Cardboard Box Engineering

This illuminating guidebook will help young tinkerers and makers find creative ways to use cardboard boxes, sheets, and tubes in easily-engineered projects, including awesome gadgets, toys, games, inventions, and sculptures.

Cardboard is everywhere! For creative kids aged 9 to 14, it’s the perfect eco-friendly building material, and Cardboard Box Engineering is the perfect guide to get them started on inventive tinkering. A working kaleidoscope, a marble roller coaster, a robotic hand, and a wind-powered tractor with cardboard gears are just some of the ingenious projects developed by Jonathan Adolph, author of the best-selling Mason Jar Science. Working with simple household tools, kids can follow the step-by-step photographic instructions to exercise their design smarts, expand their 3-D thinking, and learn the basics of physics and engineering with activities that have real-life applications.

1  The Science of Engineering
2  Mechanical Marvels: Robotics & Animatronics
  Extending Grabber
  Robotic Hand
  Flying Pterodactyl
  Swinging Monkey
3  Sights & Sounds: Audio & Optical Engineering
  Cup Amplifier
  Hollering Horn Amplifier
  Box Periscope
  Kaleidoscope
4  Built to Move: Aeronautics & Nautical Engineering
  Simple Spinner: Twisted Propeller
  Three-Wing Boomerang
  Rocket Blaster
  Missile Helicopter
  Soaring Sailplane
  Paddlewheel Boat
5  Elegant Design: Mechanical Engineering
  Floating Hummingbird
  Rolling Roller Coaster
  Air Cannon
  Hand-Made Spin Art
  Chain Reaction Station
6  We've Got the Power: Harnessing Energy
  Big Wheel
  Solar Cooker
  Wind-Powered Tractor
7  Serious Fun: Game Design
  Tabletop Straw Soccer
  Shoebox Hockey
  Bouncy Skee Ball
  Personalized Pinball