The Boy Mechanic Makes Toys: 159 Games, Toys, Tricks, and Other Amusements (So Many Projects, Not Enough Time!) | 
 enlarge | Author: The Editors Of Popular Mechanics
Creator: C. J. Petersen
Publisher: Hearst
Category: Book
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $5.61
You Save: $4.34 (44%)
New (40) from $5.61
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 177169
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1588166392
Dewey Decimal Number: 745.592
EAN: 9781588166395
ASIN: 1588166392
Publication Date: June 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new, may have remainder mark or slight shelfware
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Product Description
It’s vintage fun! This follow-up to The Boy Mechanic—Popular Mechanics’ collection of can-do ingenuity from the early 1900s—features more than 200 unique toys and games that anyone with a basic tool kit will want to make, plus the unusual and attractive rounded, flexibound format. Charmingly designed to capture that old-fashioned flavor, every imaginative project remains as engaging today as ever, with its appeal fully intact. There’s amusement for little kids, including a toy donkey that nods and wags its tail; a child’s playhouse and a miniature windmill; magic tricks, such as an “X-Ray” pack of cards and mystery coin box; items for the great outdoors, which range from a homebuilt canoe to a diving tower; plus gizmos and gadgets, “scien-terrific” motors and engines, and entertaining objects for an older child to create and play with.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Again, are you joking?!?!?! September 4, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I also got "The Boy Mechanic". These books are NOT for boys. While it's a new book, the copyright SHOULD be 1906, rather than 2006. The instructions are vague, the diagrams are for engineers (I ought to know, I married one!). If you're looking for projects for a kid and his dad to do together, this is not it!!!!!
 Great for camp craft center April 5, 2008
I love this book! I originally had The Boy Mechanic: 200 Classic Things to Build and ordered this book along with it. Both are great. I agree with the other reviewers that this is not a book that a preteen will be able to navigate on their own - almost all of the projects require supplies and tools that aren't sitting around most houses. I've found about a dozen projects in each book though, like the water telescope, canoe awning, hammock, spring propelled toy boat . . . that can probably be made by preteens. I'm going to try out some of the projects this spring and see if I can put together kits that could be used in our camp craft center. There are also some projects that I'd like to make for the camp (if I can figure them out :-) ) and just have around camp for the kids to fool around with - the push cycle, water bicycle, catamaran raft, trolley coaster, circular swing and log raft.
For my purposes, this is a great book. It's also fascinating to realize how resourceful people were in the early 1900's, and to see what boys (and their dads) were making.
 My son loves it! December 3, 2007
As another reviewer implied, it helps if you're an engineer. The original descriptions were written in a day when other raw materials were available, so modern-day substitutes have to be made in many cases. You have to fill in the last level of detail on most projects, but there are so many ideas and enough detail to save lots of time compared to designing from scratch. My 9-year-old has wanted me to help him on these things more than I have had time for (one project completed in about two months since we bought the book). Some projects will simply not be feasible, such as the roller coaster down from a tree that shoot you into a lake, unless you live in a rural area and make sure you don't tell your wife or your homeowners insurance company ;-). Some project ideas are fun to just read about and know that some kids got to make them, and we can imagine the fun they had and speculate on the accidents they may also have had!
 Do you need to be an engineer to use this book? October 8, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
With "games, toys and tricks" in the title I thought this would be a nice simple book to share with my 11 year old son. Little did I realize that you have to know how to read blueprints and have an engineering degree to make any of the toys in this book. It was way too advanced for me and I would guess that it is only suitable for people with advanced carpentry experience who want to make things for their children. Not make it with them.
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