Adventures I had as a kid
As a boy I lived for the end of the school day and long summer vacations so I could get home and go outside where endless opportunities for adventures and troubles awaited.
I built numerous forts (both from scrap lumber and snow), hideouts, dug trenches, built kid-sized boats (most of them sank), experimented with different styles of slingshots, made my own slingshot ammunition (sun-baked clay pellets), and even tried my hand a building my own hang glider (thankfully I was too scared to jump from the hayloft of our barn to test it out - I would have broken a leg or my neck), and was actually banned from going outside as a punishment for some of my adventures.
Can you imagine grounding a kid from going outside these days? Shoot, most parents probably punish their kids by making them go outside.
What The Dangerous Book For Boys Can Teach You
The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World, Five knots every boy should know, make a battery, building a treehouse, bow and arrow, a go-cart, and much more.
You will also learn about -
The Seven Wonders of the World, Dinosaurs, Baseball's Most Valuable Players, Famous Battles, Navajo Code Talkers Dictionary, First Aid, and the Declaration of Independence just to name a few.
Boys of all ages should find lots of fun and entertaining projects in here!
Dangerous Book For Boys Video
Dangerous Book for Boys Part Deux
In this digital age there is still a place for knots, skipping stones and stories of incredible courage. This book recaptures Sunday afternoons, stimulates curiosity, and makes for great father-son activities. Brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden have assembled a wonderful collection of all things that make being young or young at heart fun---building go-carts and electromagnets, identifying insects and spiders, and flying the world's best paper airplanes. Visit the website http://dangerousbookforboys.com/
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The Dangerous Book for Boys
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The Great Wolf Creek Dam Project
The largest project I ever undertook was inspired by a book I checked out from the local library countless times during my childhood, The American Boys Handy Book. A decent sized stream runs behind my parents house and I decided that my log cabin I built should have a stream running right past it so I could put in a dock for my boat (if I could ever build one that did not sink). Using wooden pallets, logs, and sod I built an earthen dam that stretched across the entire width of the stream at a conveniently located bottleneck.Once the dam was complete I began digging my new stream bed that would be fed off of the overflow from the dammed up stream. Needless to say, a boy with a shovel can only dig so far before other ideas and adventures overtake his zeal to finish such a large engineering project. I never finished digging the stream and when my dad saw my structurally sound engineering feat of damming up the stream I was instructed to demolish it.
I was not punished for damming up the stream as no real damage had been done (yet). My dad complimented the structure of the dam and how well it worked (too well, I guess) and listened to my grand plans with a smile. That helped to take the sting out of having to demolish the dam.
The point of this little anecdote is that my dad could have berated me and punished me for damming up the stream thereby crushing my desire to play outdoors and make my own fun. Instead, by admiring my work while explaining the necessity of destroying the dam he kept my creative fires alive and I moved on to other fun projects.
As the father of a boy this is something I hope to be able to do - encourage physical activity in the outdoors rather than planting one's rear in front of the tv or computer.
Dangerous Books For Boys (& Girls)
The Dangerous Book for Boys
Amazon Price: $17.79 (as of 12/29/2009) 
The Daring Book for Girls
Amazon Price: $17.79 (as of 12/29/2009)
American Girls Handy Book: How to Amuse Yourself and Others (Nonpareil Books)
Amazon Price: $10.36 (as of 12/29/2009)
The Field and Forest Handy Book: New Ideas for Out of Doors (Nonpareil Book, 94.)
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 12/29/2009)
The American Boy's Handy Book: What to Do and How to Do It, Centennial Edition
Amazon Price: $9.32 (as of 12/29/2009)
The Humble Pocket Knife
Every kid should have a pocket knife and be instructed as to the proper way to handle and use them. When I received my first pocket knife I envisioned myself whittling endless numbers of creations from spears to whistles.
Even though my dad sat me down and gave me a lesson and some tips in the proper use of a pocket knife I did not waste much time in cutting myself. I believe it was the same day that I got the knife.
I had an apple for a snack and instead of being boring and just eating the apple I thought that the proper outdoorsman would use his pocket knife and slice chunks of the apple.
I didn't handle the knife properly and nearly sliced a chunk of my thumb along with the apple.
Let that be a lesson to you. Learn the proper way to handle a knife. 'Nuff said.
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand byImagination: The Greatest Portable Tool a Kid Can Use
I still have the creative imagination that, as a kid, sometimes got me into trouble. I always came up with neat projects to undertake and would draw up elaborate plans. I wish I still had some of the plans I had drawn up for my own little town.I never did build the whole town, just bits and pieces of it. I had plans for a water tower (I had already dug the well), plots for fields, a fortified wall, and my own water-powered sawmill.
Ambitious? Definitely.
I even produced the currency for my village. I had a clay pit that I dug for slingshot ammunition and I used some of it to create coins about the size of half-dollars. I baked the clay coins on a homemade outdoor kiln, but never had much use for them since I was the village's only resident.
I built a small log cabin (with a lot of help from my dad) and planted a small garden that included transplanted wild strawberries, corn, and wild blueberries. As I wrote in "The Great Wolf Creek Dam Project" I never finished the man-made creek for my water-powered saw mill and I never built my water tower.
The fun part for me was always building things. I don't think I would have been happy if I ever would have made everything I had wanted. I would have sat around and thought, 'it sure is nice, but now what do I do?'
Oh, I had a lot of fun as a kid.
Projects I built as a boy
I built a lot of different projects along many differing veins as a boy. Here is a list of the ones I can remember.
Countless boats, rafts, or other supposed floating devices capable of human transport . . . only one of them ever floated well enough to support me.
Log Cabin - sure it only ended up being about three feet tall, but I was just a kid and that was as high as I could lift those heavy logs.
Go Cart - this ambitious project began as a motorized go cart, but I never found a working engine that would work so it ended up needing a decent hill down which one could coast.
Bow and Arrow - I made my own bow and arrow simply because I wanted to see 2 Things. 1)could I make this? and 2)Would it even work? The answer is yes on both accounts. Just ask my sister - those arrows had some zip!
Minnow Trap - I first came across a minnow trap at a cabin in Northern Wisconsin. When we got back from that vacation I decided it would not be too hard to make my own. I was able to make a working trap out of some old screen and wire.
Fish Pond - This project was inevitable after I saw that my minnow trap worked. I had to have a place to store those minnows. I dug it out, lined it with some plastic, added some plants to produce oxygen, and then added fish. Subsequent fish ponds would be deeper for a couple of reasons.
One, water evaporates rather quickly in the summer heat which lends to the result being some smelly, dried out fish. Two, neighborhood raccoons thought I had set them a nice buffet in the ground.
Bottle Rocket Gun - Sure it was plenty of fun shooting bottle rockets out of pipes and bottles. I simply took it to the next level by crafting a gun barrel and stock from which to strategically aim and shoot my bottle rockets.
If I were to do that again, I would design a shield of some sort to keep my hand from getting burnt each time a rocket took off. Ouch!
Make a Pinhole Camera
Make Video Podcast: Weekend Projects - Make a Pinhole Camera
In this Weekend Project, Bre teaches how to make a pinhole camera, turn your bathroom into a darkroom and make contact prints. Make sure to read the instructions for this post if you're interested in shooting some DIY photographs!
Runtime: 359
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Great ideas for things to do from the MAKE blog
- Cool CNC-friendly desk lamp design
- Pedro Mealha was inspired by those 3D plywood dinosaur kits when he designed this lamp, called rhizome, the armature of which is a great example of the emerging "router aesthetics" Bruce Sterling wrote about back in MAKE Volume 11. I also like the wooden race and exposed ball-bearings that let it pivot at the base. Now if we can just persuade him to post the DXF files on Thingiverse... [via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories]
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Read more articles in Furniture |
Digg this! - Tesla tornado xmas tree
- Instructables user mrfixits writes:
This Tesla Tornado is made using a Subaru blower fan motor, complete with its 3-position speed switch mounted on the base. The blower motor has a flywheel fabricated out of Lexan with 6 neodymium magnets mounted in it. It magnetically couples with 6 magnets in the Tesla Pump disc pack, which is inside the vortex tube. The Tesla pump discs are magnetically driven by the blower motor flywheel magnets, so there is no direct connection. The pump disc pack is self-centering, and there is no rotating shaft, shaft bearings, or seals required.
Because nothing says xmas like the slurp of that water pump! Great walkthrough of the building of this Tesla Tornado.
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Digg this! - How (analog) traffic lights work
- MAKE subscriber Joe Kerman sent us a link to this video about how mechanical controllers for traffic lights work. This is from a Canadian kid's TV show from the late 80s (I think), called the Acme School of Stuff. I watched a number of other episodes on YouTube and found them pretty engaging and educational. [Thanks, Joe!]
Traffic Signals
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Read more articles in How it's made |
Digg this! - Commodore 64 synth chip emulated on an AVR
- Because of its classic sounds & serial-controllability, the Commodore 64's Sound Interface Device (SID) chip is much sought after by many synth DIYers. Instead of plucking one from a vintage piece of computing history, Christoph recreated the SID's functionality in firmware using an ATMega8 chip. The resulting emulator can be controlled via serial protocol - an Arduino shield was even designed to do just that.
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Digg this! - Awesome flying drawbridge
- This thing is called the "Slauerhoffbrug," and it lives in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. The road section is lifted on a single massive counterbalanced arm up to 90 degrees in the air. There's a good photo gallery, including aerial views, over on frozenly.com. [via Neatorama]
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Read more articles in Transportation |
Digg this!
More Great Dangerous Fun!
How to Get There: The Dangerous Book For Boys Kits
Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 12/29/2009)
The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys: Things to Do
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 12/29/2009)
Nature Fun: The Dangerous Book for Boys Kits
Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 12/29/2009)
211 Things a Bright Boy Can Do
Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 12/29/2009)
How To Be The Best At Everything (The Girls' Book)
Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 12/29/2009)
These books won't cost you a dime!
There are a number of books in the public domain that you can get for free. You can download them at www.gutenberg.org.
Here are some that are along the same theme as "The Dangerous Book for Boys".
The Boy Mechanic: Volume 1 by Popular Mechanics Co.
Inside the Book:
How To Construct
Wireless outfits, boats, camp equipment, Aerial Gliders, Kites, Self-Propelled Vehicles, Engines, Motors, Electrical Apparatus, Cameras, and Hundreds of other things which delight every boy.
With 800 Illustrations (in the PDF download)
Practical Mechanics for Boys by J. S. Zerbe
Inside the Book:
On Tools Generally, How to Grind and Sharpen Tools, Setting and Holding Tools, On the First Use of the File, How to Commence Work, Illustrating Some of the Fundamental Devices, Properties of Materials, How Drafting Becomes a Valuable Aid, Treatment and Use of Metals, On Gearing, and How Ordered, Mechanical Power, On Measures, Useful Information for the Workshop, Simplicity of Great Inventions and of Nature's Manifestation, Workshop Recipes and Formulas, Handy Tables, Inventions and Patents, and Information About the Rights and Duties of Inventors and Workmen
Outdoor Sports and Games by Claude H. Miller
Inside the Book:
Camps and Camping, Camp Cooking, Woodcraft, Use of Fire-arms, Fishing, Nature Study, Water Life, The Care of Pets, The Care of Chickens, Winter Sports, Horsemanship, How to Swim and to Canoe, Baseball,
How to Play Football, Lawn Tennis, Photography, One Hundred Outdoor Games
Knots, Splices and Rope Work by A. Hyatt Verrill
Inside the Book:
Cordage, Simple Knots and Bends, Ties and Hitches, Nooses, Loops, and Mooring knots, Shortenings, Grommets, and Selvagees, Lashings, Seizings, Splices, Fancy Knots and Rope Work
Other Lenses of Interest to Boys
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Hardy Boys
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I first began reading The Hardy Boys series when I stumbled on my dad's collection of Hardy Boy books from his childhood. He had about the first 20 in the series and I read them all multiple times. The great thing about The Hardy Boys is...
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Camping in Michigan - Tips and Tricks
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I love camping and Michigan has many, many great places to camp. Whether you prefer tents or RVs Michigan has numerous options. You will find the Top 10 Essential Camping Tips, a list of the Best Campgrounds in Michigan, camping equipment, and m...
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Detroit Tigers Baseball
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The Detroit Tigers became charter members of the American League in 1901 after spending the first eight years (1881-1888) of their primitive existence in the National League. They dropped out of major league ball in 1889-1900 until their return in 19...
Sites to explore for more great ideas
- Dangerousbookforboys.com
- This is the main site for the book. It has some downloads, book information, and random tips and facts.
- Vintage Projects
- From VintageProjects.com
Our goal is to preserve the inspired DIY spirit of the past. Our free project reprints cover farm machines, the woodshop, machine shop, boats, archery and more. These vintage plans come from a half-century ago when do-it-yourself enthusiasts turned wood, metal and old motors into useful workhorses, functional tools, and toys.
Most of the plans are in PDF format.
Inspired by The Dangerous Book for Boys?
Let me know what projects you were inspired to undertake or different things you learned because of this book.
Feel free to leave a review of the book, too.
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- Best-Toys-For-Boys Best-Toys-For-Boys Apr 22, 2009 @ 12:42 pm
- What a great book idea. I have 3 boys and will need to get a copy for them. I used to have lots of fun running around the woods and going to the pond at the end of my street. It was too bad the extremely murky water and billions of catfish kept me out of it. Although canoes were fun. My oldest son considers going outside a punishment. But, the other two love going outside.
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- BigGirlBlue BigGirlBlue Aug 11, 2008 @ 1:16 pm
- I bought both books, one for my niece and one for my nephew, and they still love them.
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- fotos4web fotos4web Nov 29, 2007 @ 12:51 am
- What a ***** STAR ***** Lens
It brings back so many childhood memores !
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- Music-Resource Music-Resource Nov 28, 2007 @ 9:35 pm
- Hi Michigan, As a child, I did everything that you mentioned in your intro and then some. That book would certainly be a hit for a lot of kids. Great lens and nice job on a lot of good text content. ~Music Resource~
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- Meloramus Meloramus Sep 8, 2007 @ 10:06 am
- This is a fab lens! I like the way that you've shared your boyhood projects. I used to make a lot of dens and treehouses, but never a log cabin! 5*
by AllThingsMichigan
Born and raised in Michigan - the Great Lakes State. I love how easy it is to set up a lens at Squidoo. I get so many ideas for new lenses...
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