ofan injectionbottle, or else, inthe eraser fromyour geometrybox.

2. Cut two sticks from a broom-stick- one long 15 cm and theother short 6 cm. Tie thesticks tightly with a string asshown in the drawing.

4. Now place the joint of the sticks onyour right hand index finger androtate the assembly as shown.

You will be surprised to see that thesticks rotate around your finger like aSudarshan Chakra without falling. Asa matter of fact, the faster yourotate the sticks, the more stableand balanced is the assembly. Thissimple toy will give children a goodfeel for Centrifugal and Centripetalforce.

3. Insert therubber cap inthe longbroomstick.

Old rubber slippers are great for makingMontessori Inset Puzzles. Take an oldrubber “Hawai” slipper and scrub itclean with soap. Mark out somegeometric shapes on the slipper witha pen. Keep the slipper on a woodenboard and cut the shapes using ashoe maker’s knife (rampi). Roundcircles are best cut by hammering asharpened pipe on the rubber. Rubberslippers have no sharp points so theycannot hurt children and are safe.The rubber blocks fit snugly into theirslots. The inset blocks are whiteabove and blue below. If you upturnthem then the blue block stand outclearly on the white background. So,there is no need to paint them.

ZERO-COST INSET PUZZLES


BIRD IN A CAGE

We see things with our eyes. But we continue to see a thing for a little while longereven after it has been removed from sight. This is called persistence of vision.The principle of the bow-drill, still in use by carpenters can be incorporated into

an ingenious folk toy to demonstrate the persistence of vision.

1. Take an empty cottonthread reel. Make ahole through the reelat one end using adivider point.

2. Weave a threadthrough this hole.

3. Tie the two ends of thethread to the two ends of astrong coconut broomstickbent into an arc. The bow-string should be slightly loose.

4. Take a 10 cm long reedfrom a phooljhadu(broom) and split it atone end for about 1 cmin length.

5. Insert the other end ofthe reed inside the reeland remove out thethread.

6. Rotate the reed by180 degrees and insertit inside the reel sothat the thread loopsonce around the reed.

7. Make a bird and a cageon either side of a 3cm. square card sheet.

8. Wedge the card inthe slit on top ofthe reed and applysome glue to stickit.


9. Hold the threadreel with the lefthand and movethe bow to andfro with the righthand. The reedwill turn roundand round and thebird will appear tobe encaged. Thebow drill is abeautiful mecha-nism. It convertsthe straight-linemotion of thebow, into therotary motion ofthe reed.

WHISTLE

This is a very simple way to make a very loud whistle.For making it you just need a clean blade of grass.

1. Cup your handstogether, withyour thumbsfacing you.Place the cleanblade of grass inthe spacebetween yourthumbs. (Youmay have totake someone’shelp to put theblade of grass).

3. Bring your hands close toyour lips. Blow into thespace between yourthumbs so that the bladeof grass starts to vibrate.The vibrating blade willproduce a shrill whistlelike sound.

2. The blade ofgrass has tobe held verytightly inplace by thetip and baseof eachthumb.


CLAP IN THE AIR

Generations of children have made this simple toyand enjoyed playing with it.

1. Take two cardboardsquares of edge 6 cm.Cut V notches in themiddle of two oppositesides.

2. Place one piece ontop of the other.Align the notchesand place a rubberband in its groove.

3. Now open thecardboardpieces with boththe thumbs andfold them in thereverse direc-tion.

4. This stretchesthe rubber bandand keeps it intension.

5. Now throw theserefolded card-board piecesupwards.

6. You will hear anice clap in theair.


FILM BOTTLE ROTARY PUMP

This pump is like the pump, which is used to draw out water from the well.The crown cap of this pump is pressed to a cycle tire, which rotates it fast and

water gushes out.

1.To make this pumpyou will need a filmreel bottle, a bicyclespoke, a crown cap,a piece of rubber, anail, an extra nipplenut, nail, hammerand some simpletools.

2. With the help of a nail,hammer a small hole inthe center of thecrown cap.

3. Make three holes in thefilm reel bottle and one inits cap as shown. Attachthe rubber rotor to thespoke. The rubber rotormust move freely insidethe bottle cylinder. Fixthe soda water bottle,crown cap tightly be-tween the nipple nuts ofthe spoke.

4. This is com-plete assemblyof the filmbottle rotarypump.

5. Keep thepump in aninclined posi-tion in a bowl ofwater,such thatits inlet and outletports are diametri-cally opposite. Asksomeone to put the cycle on the stand andcrank the pedal. Press the crown cap ofthe pump to the rotating rubber tire. Therotor inside the pump will rotate very fastand water will gush forth with great force.


THUMBPRINTS

Thumbprints can be amazing fun. Try some!

Of all the littlethings we seek.

Our thumb appears,to be unique.

Have you seenyour own thumbprint?

It has aunique imprint.

No two thumbprints,look the same.

But they make avery good game.

Six billion people,throng the globe.

Each with a uniquethumb lobe.

Every thumbprint,in the world,

Has different lines,different whorls.

Print your thumb,look up or down.You might find,in it a clown.

A bird, a lion, a crawling snail.

A fish, a peacock,snorting whale.

In your thumbprint,you will find.

Lots of things,to open your mind.

ARVIND GUPTA

Graduated from IIT, Kanpur (1975) and worked with TELCO, Pune for afew years. In 1978, he took one year’s study leave from TELCO to workwith the grassroots village science teaching programme for children inthe tribal district of Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh. While working therehe developed many useful low-cost science teaching aids using locallyavailable materials. The possibilities of using ordinary things for doingscience and recycling modern junk into joyous toys appealed immenselyto children. His first book Matchstick Models & Other Science

Experiments was translated into 13 Indian languages and sold morethan half a million copies. He has written 14 books and translated over100 books on science, environment, and education into Hindi. He hasconducted hands-on workshops for children and teachers in over 1200schools across the country and presented over 102 TV programmes onscience based fun activities, innovative toys and teaching aids onnational television. These films have been made by the NCERT and theUGC for the countrywide classroom broadcast.

RecognitionArvind Gupta’s outstanding contributions in designing science teachingaids for young children have been recognized by several internationalorganizations such as UNICEF, UNESCO, International Toy ResearchAssociation, Boston Science Centre, MIT (Media Lab) and theInternational Play Association.

AwardsArvind Gupta has received several awards. These include the inauguralNational Award for Science Popularization amongst Children (1988), HariBhau Mote Award of the Marathi Vigyan Parishad (1988), theDistinguished Alumnus Award of IIT, Kanpur (2000 and the Indira GandhiPrize for Science Popularization (2008).

Books written by Arvind Gupta

1. Aha! Activities (2006) – Eklavya Publication, Bhopal2. Hands-On (2004) – Vigyan Prasar3. String Games (2002) – National Book Trust4. Ten Little Fingers (2000) – National Book Trust5. Little Toys (1996) – National Book Trust6. Toy Treasures (1993) – Eklavya Publication, Bhopal7. Toy Joy (1992) – Vigyan Prasar8. Pumps from the Dump (1992) – Vigyan Prasar9. Leaf Zoo (1992) – Vigyan Prasar10. The Toy Bag (1991) – Eklavya Publication, Bhopal11. Tangram (1990) – Balsahiti, Hyderabad12. Little Science (1989) Translated and printed in six Indian

languages13. Matchstick Models & Other Science Experiments (1987)

Selected under Operation Blackboard by six StateGovernments.

14. Kalikkam Padikkam (2007) Kerala State Institute ofChildren’s Literature.

ARVIND GUPTA

Graduated from IIT, Kanpur (1975) and worked with TELCO, Pune for afew years. In 1978, he took one year’s study leave from TELCO to workwith the grassroots village science teaching programme for children inthe tribal district of Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh. While working therehe developed many useful low-cost science teaching aids using locallyavailable materials. The possibilities of using ordinary things for doingscience and recycling modern junk into joyous toys appealed immenselyto children. His first book Matchstick Models & Other Science

Experiments was translated into 13 Indian languages and sold morethan half a million copies. He has written 14 books and translated over100 books on science, environment, and education into Hindi. He hasconducted hands-on workshops for children and teachers in over 1200schools across the country and presented over 102 TV programmes onscience based fun activities, innovative toys and teaching aids onnational television. These films have been made by the NCERT and theUGC for the countrywide classroom broadcast.

RecognitionArvind Gupta’s outstanding contributions in designing science teachingaids for young children have been recognized by several internationalorganizations such as UNICEF, UNESCO, International Toy ResearchAssociation, Boston Science Centre, MIT (Media Lab) and theInternational Play Association.

AwardsArvind Gupta has received several awards. These include the inauguralNational Award for Science Popularization amongst Children (1988), HariBhau Mote Award of the Marathi Vigyan Parishad (1988), theDistinguished Alumnus Award of IIT, Kanpur (2000 and the Indira GandhiPrize for Science Popularization (2008).


SCIENCE

SKILLS & THRILLS



SC

IEN

CE

sk

ill

s &

th

ril

ls

AR

VIN

D G

UP

TA


K E R A L A S T A T E I N S T I T U T E O F C H I L D R E N ’ S L I T E R A T U R E

KERALA STATE INSTITUTE OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

“Where is the money to buy science kits? With sixty children doing experiments, I will go bonkers..”Serious teachers have always raised such questions. With paucity of funds and poor infrastructure - how does one do justice to activity based science? But inspired teachers have faith in the resources and resilience of children. They know that ‘activities’ con-stitute great learning and children love them. The models the children and teachers make themselves remain more enduring. There are amazing possibili-ties of doing creative science using simple, readily available materials. Shri Arvind Gupta after his graduation from IIT Kanpur, devoted his life for science education in schools in India. He has developed a number of models for promoting and popularising activity based science teaching. This book unfolds the amaz-ing world of creative models and toys that even the poorest child can make and develop a lot from the junk around him.This is a collection of shri Arvind Gupta’s best writ-ings from his 13 books.

ISBN 978- 81- 906266- 1-3 KSICL 562/E1 Rs. 100.00

skills thrills

Documents

indira gandhi prize

distinguished alumnus award

countrywide classroom broadcast

kerala state institute

inaugural national award

huge wave knocks

science skills

cycle puncture solution