Build a DIY solar oven and bake yummy treats outside using nothing but sunshine. Try making s'mores, grilled cheese, or brownies, like we do in this video (using pasteurized eggs).
Pick up Kazoo's Great Green Issue (#13) for step-by-step instructions, plus a recipe for solar oven peach crisp, and find out why solar energy is the way of the future.
You can make a diddley bow out of almost anything. We used a piece of wood, 2 screws, a tuna can, a guitar string, 1 eye screw, and 2 nuts and bolts. Use a slide and pic to make some noise.
Pick up Kazoo's Awesome Issue (#14) for more inspiration.
This mesmerizing DIY fidget toy will occupy your hands and free your mind. You'll just need 8 square blocks and some duct tape.
Pick up Kazoo's Daydreamers Issue (#17) for more mind-calmers.
It's the sweetest vending machine ever. Build it, fill it with your poems, and make the world happier.
Pick up Kazoo's Small but Mighty (#9) Issue for step-by-step instructions and more.
In our Happy Issue (#11), we've got an A-Z happiness guide, to help you find more fun and have more deep-down joy. One way is to find "flow" by doing something so interesting and challenging that you lose all track of time. Scientists say the more flow you can find, the happier you'll be. This "Swing Thing" is flow itself: a rubber band-powered motion machine that is fun to make and even more fun to watch. With every twirl, the bell gives the pencil a big wrap-around hug. To make this, you'll need: a shoebox, a plastic cup, a rubber band, 3 large nuts, a jingle bell, a washer, a pencil, a wooden skewer, string, glue (a glue gun works best), and scissors.
Pick up our Happy Issue (#11) to find even more joy.
We made this pom-pom launcher for issue #8 and we've been launching various things all morning, testing how far they'll go (marshmallows fly, pig figurines don't). For this tinker craft, we got advice from Laurie Grindle, Engineer at @nasajpl. She told us, "At NASA, we say that you can learn just as much, if not more, from failure as you can from success."
Pick up Kazoo's Magnificent Mistakes Issue (#8) for full instructions for this and other DIY STEM toys.
Make your own mini carnival swing using cardboard, dowels, and bottle caps. This easy automaton is 100% hand-crank powered, so no batteries required.
Pick up Kazoo's Fun Issue (#29) for more DIY thrills.
Every magician needs a trusty prop and with Kazoo's DIY box, you can make any small object disappear. Just place a trinket (e.g., a figurine, a key, a marble, etc.) inside the box and show it to your audience. Replace the lid and lay a handkerchief over top. While you say a magic word, slip your hand underneath the handkerchief, pull out the trick bottom so the object falls into the hidden compartment below, and slide it back in. Remove the handkerchief, open the lid, and watch your audience go wild. Pick up Kazoo's Magic Issue (#24) for more tricks.
