“Toy Car” is a beautiful wind-up car sculpture made of stainless steel and bronze. Netherlands-based artist Wouter Scheublin created the car as a limited edition that appears to be sold out. He is now selling nylon 3D printed versions—amazingly, the cars are printed as-is, with no assembly required.

via MAKE

London-based toy and games company MakieLab has rolled out the alpha version of their Makies, customizable web-created 3D-printed action dolls. They are 10″ high dolls that come “complete with poseability, cute clothes, and removeable/changeable eyes & hair.” While not interactive yet, the head of the dolls is designed to fit a Lilypad Arduino (or similar). In this open alpha period, dolls can currently be created and ordered at the Makies website and future versions will be available soon.

Alice Taylor, MakieLab’s CEO, describes Makies and the open alpha release in more detail on her personal blog, Wonderland:

MAKIES is an action doll creator: a player/customer can design their own action doll – features, hair, clothes and everything – & we then 3D print it uniquely to them, build & dress it, and send on to them within 3 weeks of ordering.

There’s more to come, too: the avatar will be able to unlock collectibles for the action doll. In the future, the action doll will be able to do the same for the avatar, using clever bits of electronica \o/.

…For beta, we’ll have cheaper and more expensive versions available, playing with complexity of tailoring and size of print, etc. Tablet apps, too, and lastly, the all-important full battery of toy safety tests (totally confident on that last one – the doll’s already passed a full series, but we still need to do USA and Japan ones too, etc. It just takes time).

via Waxy

Irene Kiss has created a transforming crocheted Fish to Sushi amigurumi and posted its pattern (pdf) on Ravelry.

via KnitHacker and Craft

images via Irene Kiss

Kinetic Creatures are cardboard walking animal sculptures by Alyssa Hamel & Lucas Ainsworth. The sculptures are made of cut cardboard parts that fit together with tabs and slots. They walk via a hand crank or on their own with an optional electric gear kit. Kinetic Creatures are intended to be learning projects for classroom or home use. Hamel and Ainsworth are raising funds on Kickstarter to finance production of the sculptures.

LEGO Minifig Babies by Citizen Brick

It stands to reason that miinfigs must reproduce somehow, or there wouldn’t be so many of them. Citizen Brick delivers bundles of screamy joy in blue and pink. Gender chosen randomly, as is Nature’s way.

via The Brothers Brick

Etcher is an iPad app and case that converts the tablet into an Etch A Sketch toy (intro video & Etcher drawing time-lapse). Etcher creator Ari Krupnik is raising funds for the project on Kickstarter.

via designboom

Yum Yum London has just announced a new 5 piece toy series which is now available for pre-order.

Artist David Foox designed these limited edition mini Organ Donor key chains which are similar to his Organ Donor vinyl toys. Each figure has an organ head shaped like a brain, eyeball, kidney, heart, stomach or a pair of lungs. They are available to purchase at Street Anatomy.

The little organ heads light up when a cell phone rings or texts!

via Street Anatomy

During my recent visit to La Grande Orange Grocery in Phoenix, Arizona, I not only got to see a Campbell’s Souper Dress but was introduced to Magical Tickle Monster Mitts. These soft & fun fingerless mitts were immediately spotted by 7-year old daughter (who took no time convincing me that she needed them). They are “one size fits most” and a companion piece for the children’s book Tickle Monster by Josie Bissett. A Tickle Monster Laughter Kit which includes both mitts and the book is available at Compendium Incorporated.

A loveable monster with big puffy mitts has just flown in from Planet Tickle. His mission is to bring joy and laughter to Planet Earth. How? By tickling any child who happens to follow along with this book. Parents read aloud and do the tickling while their children squirm and giggle with delight.

photos by Rusty Blazenhoff

Plastic Galaxy is an upcoming documentary by Brian Stillman about Star Wars toys (trailer). Stillman is raising funds for the project on Kickstarter. The film is scheduled for release in November 2012.

Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys is a new documentary that explores the groundbreaking and breathtaking world of Star Wars toys. Through interviews with former Kenner employees, experts, authors, and collectors, the film examines the toys’ history, their influence on pop culture, and the fond and fervent feelings they elicit today.

Thanks to Matt McGregor-Mento for the tip

Washington-based inventor Scott Baumann has designed Chalktrail, a universally-fitting attachment for bicycles or scooters that allows the rider to decorate riding surfaces with chalk designs. It not only looks incredibly easy to install but it also looks really fun to use. A Kickstarter campaign has been started to bring this ingenious device to market.

via swissmiss and Design Mom

Bald Barbie rendering created for Beautiful and Bald Barbie

Jane Bingham and Beckie Sypin were inspired when they heard that a young cancer patient had a custom bald Barbie doll created for them by Mattel. In response, they started a petition and Facebook page asking Mattel to create a line of “Beautiful and Bald Barbie” dolls. Mattel recently announced that they will be creating a bald friend of Barbie for children who suffer from hair loss due to cancer treatments, Alopecia or Trichotillomania. Mattel says the doll will come with “hats, scarves and other fashion accessories to provide girls with a traditional fashion play experience” and though not available in stores it will be distributed to children in U.S. and Canada hospitals. According to Yahoo, Bratz is also coming out with a bald doll line.

The statement from Mattel’s Facebook page:

Play is vital for children, especially during difficult times. We are pleased to share with our community that next year we will be producing a fashion doll, that will be a friend of Barbie, which will include wigs, hats, scarves and other fashion accessories to provide girls with a traditional fashion play experience. For those girls who choose, the wigs and head coverings can be interchanged or completely removed. We will work with our longstanding partner, the Children’s Hospital Association, to donate and distribute the dolls exclusively to children’s hospitals directly reaching girls who are most affected by hair loss. A limited number of dolls and monetary donations will also be made to CureSearch for Children’s Cancer and the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

Through a thoughtful approach, we made the decision not to sell these dolls at retail stores, but rather get the dolls directly into the hands of children who can most benefit from the unique play experience, demonstrating Mattel’s ongoing commitment to encourage play as a respite for children in the hospital and to bring joy to children who need it most.

via Daily Mail

image via Beautiful and Bald Barbie

Noisy Jelly is a learning game in which kids make their own electronic music instruments out of jelly. When placed on the game board, the jelly shapes become capacitive sensors and play sounds whenever they are touched. Noisy Jelly is a design concept by French design students Raphaël Pluvinage and Marianne Cauvard.

via MAKE

photos by Véronique Huyghe

In American Girls, Polish born Ilona Szwarc photographs girls with their American Girl dolls, often in matching outfits.

The project’s statement:

“American girls” is a series of portraits of teenage girls in America who own American Girl dolls.

When I first came to US the phenomenon of the American Girl doll immediately caught my eye. It was visually striking to me to see that the girls chose their dolls to look exactly the same as they do. Just that is a very powerful metaphor for the world that we live in today. It embodies ideas of self-portraiture, narcissism and self-promotion as well as echoes such issues as cloning, mass production and consumerism.

I find it very disturbing that the product – the actual doll is called the “American Girl”. It very clearly imposes the stereotypes about who the American girls are and what do they look like. Each doll represents a different lifestyle that becomes an intrinsic part of each girl’s life. While working on this project I discovered that there are almost no girls raised in America who never owned an American Girl doll. I am examining the line where the product creates the culture and defines the people. With my camera I am defining who a contemporary American Girl is.

Coming from an eastern European background and seeing this is really seeing America at its fullest dimension. The abundance of choices, products and accessories – all this craziness can happen only here. The dolls looks are very unified, almost androgynous – which shows a great cultural shift from what Barbie’s troubling appearance was. Each doll can be customized to look exactly like her owner, yet all of them really look the same. So they express individuality – just in a very democratic and politically correct manner. The photographs are a commentary on contemporary American culture.

via PetaPixel and It’s Nice That

photos by Ilona Szwarc

The Free Universal Construction Kit is a system of open source adapters that allows different commercially available children’s construction toys to work together (video). The kit works with ten major construction toy systems including LEGO and Tinkertoy. Adapter designs are freely available for download and 3D printing on Thingiverse. The Free Universal Construction Kit was created by F.A.T. Lab and Sy-Lab.

The Ubooly is a plush case for an iPhone or iPod touch that turns the device into an interactive educational tool for children ages 4 to 9. It is able to download “content every month over wifi, including games, stories, and adventures.” Husband and wife team Isaac Squires and Carly Gloge of design consultancy Warb, Inc. created Ubooly and recently launched a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter to help bring it to market.

This crazy little toy has an animated face, and squishy filling to protect your iOS device from harm. And while your Ubooly might look funny, it’s got a great set of ears. It doesn’t matter how old you are, just talk to Ubooly and watch it react. It’s like Siri — but cuter.

The CatBot is an automated cat laser device created by Instructables user Joe which uses “two servos, an Arduino and a cheap $3 laser.” Full howto instructions are available.

I was buying pet food and saw a $3 laser… I thought the cat might like it. I was wrong. The cat became obsessed. Constantly grabbing the toy off of the coffee table. But she only wants to play for 1 minute then sit and stare at it. So you think, OK I guess she is bored. You put it down….

And she’s back pawing at it.

The CatBot is the solution.

In February 2012, Japanese toy company Takara Tomy created a giant Transformers-themed snow sculpture in the shape of Optimus Prime for the 53rd annual Asahikawa Winter Festival in Hokkaido, Japan. It measured 53 feet tall and was 427 feet wide and had giant built-in snow slides. Other smaller Transformers snow sculptures were created for the festival, including Bumblebee. The Japan Self-Defense Forces built the various sculptures in the freezing cold for the event. An impressive fireworks display closed out the festival.

images via Takara Tomy and Asahikawa Winter Festival

Brian McCarty recently did an awesome photo shoot featuring the new Fat Tony vinyl toy by Ron English at breakfast with Jesse Heiman, AKA the World’s Greatest Extra.

The L.L. Bean blog has posted video footage of a tiny version of the L.L.Bean Bootmobile drag racing a small Oscar Mayer Wienermobile on a slot car race track.

The L.L.Bean Bootmobile goes toe to bun with the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

via L.L. Bean blog

The Daddle from riding supply company Cashel is a soft Western style saddle that is made to strap on the backs of daddies so they can give their small children horsey-back rides in style. Daddle up, Daddies!

Retro Thing discovered the Daddle’s awesomely inspired past, the circa 1965 Daddy Saddle from Kenner. The folks at Kenner Collector actually have a Daddy Saddle in their collection.

The Amazon reviews for The Daddle are good for a laugh:

By Wandrwoman “Caped Crusader”:
Please note that this Daddle is Western Style and will not be appropriate for those trained in the English Father Riding Method whereby one holds a rein in each hand and posts the trot. If you are looking forward to father jumping, father fox hunting, father polo or daddy dressage you will not be able to use this Daddle. Western Daddle riders hold the reins with one hand, and sit the trot. The pommel or horn on this Daddle is meant to hold a lariat which is useful when roping cattle or other competing or unruly fathers.

images via Amazon, Cashel and Kenner Collector

For 7 years, a Canadian farmer named Joe has been methodically excavating his basement with remote control model construction equipment. His fleet of scale models includes a dirt crusher, caterpillar tractors, excavators, as well as trucks and trailers to haul equipment around the basement. The Lil’ Giants Construction Co. has its own YouTube channel, with 150 videos of the machines in various phases of excavation work. Joe talks about his hobby over at CarScoop.

via CarScoop & Boing Boing

photos and video by Joe

LINX is a simple construction toy consisting of modular connectors that work with ordinary drinking straws. LINX creator Patrick Martinez is raising funds for the project on Kickstarter.

LINX were created because I wanted a construction game that was cheap, flexible and light. With LINX you can build everything from ambitious room-sized structures to intricate table-top sculptures, all using LINX connectors and standard drinking straws.

Artist and Stanford University professor Grace Hawthorne is behind Paper Punk, a unique building block system made of paper for creating design objects or toys. Fab currently has Paper Punk products available to purchase. Additional designs are available at the Paper Punk store.

With a few simple folds, colorful 2D flat shapes transform into bold 3D geometric pieces to create spectacular looking paper toys and art forms. It was founded with a simple ambition – to enable people to exercise their creativity and make things with their hands.

Paper Punk was a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign in 2011. Here is the video from that campaign:

via Fab

Actor and musician Lance Reddick plays a very intense small business owner in Toys R Me from Funny or Die.

A heartfelt exploration of the life of a small business owner.