This is a fun project for both indoor and outdoor fun. Paper boats are always fun to make and watch. This is a twist on the original activity. You use cardboard and not paper and it propels itself.

This little boat really will travel in the tub or at the beach. Use a coping saw to cut your boat out of a thin piece of wood. You can use the lid of a wooden cigar box or a wooden shingle, or else a piece of plywood.

The boat is 10 inches long and 3 ½ inches wide. Curve one end of the boat as shown in figure 48. At the other end cut out a rectangular piece 3 ½ inches long and 2 ½ inches wide. This will leave a ½ inch strut on each side of the end of the boat.

The rectangular piece you have cut out is your paddle. Whittle or saw 1.2 inch off the side and the end of the paddle, so that it is 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. Next make a small notch in the middle of each side of the paddle and on the middle of the outside edges of the struts.

Put a rubber band around the struts, looping it in place in the notches. Insert the paddle in the space between the struts and the rubber band and wind the rubber band by turning the paddle around a number of times. Lay the boat in the water and let go of the paddle. The rubber band will unwind, turning the paddle and sending your boat away in a stream of spray.

Button yo-yo

With two large buttons, such as the ones used on a man’s overcoat, and you can make a yo-yo. Sew the two buttons together with the undersides of the buttons facing each other. To make space between the buttons for your string, put a match between the buttons while you are sewing them together. Then remove the match and wind the thread around the lose threads connecting the buttons to form a stiff shank. Sew through the shank several times and cut off the thread. Next tie a three-foot piece of string to the shank between the buttons, and wind the string around the shank. Tie a loop on the free end of the string and slip your middle finger through the loop. Now try to make the yo-yo wind and unwind by swinging your hand up and down.

Posted in Indoor Crafts

Pin piano

Different lengths of metal or string vibrate at different speeds. One of the reasons a piano has high and low tones is because the strings are of different lengths. A long string vibrates slowly, producing a low note, while a short string moves quickly and produces a high pitched sound. You can demonstrate this by making a pin piano. Take a little block of wood, such as a scrap of pine, and get nine straight pins. With a hammer, carefully drive the first pin a short distance into one end of the block. Drive each of seven other pins a little farther into the black so that you have a slanting row of pins. It’s kind of like the bars on a cell phone. One is a little bit bigger than the other. Use the extra pin to pluck the piano. See if you can play different songs on it.

Soda straw clarinet

An ordinary soda straw can be used to make a musical note as well as the funny noises you here when you suck the last drop out of soda from a glass. Here, we will make a great musical clarinet! Flatten about half an inch of the end of a paper drinking straw. Then cut a point in the flattened end. Put the flattened end into your mouth, and be careful not to tough the points with your lips, and blow hard. The points will vibrate rapidly and you will produce a musical note. If you cut pieces of straws at various lengths, you can make many different notes, because the tone is changed by the amount of air vibrating inside the straw.

Ringing spoon

Sound travels through other things besides air. It travels through string, and if you tie a kitchen spoon to the middle of a five foot length of string you will find this out for your self. Place the one end of a string in each ear and let the spoon swing so that it hits a leg of the kitchen table. The sound will be large like a large bell, because the sound waves have traveled directly through the string to your ears instead of spreading out into the air.

Posted in Indoor Crafts

Plunk, squek, buzz, and crackle. Sounds are everywhere! Have fun with these projects

Water-glass Xylophone

One sound wave you have made, and have probably been told to stop making is by tapping a glassful of water with a spoon. This is not a polite dinnertime activity, but at some other time you can have fun creating different sounds with water glasses, or bottles in the kitchen. Take eight glasses or empty soda bottles of about the same size to make a water glass xylophone. Line the glasses up in a row. Fill the first glass nearly to the top, put a little less water in the second one than you did in the first, a little less in the third than you did in the second and so forth, until you reach the eight glass, where you shall put in only a little bit of water. When you tap the full glass lightly with a spoon it will make a low sound and each of the others will make a higher sound. The sound note increases from low to high as the water decreases. With this you can play simple tunes.

Tin can telephone

The principle you learned about traveling trough string can be used to make you r own private telephone. Cut the lid off two tin cans or oatmeal cartons. Punch a hole in the bottom of the cans with a hammer and a nail. Cut a piece of string about 50 feet long and put one end through the hole in each can. Tie a button to the ends of the string inside the cans so that the string will not slip out.

Have a friend take one of the tin cans phones and you hold the other. Move apart so that the string is pulled tight between you and isn’t touching anything. Then talk into your tin can while your friend holds his to his ear.

Posted in Indoor Crafts

Are you bored with your kids inside the house or tired with the same old routine? Well, indoor crafts may be a good suggestion for you. You will definitely have a break from your tiresome lifestyle as you and your kids can have some fun and excitement for a couple hours.

Indoor crafts are very popular in today’s day. Some stay at home moms turned this into not only a hobby but into a business.

Indoor crafts are very god for kids; they can play, enjoy, have fun and they have a chance to improve their skills.

Crafts are great for parents that want some calm and tranquil time, inside the house, and especially in cold weather. There are many activities of indoor crafts that are fun, exciting and make the kids busy for a little while inside the house.

There are several activities that encourage the learning motor skills such as; playing with dough, crafts, puzzles, painting, molding, shaping, and more… and will keep the kids very busy for hours. Kids love to show their talent!

Playing with dough is a very fun activity and you can make your own dough at home with this easy recipe:

• One cup of flour
• One tsp of oil
• Half cup of salt
• And food coloring

How to make your own dough

1. Then you mix everything in a pan on a low heat stove, stirring until the dough turn in to a solid. Place it on to a counter top and knead very well until cool and smooth.
2. Your dough is ready! You and your children can play and have fun; they can Mold and using their imagination to make different shapes.

Posted in Indoor Crafts