This modern ride-on toy looks so fun. I hope they make a grown-up version too. I can imagine this could shake up the downhill bigwheel scene. Still in the concept stage, but I look forward to trying it out.

This little guy has inspired me. Watch and see why. (it is 10 minutes long, but it is worth it)

Caine’s excitement and passion is contagious and it has spread over to me. I am giddy to share with you over the next months some interviews I have been having with some very inspiring people. A couple of humorous authors and a professional treehouse designer/builder. Their stories and toy design challenges can help us get ready for a great summer!

Clever toys like this one make me happy.

I thought it appropriate during this election time to ask for some votes… one of Playful Factory’s projects is in a toy design contest! I need votes in order to get to the next round. You would be my hero if you go vote for it!

Here is the link: Instructables Toy Contest
My project is: Crazy Caterpillar by redshoeman

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (I will make no empty promises at this point)

This project was paid for by Friends of Playful Factory

The Playful Factory has not had a diy toy design project for a while and I think it about time we get back at it!

Now that we are settled into our new home in Chicago we are realizing there are somethings that we are missing. Either from leaving it behind in Arizona or things that we have never had before. One of those things is a crib mobile for Nolan. We have been dangling his toys from anything we can find.

We have even resorted to this:

He really enjoys watching his toys move around overhead. He also loves handling his toys, but he has trouble holding onto them and it frustrates him greatly when they fall out of view. As a result of all of this I am going to make him his very own crib mobile, but I need your help designing it.

The “theme” of Nolan’s Nook (nursery) is loosely taken from Dr. Seuss’s book “Oh the Places You’ll Go!”. So use that as a starting point if it helps.

There are many great crib mobiles out there. These two are my favorites:

Check out more amazing crib mobiles on Playful Factory’s Pinterest Board

Up next we will be sketching some concepts for Nolan’s new crib mobile…

Yesterday, my little family started our journey to our new home in Chicago. It is a 1800 mile trip, which can make for some great excitement and some long hours of watching the road go by.

As a kid I remember my parents helping us enjoy road trips by playing games. One of our vehicles even had a TV in it so we could hook up our Nintendo or a VHS player. That is pretty common these day, but this was back in the 80′s!

My wife taught me a new game called “Come – She – Come”. It sounds kind of funny but it goes like this… One person says to the others, “Come – She – Come”. The others respond with, “What does she come by?”. The response is then given with the first letter in word or words of the object that the person is thinking about…
Example: Yellow Dotted Line = Y.D.L
You then get to ask twenty yes or no questions to try and figure out what they are thinking. Is it an object? Is it a person? Is it in the car? Can I see it right now? Is it living? Is it everywhere? Is it related to something blue? Is it related to something green? Is it related to something black? Is it on the road? Is it asphalt? Is it paint? Is it the white lines? Is it the yellow lines? Got it!!!

It is fun! Give it a try! You do not even need to be on a road trip to play!

Other than playing Pac-Man with the lines in the middle of the road what other fun games should we play on our road trip? What games do you play while you travel in the car?

Here is a sneak peak at the crib I have been building for my little boy. It is made out of shipping pallets and a door my parents were getting rid of. Currently, Nolan is sleeping in a little bassinet thingy, but when we move to Chicago in 1.5 weeks, we plan on moving him to this:

Nolan got to test drive it a couple of days ago… he definitely does not like the plastic wrapping on the mattress, but hopefully he will like the crib! More pictures to come when we finish our move.

Who knew that Pinterest would end up being a good resource for DIY toy projects…

I found this as a great source of inspiration and I just had to make one of my own:

Finding this project also led me to finding Looledo.com, an awesome DIY toy site as well.

Here is my cardboard tube marble run:

It is great to see the fun that toilet paper rolls, popsicle sticks, and an egg carton can make. This marble racer has two tracks for two marbles to be raced simultaneously.

Try building your own!

LITTLE MONSTERS EVERYWHERE!!!!!
We each got to build our own plush monster puppet. We also learned different types of puppets, including; shadow puppets, stick puppets, and hand puppets. They all look awesome!

I am sure you have heard the saying, “practice makes perfect”… Well, this week at Creativity Camp we put this axiom to the test as we prototyped toys using cardboard. We learned that good ideas turn into fun toys as we build with our hands.

Check out the cardboard instruments and giant marble run that we built together: