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TOYS!TOYS!TOYS!

You can build these five fun toys for FREE! Just please respect the copyright notice, make them for your own personal use, and let your friends know where you obtained the instructions.
Click on any image or link for more information.

A Paper Helicopter- the StarCopter.

Just print out and follow the directions on this link. When you tire of flying the helicopter, balance the StarCopter cone on the tip of a pencil and attach it above a desk lamp or a radiator. Watch it twirl in the rising air currents.

A Balloon HoverCraft.

Build a balloon-powered hovercraft out of a funnel and a sheet of plastic. It skims silently over smooth and rough surfaces...Just print out and follow the directions on this link.

balloonpic

A fun replacement for a trackball

Dress up those boring trackballs by replacing the sphere with a glide ball! The bug in the ball floats to the top no matter where you spin the sphere. Covered under US Patent 5620371 

A TOP Made from a Koosh Ball 

Turn a Koosh Ball into a spinning top! When the top spins, the rubber fingers fling out wildly, flattening the north and south poles of the top. The Earth is also flattened at the poles for similar reasons. 

A VERY effective potato plug gun

This gun can shoot a potato plug over 100 feet.

One of the best collection of toys inspired by simple physical principles can be found at scitoys. Too bad high school science wasn't like this.

A three-sided die

Also check out the Mechanical Toys site by Malcom Goris. It has plans for over a dozen classic toys and mechanisms, like the Mouse Trap car pictured on the right..


Contact Greg Blonder by email here - Modified Genuine Ideas, LLC.