Howtoons

One of my gifts to Katie for her birthday was a book called Howtoons, a comic-book inventing manual. Since Katie is both a big comic book reader (especially Tintin) as well as a prolific builder of projects, it seemed like a perfect gift. I know one of the authors (Joost Bonsen) from MIT.

Link to the book on Amazon here.
Link to the HowToons website here.

One of the easiest projects was a musical instrument made from a turkey baster. Water is put in the turkey baster, then turned upside down. Blowing over the opening makes a sound, and by squeezing the bulb and adjusting the height of the water, the pitch of the sound changes. Rings on the outside of the tube mark different notes. Katie was able to demonstrate playing a scale to her third grade class.



Another project was the PVC Marshmallow Shooter - yes this was demonstrated to the parents by both kids (in our bedroom, no less.)