An inventor, maker, and toy designer shares his favorite projects

See sample pages from this book at Wink.

The first thing that struck me about Make Fun!, a collection of toy and game projects from former Mattel designer Bob Knetzger, was how many of my favorite projects from the pages of Make:magazine were his. Bob has contributed to the magazine for over nine years, and this collection represents a best-of from that run (with some original projects as well). WINK's own Mark Frauenfelder (founding editor-in-chief of Make:) also contributes the book's introduction.

Make: Fun! features full step-by-step instructions for some 40 projects. They range from the very simple, fun, and ephemeral, such as the actuated "Ouija Be Mine" Valentine's Day card and "Gnome Holiday Hats" to a classic "Diving Spudmarine" bathtub toy to more elaborate builds, such as constructing your own "Kitchen Floor Vacuum Former" and building a "Desktop Foundry." Some of my favorite projects include the "Monster Candy Snatch Game" (think: Operation), the "E-Z-Make Oven" (think: Mattel's Thingmaker), and vacuum forming your own "Tiki Masks."

Make: did a really nice job on the production of this book. The projects are well photographed, in full color, and the instructions are well laid out and easy to follow. And there are fun little "gimmicks" that serve the playful spirit of the book (a flip-book animation on the page edges, QR-code videos for some of the projects, and colorful templates and paper project components in the back). You can see the videos, view the templates, and find out more on the book's companion website. I cannot imagine an imaginative, industrious kid (of any age) getting this book and not wanting to dive right in to building a number of these projects. - Gareth Branwyn

Note: As an added bonus to WINK readers who are fans of Laura Knetzger's Bug Boys, a number of the projects (e.g. custom cookie cutters and E-Z-Maker casting) use the beetle characters from that book as their test subjects. Laura is Bob's daughter.