What I made

1) Espresso train

Bliss’ometer: 15 mins
Pros: Kids love trains, enough said!
Cons: Adults will need to get heavily involved

2) Table football

Bliss’ometer: 10min
Pros: Very easy, and great for more than one child
Cons: It can get a bit noisy!

3) Checker board

Bliss’ometer: 10mins
Pros: Great challenge for older kids (7+)
Cons: You need a lot of sticks!

4) Wagon wheel

Bliss’ometer: 5mins
Pros: One for the young children (3+)
Cons: You can’t take it away with you.

5) Baby sick!

Bliss’ometer: 8mins
Pros: You only need a pen…
Cons: …it needs to be a permanent marker

6) Stick house

Bliss’ometer: 10mins
Pros: The perfect starter for older kids (7+)
Cons: Some parent involvement required

I love coffee shops. I have a Latte ‘to go’, most mornings – it’s part of my commuter coping mechanism. At the weekends trips to coffee shops are more of a family affair, the kids are particularly partial to Chocolate Cream (the nearest thing to a milk shake on the Starbucks menu). But as much as the kids enjoy these trips, they become restless before I even get halfway through my Latte. So over the years I have improvised a number of activities to keep them occupied, all of them make use of the materials available in any coffee shop. I hope you find them helpful, or should I say I hope they help you to enjoy your coffee! Good luck.

I’ve recently added a newsletter to my blog, if you haven’t signed up please do! I see it as a great opportunity to send my subscribers some exclusive content, something that isn’t available on my blog.

1) I wonder if he knows he’s made from two toilet rolls…

2) …and an old plastic deodorant bottle!

Here’s a robot that’s so agile it can balance on the edge of a ruler, so strong its heart is made of steel, so clever its brain is made of cogs… and so cheap he’s made from trash!

A couple of cool additional features are the see-through head, made from the lid of a can of shaving gel and the arms that rotate up and down, revealing the robot’s steel heart. It was produced for Craft: (as part of their Summer craft series) and is the perfect project if you are looking to keep your kids busy.

I have provided full instructions below, but feel free to improvise, you can create your Steampunk inspired robot from almost anything. In fact, I’d love to see how you give your robot an individual twist, so why not send me a photo. Have fun!

Note: If you want a more detailed description of each step check out the Steampunk inspired balancing robot project on Craft:.

Download project files›

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

If you’re interested in seeing me giving my 5-word speech at the Webby Award ceremony in New York please visit my Facebook Page (but don’t let me know what you think – ha ha!).

I’m very excited by this craft project – mainly because it’s my first contribution to feature in MAKE: magazine (part of a new regular series) but also because I think it’s quite a neat project!

I made it during a snowy spell, after taking pity on a Robin that had taken residence in our garden (it’s funny how craft ideas often come from an actual need). I didn’t feel like braving the cold, so I made do with materials I found lying around the house – namely a few Coke cans and some disposable chopsticks (salvaged from a meal out to a Chinese restaurant). I was quite pleased with the result, I thought it looked fairly elegant, which was my initial goal.

Download project files›

Includes:
1) Collectable instructions – they look great stuck on the fridge!

While on the topic of bird feeders here’s some very cool ones made from traffic light lenses. If you know of any others made from unusual materials let me know, I couldn’t find many.

Now, you could vote for ‘What I Made’ this way.

Or you could do it the easy way, and vote online at the Webbys People’s Voice website (voting now closed).

Update: I’m very happy to announce that ‘What I Made’ won the 2011 Webby Award and Webby People’s Voice Award for best personal blog/website. Thank you to everyone who voted, or showed their support by leaving comments, emailing me, or liking one of my posts!