Happy Dussehra...

Happy Dussehra to all of you.

Today along with celebrating the victory of Good over Evil, I also celebrate people who are real fighters. Those people who fight the problems in their life and emerge as heroes, each one in their own unique way!!!

Some fight for their independence, some for their rights. But there are some who fight against the deadly diseases like cancer which crawl in without notice. But mind you my heroes are those who do not give up. Even if everyday is a struggle, even if every minute is painful, they endure it with a smile that never leaves their lips. These people are an inspiration to all of us. They touch our lives in a very special way. But alas! some lose their fight. They are still heroes. Winning a battle is not a measure but the resistance you have to give up is. These give us the message that 'Life is a gift. Enjoy it while it is with you. It may be snatched from you before you realise.'
Today I pay tribute to my friend who recently lost her life to cancer. Her magnetic smile will always be with me.

Today I celebrate the life of all those people who in spite of their everyday struggle, strive hard to live life to the full and inspire us. I am lucky to work closely with one such lovely lady. She had a life changing event when she had a stroke. Everything that was simple, suddenly turned into a strenuous and gargantuan tasks. But she has not given up. Today she is learning new skills. Her speech impairment and mobility problems which were a result of the massive stroke she had have failed to take over her spirit. They always will. She is a pleasure to be around. She is now learning to blog her experiences so that other people find it helpful.

You may reach her blog by clicking on the following link:
http://survivorafterstroke.blogspot.co.uk

Do visit her blog and let her know how much her work is appreciated.

Hologram

This toy creates a hologram inside it. ofcorse its not a real hologram but is just as good as a real one and can light up your mood when you are low.

The toy works by reflecting the light form the phone to the plastic.

1. Find a plastic cd cover which is see through or any see through sheet.
2. You will need to cut out a trapezium from plastic; bottom of the trapezium 6cm, top of the trapezium 1 cm. Repeat 4 times. (make sure that you can fit in four in one disk cover)
3. Attach the trapeziums to each other so they make a pyramid.
4. Load up a youtube video on your phone link is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsg8KDKVNGE
5. Place your object on the phone up side down with the big square on the top.
6. look through the sides and enjoy!

Magical Fan

This is a simple toy which is fun and easy to make.It is a toy which needs 3 A4 sheets of paper, some tape, string and some glue.

1. Roll the first bit of paper into a tube (role it length way)
2. Do the same to the other paper excpet width ways.
3. With the last paper make a fan.
4. Stick the fan to the end of the long tube.

5. At the tip of the fan stick two strings

6. Connect the end of the strings to the short tube

7. And enjoy

Robotic Hand

                                                               
A second one in my toys series:

This toy is a toy where if you pull the strings then the fingers close and open. You can control the movement of the fingers by pulling different strings. This is a scientific model of the hand and shows how the tendons in our hands work to help us grab things.

Follow the steps to make your own robotic hand:

1. Draw around your hand.

2. Copy the drawing onto a card sheet. (I used a cereal box)

3. Cut out the card hand.

4. Cut the card hand at all the joints.

5. Stick the card hand pieces to the paper hand leaving a gap so the paper can bend.

6. Stick on small straw bits on the card as shown. Keep the straws as small as possible so they don't hinder the finger movements. Each finger will have about three straws followed by the bent bit of the straw on the palm.

7.  Thread the straw and glue the thread to the very tip of the finger. Each finger should have one string passing through it. The other end of the string is free to move. When each string is pulled, it closes the finger it holds to.

8. Decorate the hand and then enjoy.

Shreyas

Slithering snake

I am starting a series of simple homemade toys and here comes the first one:

Over the past few days I have been making some toys. These toys work on the basis of science. The slithering snake is a toy where you have to pull the string and make it go forward. It is a simple rubber band toy that looks cool and is fun to play with. This toy is one of my favourite in them so lets get to it...

1. I made a spindle out of play dough with a rubber band sticking through (tip:make two holes so you have a loop which turns with the spindle.)

2. Make the snakes head and tail and add any accessories you'd like. E.g glasses, eyes, tongue

3. To make the body go to my youtube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHbnKFDuH_k

4. Connect the head, body and tail.

5. Then take the spindle and attach it to the head.

6. Wrap a thread around the spindle and put it through the forehead.

7. Sit back and play away.

- Shreyas

Solar System

                                                                

When school give those "whacky" homeworks you can never expect what it will be; so this times long term homework was a model of the solar system. I went through all my stuff and found a bunch of newspaper, cereal boxes, a long wooden board from the back of a cupboard and a bunch of small and big balls at my disposal.So this is what I created...

I started by sticking paper onto the balls and made different sized planets. For Saturn, I used a disc cut out from the cereal box. I pasted a lot of paper over it make it thick. Then I painted them all different colors according to the colors of the planets. After that I got the board and painted it completely black. Then I started to paint the sun. I used a mix of red, yellow and orange. I stuck the planets on to the board in their proper order. When the planets were stuck on firm I painted on their orbit. I found little info on the planets on the internet, made small slips, took a printout and stuck them on too beside each planet.

I used pieces of Styrofoam to form the asteroid belt.

I have now kept that as a poster in my room and look at it every morning. 

Hamabead Nameplate

Hamabeads are so popular with kids. Children can spend hours together creating so many different shapes with those lovely coloured beads. You can make flowers, sea creatures, ships, hearts, and anything that you can imagine.

Today I have brought you an idea where you can make an useful item out of Hamabeads. How about making a nameplate for your room with these wonderful beads? It looks awesome when your name emerges from combining those small colourful beads and joining them with a touch of hot iron. Here is what I made out of hamabeads two years ago and it still hangs on my door proudly.

Handmade vehicles...

How does it feel when you lose a competition? Not just lose, but lose very badly and that too to when your opponent is a kid! I felt very happy:-) Yes. I am not lying...

Yesterday was the last day of half term holidays for school and the weather was very bad. So no chance of going out to play. Board games - very bored. TV - A big NO NO. So my son came up with a brilliant idea. He took out some materials like ice lolly sticks, rubber bands, wooden skewers, etc and challenged me to build a working vehicle.

At once, we both set to work. I cut out five wheels from cardboard and started assembling them (With some small tips from my son!) I almost completed my vehicle and the last stage was to fix the rubber bands. After 3 failed trials of trying to stick the rubber bands to the wooden spoke, he told me that rubber bands don't stick with hot glue:-( With great difficulty, I attached the rubber bands and here is my vehicle which moved about 2 cms on its own!

Working hard!

My Creation

On the other hand, Shreyas' vehicle turned out to be so successful that it could go over hurdles without stopping and could cover almost 20 times the distance than mine. He used the same rubber band principle but in a different way. Kudos to you Shreyas. Well Done and I am happy to lose to you always but only after giving you a tough competition.

Winning model

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