From: Raleigh McLemore (raleighmclemore@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri May 09 2003 - 09:37:42 PDT
Message-ID: <20030509163742.88129.qmail@web40203.mail.yahoo.com> Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 09:37:42 -0700 (PDT) From: Raleigh McLemore <raleighmclemore@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: pinhole take apartable toys
RAFT, East Bay Center for Creative Recycling, Urban
Ore, and the like are wonderful places to find really
cool stuff to disassemble. At the East Bay Center
they used to have these unbelievably neat doll voice
boxes. These are the things that when you push a place
or tilt the doll it makes it speak. When my class took
a set of them apart (the extra credit was there for
students who could take them apart, and then asssemble
them so that they worked again) it was a real hoot.
The noise was phenomenal with "mmmmaaaamaaaaaaa" and
"that tickles" chiming in everywhere. The kids saw the
tiny plastic disk with the recordings and tried to
understand the pendulum switch that started the
playback, Saw the speakers, batteries, motors, etc.
They were being sold at one buck each, got them for
.50 cents. Had to buy batteries, or steal them from
disposable cameras I get from Longs. Big fun!
Another nifty thing was that last month RAFT had these
"pedometers" they are less cool than the doll stuff
cause they are digital, but as a second activity I was
surprised at how my students (and I) tried to
understand the workings. RAFT can have some cool
stuff.
If you want a "showpiece" try asking at a motorcycle
repair shop for a blown small single cylinder engine.
If you know something about tools you might start
taking it apart is small doses. Students are
fascinated by these things. You might be able to find
a parent mechanic by asking around.
Some other junk to look at are simple automotive
relays (from the turn signals) which have little
contact points and coils in them.
With firm handshake,
Raleigh
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