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After 1,500 miles of alternative fuels vehicle driving, we found that you can run a truck with a wo...
Almost half the world’s original forests have disappeared, one-fifth since the late 1950s....
Children like to play, but they don't need expensive toys from the department store to have fun. Yo...
Patterns, instructions and diagrams for building a wooden rocking horse and dump truck....
Scale the fish up and trace it off onto a 1/4" x 1-1/2" x 3" scrap of wood. Use a drill and coping saw to cut out the big "spear" hole, and don't forget to drill out the small hole on the fish's body that the suspension string ties into. Sand the wood smooth and either burn or paint the eyes and mouth into both sides of the body. Then give the fish and a 1/4" x 8" wooden dowel a protective coat of polyurethane. When they've both dried, tie the two together as shown with about a foot of strong string. (NOTE: The string will stay positioned on the end of the dowel if you use a knife to carve a slightly indented "ring" right around the tip of the stick for the cord to fit down into.)
Click here for downloadable construction details.
Sooner or later we all have to learn that "you can't fit a square peg into a round hole," and that's exactly what Ms. Walker's shape perception puzzle is all about.
The toy's main body is nothing but an empty oatmeal container (or, if you want a plaything that'll really stand up to abuse, try a section of a large, heavy-walled mailing tube). And the various shapes are all cut from a 12" x 4" piece of 3/4" wood.
Trace the shapes (make up your own, if you like!) onto the wood, cut them out, sand 'em smooth and either paint the pieces or finish them with polyurethane. The shapes are then traced onto the box at various places on its surface, the holes are cut out and, if you wish, the container is painted in a bright color. Store the blocks of wood in the box, then dump 'em all out and give your tot a chance to figure out how to get 'em back inside the container through the proper openings.
"This is one of the traditional toys of Europe," writes Susan Allan (all the way from Dormillouse, France), "and a local woodcarver, Paul Peschon, sells every one he makes here in his small Alpine village."
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