Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share (20 page)

IMPORTANT TIP FOR A FLAT YARD:
The best placement for an SNS is on a gentle downhill slope that peters out at the end to flat, but not all of us are lucky enough to have the perfect sliding real estate. If you’re building your SNS on a flat expanse of lawn, an added feature could be of use. Get a piece of rope about 6 or 8 feet long. Tie each end to a short piece of wooden dowel or a plastic handle like the ones that come with car window squeegees or toilet plungers. Make sure you have good knots, and perhaps wrap it all up in duct tape as well. You now have a towline. Position your child to sit at the starter end of the slide, either in a crisscross applesauce position or on his or her front or back, and have someone as big or bigger pull him while running down the slide. Once the initial friction is overcome, it’s not very hard to build up a bit of speed down the slide. Just make sure to have them let go before the end of the slide.

Now just wait for a warm day, collect the neighborhood kids, and become the best house on the block! Oh, and in case you hadn’t noticed, with all that Velcro, this thing is really easy to disassemble and fold away for another day.

A
n enduring memory from the childhood of many people who grew up in rural or semirural areas is the sight of fireflies on a warm summer night. Watching the clouds of sparkling lights dancing around is a magical experience. But for people in urban areas, fireflies are harder to come by. Even if you do live in a firefly-friendly area, the summer lasts only so long. With this project, you can enjoy the magic of fireflies anywhere, at any time of year!

We are busy parents, so sometimes even if we have the inspiration for a fun project to do with our kids, it takes some time to put our idea into action. I was inspired to make a cheap solar light based on an
www.instructables.com
post involving deconstructing solar garden lights and reinstalling them in Mason jars. My inspiration held out long enough for me to search fruitlessly for some cheap solar lights, but not long enough to make anything.

Fortunately for me, the Internet provided the answer rather quickly (via an especially good geeky project site called Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories—
www.evilmadscientist.com
). And I was finally able to make my dream happen!

For this project, purchase the following from your local electronics store (or order them online):

Total cost was under $20. Each firefly costs about $1.50.

The build process is very, very easy:

At my house, proper presentation is the key to early adoption. You can’t be too excited about a new project or the kids will go back to the couch. But if you casually toss a lit firefly on the table and instruct them to stay out of the bag with the rest of the materials, they’ll have ten of them glowing before you come back from the restroom.

This project teaches some basic lessons about electronics as well. When I made these with my own kids, they started testing multiple LEDs on the same battery. Luck (and some bent LED leads) taught them that switching the power on and off is the result of the proper contact being made between LED leads and the appropriate positive or negative side of the battery.

Once you’ve created your all-season fireflies together, send your kids out into the backyard and enjoy the fun as they run around in the dark holding the fireflies aloft.