What I made

1) Compact and bijou…

2) …tall and proud.

I love making gadgety things, especially when they are engineered simply and from everyday things. This telescopic light (which first appeared in Make: magazine) is a good example, on one hand it has a counterbalanced mechanism that allows it to adjust to any height, on the other hand it’s made from nothing more than paper, cardboard, coins, a bit of wire and a string of Christmas lights.

Interestingly, during construction I was so focused on trying to get the counterbalance working I never really thought about it as functioning light. In fact, I wasn’t really sure whether the Christmas lights would even work as a light source, I thought they might be too weak. However, the effect, when I first turned it on was pretty cool. I hope you can get a sense of it from the video below.

Oh… and an added bonus was that the LED Christmas lights I was using (salvaged from the loft) came with a variety of flashing sequences, one for every mood! If you are up for a challenge try making your own one, it’s a little tricky, but the detailed instructions below should help you get there. Good luck.

Download project files›

Includes:
1) Collectable instructions – print them out & put them in a folder!

Over the years I’ve made a number of different lights, most using candles as the light source – here’s a bit of a retrospective:

No.1: Coca light!
No.2: Elegant tin can tea light holder
No.3: Marble run candlestick timer
No.4: Exhaust pipe candlestick holder

Mission: Construct a marble run with your child and use it as an opportunity to teach them about science and technology.

Real mission: Construct a marble run with (or without) your child. Beat the other kids. Beat the other kids’ parents. Beat everyone.

Only kidding… (not really). This year we went full out and created an out-of-this-world marble run with ‘flying comet’ and ‘rocket launch’ effects. Watch the video above (with the sound on) for a full demo.

The instructions above are intended as a guide and inspiration – they don’t cover every step of the build, this one is a little too complex for that! Anyway, I hope you still find them helpful.

Download project files›

Includes:
1) Collectable instructions – includes additional photographs
101 downloads so far, thanks everyone! (updated weekly)

Do you have a clock made from a vinyl record lying around? Preferably with a picture of Nelson Mandela on it (in the style of Andy Warhol). You don’t? That’s a pity, because if you did, you too could make one these!

Watch the video above, it explains everything (well, sort of). The challenge was to film something for one minute, with no editing and no camera movement. I thought why not just film a clock. Then I thought… what if I stick a jousting knight on the second hand and have him knock over numbers with his lance!

I hope you enjoy it – if you don’t, I wasted 3 hours of my life!

This year my son’s science challenge was to build a spaghetti and marshmallow tower capable of holding a chocolate egg – the tallest tower being the winner. I must say it’s a tricky, and sticky, job – and one that is made all the more difficult if you happen to like eating one of the building materials, which unfortunately both me and my son do. So all in all it was a bit of a race against time – because the longer we took the greater the temptation!

Anyway, we resisted long enough to build a 189cm tall tower, which luckily proved to be more than enough to win the science prize.

The diagram above shows you how I built my tower, I hope it’s helpful. I’ve also created a PDF instruction sheet, just click the download button below and print it out. Let me know how you get on, why not send me a pic of your creation?

Download project files›

Includes:
1) Collectable instructions – includes additional hints and tips
153 downloads so far, thanks everyone! (updated weekly)

Building your own spaghetti and marshmallow tower makes a great kids activity and doesn’t have to be the preserve of science projects. As an extra incentive offer them the chocolate egg if they can build a tower to support it.