Toys from trash workshop

Wake up at 4 AM plus traveling, though  too sleepy and tired Megh  was completely engrossed into moment. That's magic of making toys and especially Arvind Gupta toys!

Something from trash or some cheaper things  from  hardware store and within minutes you can make toy generating 'Wow!' moments !!! Isn't it amazing? It is and without age bar this wow effects everyone equally. And the journey started with 'Wow' goes long way to 'How' and then deeper way to 'Why'!!!!!

Every child has special affection for trash, he collects every little thing he feels interesting no matter from where he found it. We don't throw any of plastic bottle,card board box, used pen/sketch pen, buttons from used cloths etc. and already stocked lot of trash at home but I found Megh collecting every little thing he found interesting on the road. That's natural I think but Arvind Gupta has put it one step ahead and made toys from trash which are easy to make and capable to generate 'Wow!'. When a child makes toy himself  it doubles his joy. Making toy is itself a learning process...you make mistake and toy doesn't work ,then you learn trial and error method, though simple it is it requires certain level of accuracy and some simple but effective tricks to make it working. Plus learning science is much more effective with  self-made model and knowledge gained by self-learning.

Learning science - most people thinks it's costly-affair. You need lab. and equipments and then it is limited to some people only. But with these toys science reaches to all. Do you think you can make model which can easily explain how energy transfers in waves, frequency of waves, model of DNA  for the cost of 20Rs? Just a packet of simple straw and cello tape!

It was four days workshop for teachers and i have took part with children, people around were surprised how sincerely children attended workshop. 'Making toys' is something closer to our heart so no surprise for me... thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, made lots of toys, learned things, meet many people and cherished sharing knowledge.

We are extensively using www.arvindguptatoys.com for years. Big part in our homeschooling. Books, toys, videos....almost everything helpful in learning I have found on it. Megh goes to this site, select toy , watch video, collect things and try to make toy himself.....most of the times fails but he loves it. Guptaji's years of work  reaches to children ( or 'child' living in every adult) through this site and inspires them to make their own toy. Today only Megh has made this toy using thermocoal cup, toothpick and a straw and loving it!