Inventing Toys: Kids Having Fun Learning Science

by Ed Sobey

An intriguing combination of invention and toy making, this guide encourages students to work in teams to design and fabricate working toys while learning the fundamentals of science, design, tool usage, and the creative process. Toys range from cars to electric fans to rockets, and the trial-and-error process that students use to build these toys allows them to refine their models through experimentation—building, conducting tests, collecting and interpreting data, and making changes or improvements to their inventions. There are directions for seven workshops and suggestions for five more, and the science concepts and historical background involved in each project are explained for teachers.

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Ed is curious - he wants to see the world and understand how it works. So he travels (a lot) and takes things apart. And, he enjoys putting things together from building robots to writing books.

As a math and physics major, Ed likes numbers. He's traveled to 61 countries on all 7 continents. He has directed 5 museums (including the National Inventors Hall of Fame and founding the National Toy Hall of Fame) and written more than two dozen books.

He holds a Ph.D. in oceanography and has participated in 20 some expeditions, including doing research on sea ice in Antarctica. With his wife, he has sailed across the Pacific Ocean and has done a circumnavigation teaching oceanography for Semester at Sea. Ed is a Fellow Emeritus in The Explorers Club.

An avid outdoors person, Ed runs, bikes, swims, kayaks, and SCUBA dives. Along the way he searches for the unusual gizmo to take apart - or at least figure out how it works.