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Archive: LEGO
November 25, 2008
Holiday Gift Guide: Gifts that will inspire your kids!
Here is our 2008 Make Holiday Gift Guide for kids. Hopefully these gifts will inspire you to go out and make new things, teach others what you know, or even learn something new. The best gift you can give any kid is quality time together. I tried to cover a lot of different ages, skill levels, and interests. If I missed something you think should be added to the list, please leave it in the comments below. Thanks!
If you are looking for cool projects to make with your kids over the Holidays, don't forget to check out the Make blog "Kids" category for hundreds, if not thousands, of great projects.
Howtoons
As seen in Make Magazine. Part comic strip and part science experiment, Howtoons shows children how to find imaginative new uses for common household items like soda bottles, duct tape, mop buckets, and moreñto teach kids the "Tools of Mass Construction"! Howtoons are cartoons that teach 8ñ to 15ñyearñold readers "how to" build, create, and explore things. Combining a fun, fullñcolor cartoon format and real life science and engineering principles, Howtoons are designed to encourage kids to become active participants in the world around them.
Price: $15.99
Drawdio Kit
You may have to put this kit together if you have younger kids, since it requires soldering. It's easy to assemble, and fun to hack! Drawdio has been kid tested at my house for many hours, and is a hit with everyone who tries it!
Drawdio is an electronic pencil that lets you make music while you draw! It's great project for beginners: An easy kit with instant gratification! Essentially, its a very simple musical synthesizer that uses the conductive properties of pencil graphite to create different sounds. The result is a fun toy that lets you draw musical instruments on any piece of paper.
Price: $19.50
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Nov 25, 2008 07:50 AM
Kids, Kits, LEGO, Maker Shed Store, Robotics |
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November 21, 2008
LEGO Style
The Brothers Brick pointed out this amazing CGI animation of a LEGO fashion show by Fabrice Pathier (Four H). The clip features designs by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac.
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Nov 21, 2008 07:00 AM
Kids, LEGO |
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November 20, 2008
Visible minifig
Artist Jason Freeny has produced this awesome Micro Schematic of a LEGO minifig. Via I Heart Guts!
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Nov 20, 2008 12:30 PM
Arts, Kids, LEGO |
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November 19, 2008
DIY bike stand
Michael wanted a bike stand, but didn't want to pay, and wanted to use it as a project to build his Computer Aided Design and fabrication skills.
We had been using ProDesktop by PTC, to learn how to design mechanical parts. He was doing the tutorials along with his classmates. He worked out the idea in Lego parts. He studied the existing mechanism available from Park Tools. He designed the individual parts, and made an assembly in ProD. When he had the system Then he took the drawings and laid them out on wood and cut using traditional woodshop tools. The full assembly and process are visible on his wiki.
Michael did this project while he was a freshman or sophomore at Duxbury High School. It showed me both the incredible power of the design process, and the amazing things that can happen when you put powerful design tools into the hands of a motivated student. He is now a Senior in Industrial and Mechanical Engineering at Umass Amherst. Graduate school and a promising career figure are just a few of the things in his future. When he did this project many years ago, I could see many possibilities for the techniques and the student.
How do you use Make and Craft to help teach? Have these publications changed the way you see projects and education? Do you have success stories of students who have created amazing things or gone on to fascinating careers as Designers or Makers? Give them and your program a plug by posting into the comments or adding photos and videos of their work in the Make Flickr pool.
Posted by Chris Connors |
Nov 19, 2008 03:00 PM
Bicycles, DIY Projects, How it's made, Kids, LEGO |
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November 10, 2008
LEGO NXT walker turns from both ends
NgeokNean made this very cool LEGO Mindstorms NXT walker - I've never seen this kind of pivot-mechanism used for turning, it's very creative!
Via NXT Step blog
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Nov 10, 2008 07:00 AM
Kids, LEGO |
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November 5, 2008
LEGO Kitchen crafts
LEGO Kitchen crafts @ Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, I like the Brooklyn Bridge napkin holder...
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Nov 5, 2008 02:30 AM
LEGO |
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November 2, 2008
GeekDad at Maker Faire
Anton Olsen of GeekDad has a nice piece on some of the highlights for kids at Maker Faire Austin. (the photo is part of the TexLUG exhibit, one of my picks for the Editor's Choice blue ribbon - they were great!)
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Nov 2, 2008 07:00 AM
Kids, LEGO, Maker Faire |
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October 28, 2008
Casper's bronze heart
Casper's brother made him this totally sweet bronze sculpture using Styrofoam and a LEGO minifig. Via Brothers Brick
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Oct 28, 2008 07:00 AM
Arts, Kids, LEGO |
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October 27, 2008
How To: Build a 3D Lego Halloween Pumpkin
The folks over at Gizomodo have combined two of my favorite things, LEGOs and Halloween. This looks like a fun project to build, and it would make a perfect addition to anyone's desk.
How To Build a 3D Lego Halloween Pumpkin
More:
DIY Halloween contest! This is the BIG ONE!!!!
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Oct 27, 2008 02:00 AM
Halloween, LEGO |
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October 25, 2008
Halloween LEGO minifig contest
Fine Clonier is hosting a Haunted Halloween Custom LEGO Minifig Contest - there's still time to enter! Here are a few of the rules - complete information is here. (I hope somebody comes up with a scary princess)
What is the contest," you ask. Well it is simply building a Custom Scary Halloween figure out of official LEGO or custom elements. LEGO has been helping us out with scary pumpkin heads, goblins, ghosts, and even trolls, so you might not even need custom elements. Just play mix and match."There has to be a catch," you say, well not this time, anyone from any country can enter. And now for the best part, the prize is TBA
RULES:
1. Figure constructed must be scary. No princesses. Clowns yes, they scare the hell out of plenty of kids, but I have yet to meet a scary princess.
2. Figure must be constructed from "OFFICAL" LEGO or custom elements. Decals, cut up parts, whatever it all flies here.
3. Contest is open to ANY and ALL, WORLDWIDE, so spread the word. The only ineligible person is ME, Kaminoan.
4. You are allowed to submit as many FIGURES as you like, only limit is ONE ENTRY PER POST. If you have multiple entries you must make multiple posts.
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Oct 25, 2008 07:00 AM
Announcements, Halloween, Kids, LEGO |
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October 9, 2008
BrickCon photos
Massive photo pool on Flickr with over 4,000 photos from last weekend's BrickCon, over 3,200 attended in Seattle, WA to see some of the biggest and best LEGO creations on earth. Here's a nice set via The Brother's Brick, Zombie Apocafest!
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 9, 2008 12:00 AM
LEGO |
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October 8, 2008
Lego Batman cake
Spotted on Flickr, a cake (yes, that's all cake) made for the Lego Batman videogame launch party. The cake was created by cake designer Elisa Strauss.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Oct 8, 2008 04:00 PM
Crafts, Gaming, LEGO, Toys and Games |
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October 1, 2008
First Lego League Needs Judges
From our robotics friends in Dallas:
Would you be interested in being a judge for a middle school robotics competition?
The FIRST Lego League (FLL) Championship will be in Dallas, January 31st.
For more information about (FLL), check out our web site.
It's a one-day event, and we are currently looking for 24 judges.Judging areas include:
- Technical judging (need 8) - score teams on how well robot is programmed
- Project judging (need 8) - listen to and judge team research presentations/skits
- Teamwork judging (need 8) - judge a team on how well they work together to complete a task
- Referees (need 6) - track points scored when teams robots compete to complete a challenge
We are trying to confirm our judges and referees as soon as possible. There will be a 1 day training before the event.
A technical background is preferred, but not required.
It's a fun, lighthearted event and you would be inspiring middle school students across North Texas.If interested, please email Janet Butler, North Texas Assistant Regional Director, at jbutler@usfirst.org ..
Here's a video of Elite Engineers' winning entry in First Lego League Scandinavia:
Posted by Luke Iseman |
Oct 1, 2008 04:11 AM
Events, LEGO, Robotics |
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September 29, 2008
LEGO V8, 32 valve engine
Another impressive LEGO build, nice illuminated accents -
Real working (electronic) V8 engine made from Lego Technic. This is not a Lego set, but I completely designed and build it myself. It took me about 4/5 months. Enjoy!More pics of the build avaible on Brickshelf Gallery. [via Hacked Gadgets]
More:
1440 rpms v8 LEGO engine
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Sep 29, 2008 02:00 PM
LEGO |
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September 22, 2008
LEGO aircraft carrier
Amazing aircraft carrier made in LEGO! There are some photo hijacking sites that yoinked the photos from Brickshelf, but I found the source and linked it up. Here's a write up about @ Geekdad too...
It's a 200,000-brick, 350-pound aircraft carrier -- the Harry S Truman -- complete with electrical lights as well as moving elevators and radar dishes.As all of us geekdads can appreciate, building this model was not without difficulties on the homefront. Hawking, a German father of two and (at least before this masterwork) neophyte bricker spent over $20,000 on parts and it took the better part of a year. But despite "lots of arguments at home" he somehow succeeded and showed the Truman all over Europe. The brick de resistance was to be an appearance at Brickworld '07 with transport provided by the US Navy, but unfortunately the arrangement fell through.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 22, 2008 12:00 AM
LEGO |
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September 19, 2008
LEGO Mac Pro houses 2 machines
This spot-on LEGO Man enclosure sports 2 machines running OSX within -
Made out of 2,588 Lego bricks, the Mac Pro was designed in Lego Digital Designer 2.0 for the MacMod Challenge 2008. The Hackintosh is a plain PC with a Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz CPU running Mac OS X, while the Mac Mini is a Core Duo 1.66Ghz.No report on how hot it gets inside the box but I'm guessing this must be one of the most 'moddable' cases ever. - Perfect Lego Mac Pro is two computers in one
More:
The Lego Computer
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Sep 19, 2008 06:00 AM
Computers, LEGO |
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September 13, 2008
"Letting go"
Inspired by the death of his grandfather, LEGO builder Shannon Ocean created this thoughtful and somewhat disturbing piece called "Letting go". via The Brothers Brick
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Sep 13, 2008 07:00 AM
Arts, Kids, LEGO |
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September 9, 2008
Simpsons intro in LEGO
Urmas Salu (a teenager!) won all of $40 for this re-enactment of The Simpsons opening sequence in LEGO. Watching it makes me ridiculously happy. via Boing Boing
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Sep 9, 2008 02:41 PM
Kids, LEGO |
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August 28, 2008
Ohmu in LEGO
Big-X made a wonderful model of the Ohmu from Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. He has some other incredible models in his Brickshelf gallery, too.
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Aug 28, 2008 07:00 AM
Kids, LEGO |
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August 26, 2008
Custom LEGO Watchmen Owlship
Crazed LEGO fan Chris Doyle has done an awesome job in creating this custom Nite Owl Owlship from the Watchmen comic (and upcoming film). I love how some builders go so far as to mock up packaging. Now that's dedication.
The Watchmen: Nite-Owl's Owlship
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 26, 2008 06:29 PM
LEGO, Toys and Games |
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The MAKE gift guides for 2008!
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Phillip Torrone
Senior Editor
Tel: 707-827-7311
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Gareth Branwyn
Jonah Brucker-Cohen
Collin Cunningham
Marc de Vinck
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Patti Schiendelman
Becky Stern
Mike Dixon
Jason Striegel
John Park
Chris Connors
David Neff
Peter Horvath(intern)
Current Podcast
Maker Faire Austin - Green Tech
Makers from around the world gathered to share their "green" inventions and technology at Maker Faire in Austin. Make plans now to attend the next Maker Faire. To download Maker Faire Austin 2008 - Green Tech MP4 click here...
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