The Boy Mechanic Makes Toys: 159 Games, Toys, Tricks, and Other Amusements

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.

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!