Tag Archives: toy

#135

2016-01

Micro city

You always wanted to be the mayor of a sprawling, vibrant city? Here is your chance with this desktop city: A collection of tiny buildings and vehicles that is easy to build and looks great on even the smallest space.

#132

2015-11

Christmas robots advent c...

Christmas robots advent calendar

Everyone loves robots, right? The nice robots of the good old days, of course, not some shape-shifting terminator bent on the destruction of mankind. So since Christmas is drawing near, for those of you who can’t wait, here is a vintage robot advent calendar. You can buy the whole set, but there are also three […]

#130

2015-11

Practice multiplication t...

Practice multiplication tables

These 20-sided dice show the numbers 1 to 10 (each two times). By using two, you can easily have your kids practice multiplication tables from 1 to 100. Make two dice, roll them, and calculate the product. Or, if you use three dice, you can practice divisions as well: Roll two for the two digits […]

#121

2015-06

For kids: Spaceship

Kid-friendly papercraft: Spaceship

Many papercraft printables are not accessible to younger children – they require motor skills that only come with age. At the same time, papercrafts are a perfect pastime for young children: They teach important construction and manual skills in a playful way, let children learn about shapes and geometry, and they provide a lot of space […]

3D printed airplane miniature

2015-04-13

This was an experiment: I wanted to see how well Shapeway’s stainless steel prints turn out, especially for tiny details. For a test, I picked a model of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra – the airplane Amelia Earheart flew on her last flight.

I will be showing some paper airplane models at the Aero Expo starting on Wednesday, April 14, and I thought it would be nice to bring along a 3D printed steel model as well.

I had made a paper model of a similar Lockheed airplane before, and after tinkering with the schematics a little bit (more on this in a future tutorial), I had a 3D model that was fit for printing.

Turns out, Shapeway managed to produce a very nice print. This is not plastic, but stainless steel. It’s bronze-infused, meaning it has an almost golden sheen to it.

As far as I know, Shapeways uses a sintering process to print these, so there is no need for support material, and thus no visible attachment points. Being used to working with plastics, the weight of a stainless steel model feels great, too.

The details turned out very nice. I was concerned with the propeller blades, as they are very small and thin, but they printed nicely and don’t feel like they will break off easily.

So, all in all I would consider this a success, except maybe for the price, which is not horrible, but not insignificant either – after all, this is a very small model (about 5cm long). Nevertheless, if you want to have one, too, you can order it from Shapeways. Mine took about one week for printing and shipping.

#112

2014-09

Sandbox toys

We recently spent a few very nice days at the sea. I knew there would be a beach with very neat sand, and so I prepared some toys for the kids. Before I go into details, I should mention that a short while ago I bought a 3D printer kit (which, by the way, works […]

#108

2014-09

QR Cat

A free template which you can customize with a QR code pointing to your website (or twitter, facebook, whatever you desire). Just enter a text, click the button and download the PDF.

#103

2014-02

Cipher machine

This is a dynamic paper model: A cipher machine I call ‘the cryptograph’. I tried to give it a little bit of a steampunk look. It works by switching between multiple encryption alphabet tables, using internal binary switches and a marble.

#95

2013-12

Flower gun

A nice little paper toy gun, marrying peaceful hippie style to the lethal force of frontloaded 17th century muskets.

#94

2013-11

Paper instant camera

Here is a kind of ‘interactive’ model and actually quite a nice toy: A ‘working’ instant camera made from paper: So, what do I mean by working? Well, you can turn the crank on the right-hand side and the camera will output a picture you have taken. The mechanism is robust enough to work […]

#93

2013-06

Multiplication machine

A machine made from paper which multiplies any two numbers between 1 and 10, using marbles. The path of the marbles throught the machine is a little Rube Goldberg-esque but great fun to watch, and the machine is very helpful in conveying the concept of multiplication to young students.

#90

2012-10

Lucky cat – alterna...

Lucky cat – alternative design

Following up on my previous post of a Maneki Neko / Lucky Cat, here is an alternative design courtesy of my five year old daughter (if you are more interested in the original, more traditionally textured model, click here): She decorated a blank test model with a black felt-tip pen. This is probably just a […]

#89

2012-10

Halloween special –...

Halloween special – papercraft skeleton

Here is a quick little papercraft project for Halloween – a skeleton for the kids: This one is quite easy to make, however you may need to tweak it a bit in order to have it stand stably. Here is the PDF template: skeleton.pdf Want even more Halloween fun? Here is Frankenstein and his monster. […]

#88

2012-10

Maneki Neko – Lucky...

Maneki Neko – Lucky cat

Finally a new model, and frankly one that I’m a bit proud of – after all, it did require quite some work to get it right in the end. And it’s my first one with movable parts. It’s a lucky or beckoning cat, popular in Japan and China (where I got the inspiration, when I […]

Z is for Zebra

2012-07-01

Here it is – the last letter of the alphabet. Congratulations if you made all 26 letters!

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

Y is for Yak

This is basically the single one animal starting with the letter ‘Y’ both in English and German. If you have made all 24 letters coming before this one in the alphabet, you will be relieved to fnd that this one is very easy to make.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

X is for X-ray

This is what it looks like when you x-ray a letter – you did know that they are made of flesh and bones, right?

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

W is for Walrus

Walrus are strange animals, when you look at them closely. Even more so when they are turned into the shape of the letter W.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

V is for Vampire

Vampires seem to be quite en vogue these days. Well, I prefer the old-school ones over their ‘new millenium’ counterparts.

I was slightly tempted to include a bit of blood tripping from one of the canines, but then I didn’t want to have to explain to my five year old daughter about the staple diet of vampires.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

U is for UFO

Turns out there are surprisingly few concrete nouns in English starting with the letter ‘U’. And technically, UFO is not a noun but an acronym. Anyway, I think for the purpose of the papercraft alphabet, this works quite nicely:

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

T is for Tiger

The tiger is again easy to make. I realized soon after having finished the design, that he looks much more clueless and much less fierce than his relative, the lion. Sorry, tiger – you may be in for a redesign in the future.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

S is for Snake

The snake is vaguely modelled after the Garter snake (with different colors, obviously). It is once again somewhat difficult to build, with all the curvatures. Prepare to be patient with this model and glue segment for segment, making sure that each part is solidly sticking before moving on to the next one.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

R is for Rainbow

What better thing to represent the letter ‘R’ than a colorful rainbow? I have to warn you that the ‘R’ is a bit difficult to build, what with the small inner space and the many angles.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file. And here is a tutorial on how to make the letters in general, and the ‘R’ specifically.

Q is for Quetzalcoatl

Ok, I admit it wasn’t easy to come up with something representing the letter Q. Quetzalcoatl is the best I could do.

Quetzalcoatl is a mesoamerican god whose name means ‘feathered serpent’. He is one of the more important Aztec deities.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

P is for Parrot

The parrot is once again an easy template, except maybe for the curvature of the beak. Very importantly, don’t forget to glue a small weight into the base – such as a small coin. Otherwise, the parrot will fall over.

Here is how to make the P (the photos are a slightly updated version from the Alphabeticals book): First, glue a small weight (such as a 1 cent coin) to the back of the parrot, from the inside, near the bottom. This will allow the parrot to stand up and not fall over:

Next, glue the edge faces to one of the two P sides, following the outline:

Finally, close the shape by gluing the remaining P face to the edge.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

O is for Orange

Making the orange ‘O’ is a bit difficult because of the inner ring. I suggest you start with gluing it to one side, then the outer ring to the same side, then cover everything with the other side.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

N is for Ninja

Congratulation: If you made all other letters in alphabetical order, you are now halfway there – this is the 14th of the 26 letters.

In typical ninja fashion, this guy is quite sneaky: If you approach him from the front, he looks just like a plain and inconspicuous letter N. Only if you look at the side, you will notice that this is a fierce ninja ready to jump at you from out of the shadows.

Having the ninja clad in the black signature clothes is actually historically pretty inaccurate. The black ‘uniform’ originates with the Japanese Kabuki theater. However, nobody would recognize a ninja if it weren’t for the black clothes – ironically, as they were supposed to make the stage hands in the Kabuki theater invisible.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

I got a request for a version without sword, suitable for small children – here it is.

M is for Monster

Beware of the fear-inducing monster that is the letter M:

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

L is for Lion

The animal to use for the letter L was obviously quite easy to decide: The majestic lion.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

K is for Kangaroo

Technically, this letter is actually two animals – mother kangaroo and her joey in the pouch.

I should warn you that cutting out and assembling this letter is a bit challenging – the parts around the faces are quite small.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

J is for Jester

The jester is relatively easy to build, however you should take care to glue a small weight (such as a cent coint) inside the base, otherwise he will fall over on his face.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

I is for Indian (or Insect)

Enjoy the easiest to build letter – the Indian. He is wearing a sherwani, in case you were wondering.

Some people are worried about the ethnic / cultural reference, so in case you need to steer clear of such issues, here is an alternative: I for Insect:

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template for the Indian as a PDF file.

And here is the Insect template.

H is for Handshake

Probably the most abstract of the papercraft letters – the handshake:

I only realized after the fact that these guys have but one hand. Well, I think the letter still works as it is, but maybe this is a good candidate for a revised version sometime in the future.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

G is for Gorilla

The papercraft gorilla for the letter G:

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

F is for Fly

Ok, I admit I had struggled a bit with the animal for the letter F. Flies are not exactly my – or, I imagine, most people’s – favourite pet:

No need to even pretend this is cute, but hey – there aren’t too many animal names starting with the letter F both in English and German.

When you build this, it is very important that glue a small weight – such as a cent coin – into the base, otherwise the center of gravity will be too far to the right and will make the fly fall over.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

E is for Elephant

And another letter animal – the elephant:

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

D is for Doctor

The doctor is in:

And not only does he administer absolutely painless treatments for all your health-related woes, he is also part of the papercraft alphabet.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

C is for Chameleon

2012-06-30

This colorful C-shaped chameleon is part of the papercraft alphabet.

If you are interested in a more realistic looking chameleon (well, sort of), I have a full-fledged chameleon model as well – look here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

B is for Beaver

Obviously, this beaver has eaten its share of water lillies.

Here is the template as a PDF file. And here is the rest of the alphabet.

A is for Astronaut

So, here it is – the first letter of the papercraft alphabet. The astronaut:

Here is the template as a PDF file.

#58

2012-04

Scientist dino

Nothing to see here, just a dinosaur doing science. His biggest weakness? Meteorites and volcanism. His biggest strength? The theory of evolution. He’s a strong believer in white labcoats and safety goggles. Here is the PDF template.

#57

2012-04

Pirate fish

Arrr… yes, mate, your eyes aren’t betraying you – this here is a pirate fish: And not the Somali kind either, but a true buccaneer, navigating the seven seas shipless. This one turned out nicer than I expected, therefore I almost feel inclined to make a whole crew – or should I say, school? – […]

#29

2012-01

Toucan

This is a small cardboard toucan: It can sit on the corner of, say, your NEC monitor. In order to make that work, you have to glue a small weight such as a coin to the inside of the feet, like so: This will give enough balance to keep the bird safely atop of any […]

#27

2011-12

Three finger doll animals

Now that I have featured the fox, the crow and the bear finger dolls, I wanted to show you all three together. All three being forest beasts, they go together quite well, the cheeky crow, the sly fox and the relaxed bear. These are extremely easy to make, and should be doable for kids at […]

#26

2011-12

Finger doll crow

When it comes to finger dolls, it seems I have a slight bias for northern European forest beasts. Here is a crow: This one goes well with the fox and the bear. Here is the template as a PDF file.

#25

2011-12

Finger doll fox

Following the finger doll bear, here is his good friend the fox: Again, very simple to build, definitely worthwile as a beginner’s project. And here is the PDF template.

#24

2011-12

Finger doll bear

As social creatures, we have the amazing ability to project a soul into virtually anything that has two eyes and a mouth. This opens up a world of possibilities when it comes to dolls. And sometimes the simplest dolls are the most loved ones. So I set out to create a couple of papercrafted […]

#23

2011-11

DIY advent calendar: Nati...

DIY advent calendar: Nativity scene

It is a dear tradition in our family to get the kids an advent calendar. Now, for this year I wanted to make something myself rather than buy a run-off-the-mill calendar. And of course, being an advent calendar, it should be related to the story of Christmas. Voila, enter the DIY nativity scene advent calendar: […]

#17

2011-11

Office rat

Meet Randy the office rat. He’s a pretty nice guy – if you know him better. In fact, Randy’s the coworker of your dreams. If you dream of coworkers like Randy, that is. And the best thing about Randy? It just so happens you can build him yourself. Here is the template in PDF format.

#15

2011-07

Little toy cottage

This little project is quite a contrast to the previously made P-Body– Not surprisingly, actually, as this was commissioned by a 4-year old girl. And girlish it is indeed: A nice little cottage. This can be used as a toy, or just for decoration. The original template is a little small for playing, so you […]

#14

2011-07

Portal’s P-body in ...

Portal’s P-body in paper

Ok, so this is another somewhat nerdy papercraft, matching the Frankenturrets I did some time ago. It’s P-body, one of the two coop mode robots featured in Portal 2. This one was a bit tricky, as I had to compromise between the level of detail and complexity of the assembly. Therefore, it’s not entirely faithful […]

#13

2011-07

Chameleon

Don’t ask me how it came to pass, but I decided to make a papercraft chameleon. After some tweaking of the color scheme, I settled for a classical B/W and red combination. The daughter dismissed it as a toy, lacking the cuddly factor. So I had to reluctantly move it over to the decorative […]

#12

2011-05

I give you Portal 2’...

I give you Portal 2’s Frankenturret in paper

Hello, test subjects – Cave Johnson here. I give you – a paper model of the Portal 2 Frankenturret. It’s somewhat finnicky to assemble, I admit that, but it will be the best Frankenturret your desk has seen in a while, I assure you. You may want to build more than one, though, as they […]

#11

2011-04

The gentleman dinosaur

May I introduce you to the gentleman dinosaur: He is as distinguished as he is obsolete. That’s the way things go these days. If you want to assemble him, here is the template (see also instructions here): Corel Draw PDF PDF + GSD (Craft Robo) SVG

#10

2011-04

A velociraptor named Herb...

A velociraptor named Herbie

Most of you will be too young to remember Herbie, the sentient Volkswagen Beetle created by Disney in more innocent times. Speaking of innocence, here is a slightly more dangerous version: I give you – the Herbieraptor.

2011-04

Velociraptor bride is out...

Velociraptor bride is out to kill Bill

Aren’t you tired of the run-of-the-mill tame velociraptor? Well, here is a deadly variety – and it’s a lady. She has been wronged, and is now on a rampage to set things straight. How more deadly can it get? And she is armed, as well. With a Hattori Hanzo sword, no less: About time for […]

2011-04

Velociraptors at the race...

Velociraptors at the races

They are called velociraptors for a reason – these guys are fast: And they are dressed to – no, not to kill, but to race. With their primary colors and fancy racing stripes, these guys are the envy of fashionistas all over the world. It’s not getting any more hipsteriffic. And here is the good […]

2011-03

Art for minifigures

Sometimes the world of Lego® minifigures – as colorful as it may be – can be a bit mundane. Here is something to give it more style: High art. Hanging these up is significantly easier than with the real thing: Just align the holes in the flaps with the stubs of the wall bricks, and […]

2011-03

Sheep

What would the world be without sheep? A sad, desolate place, that’s what. And to contribute to the sheepness of our nice little universe, here is a paper sheep: And lo and behold, you can make your very own, just by downloading, printing, cutting and gluing the template below. Admittedly this sheep is not as […]

2011-03

Hippo

Here is company for the dog and the cow: A hippo. This is admittedly somewhat complicated to assemble. The head is curved, and getting the curvature right takes a little bit of patience. The rest of the model is very simple, but the head can give you, well, some headache. Here it is in a […]

2011-03

Five friends

Playing with the fusion of Lego® and paper, I came across a nice way of improving the ubiquitous minifigures. A simple paper layout allows to quickly add new heads, featuring whatever design you come up with. Here is the result: The underlying design is quite simple and doesn’t require any glue. If you cut it […]

Papercraft toy: A cow

2011-02-27

Ok, this is funy: The post was originally titled ‘A cow named Sue’. I thought I’d give the cow a name, for the sake of reinforcing the anthropomorphization. Fast forward a couple of months later, I look at my web stats and more specifically the referrers. Turns out there were two Google searches for the term ‘a cow named sue’. Hm, strange, I think to myself – rather unlikely that somebody came across the post, vaguely remembers it and looks it up in Google under the exact title.

So I did the Google search myself. Surprise, the first hit is not my post, but rather a childrens’ book. As far as I can tell, I was completely unaware of its existence, let alone its title, but somehow it must have crept into my subconscious. The other explanation, that I randomly chose the same – rather randomly picked – name for my cow as Penny Wolf, the author of ‘A cow named Sue’, seems too improbable. Or maybe, there is an archetype hardwired into the human brain… I am sure if you dig deep enough, some Phoenecian god of fertility with a bovine head had a name phonetically vaguely similar to ‘Sue’. Oh well…

Anyway, the cow formerly known as Sue is a happy cow. She really is. She may look a bit wideeyed and startled, but she is completely happy. Trust me.

Here she is standing on her template sheet:

Turn around:

Good girl!

As you can see, I messed up when I constructed the model – I got some water on her face, blotting the inkjet ink. Feel free to do better…

And here is the template (see also instructions here):

T-shirts for minifigures

2011-02-23

If you haven’t already stumbled upon it, Muji and Lego found a great way of combining paper and Lego® bricks. For any Lego® afficionado, that is exciting news in and of itself. However, I think that this idea can be expanded some more. If we combine Lego®-compatible punches in sheets of paper with a cutting plotter such as the Craft Robo, a whole new world of Lego® paper toy hybrids can be created.

In fact, what Lego® bricks lack – detailed illustration, ornaments and bling – can now be printed on a sheet of paper and added effortlessly. When you look at the Lego® evolution over the past 50 years, it’s clear that there is always a slight friction between the inherent abstraction in a Lego® brick and children’s love for detail. To some extent, paper can bridge that gap if it can be easily applied. All it takes are punches in the shape and size of Lego® stubs.

As a first foray into this area, I present a template for a ‘t-shirt’ for minifigures:

This is how it looks in real life, ready to be applied:

The central hole is for the ‘neck’, the four octagonal holes are for the leg stubs. This fits nicely over the torso of a minifigure, like so:

It’s automatically held in place by the ‘neck’ and the protrusions from the legs. So no adhesives (I hate stickers on Lego). By printing art onto the trapezoid front and back, you can design your own minifigure tees. Just take a look:

Here is the template:

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Paper Panda

2011-02-21

Who wouldn’t agree that pandas are the most adorable of all huge, vicious animals capable of killing man with one stroke of their paw? Well, and exactly for this reason I have created a panda paper model.

This model features a number of rounded shapes, and therefore is actually quite tricky to assemble. It takes some patience to create a clean version, and unfortunately you can tell from the images that I just don’t have that kind of patience.

If you achieve a better quality, I’d be pleased to see photos and put them up here. The model sure has some potential, and I’d love to see it shine.

Here is the PDF template.

2011-02

Variation on a theme: Jan...

Variation on a theme: Janus dog

As you may or may not know, Janus was the two-faced Roman god responsible for doors, gateway, beginnings, endings – anything transition. One face would look back, and the other into the future. Whooo – the symbolism! Now, for the first time in history, man’s best friend and this mind-blowing concept of ambivalence have been […]

So I hear you want to make a dog

Well, you’ve sure come to the right place. Here is a dog you can make quickly from a sheet of paper. It’s bipedal. though, so technically it’s more a dog deity than a mere mortal dog. But hey, what’s not to like about man’s best friend taking the next evolutionary step?

Ok, this puppy is easy to assemble. Just download the template, print it out (I recommend sturdy >190g/sqm paper), and cut out the three parts. Preferrably with a sharp knife – think Xacto. Then glue them together, following the letter-code hints on the flaps.

Here is what you will get once you have cut out all three parts. These are already roughly folded into their final shape, and now need to be assembled using some glue.

Since this is made of paper and is hollow, it tends to fall over easily. To fix this, I recommend adding a weight to the base. This can be a small coin, like so:

It’s a good idea to glue the weight to the base and in addition secure it with a piece of tape:

Trust me, experience has shown that the weight gets loose all too easily, and turns your dog into a rattle where the coin bounces around inside the hollow base. Which would not be so bad, but it defeats the purpose of the weight, and a bipedal dog falling flat on its face all the time is, well, a bit sad.

Here is a close-up of our doggy:

And here is the template (see also instructions here):