Printable STEM activity: 18 mechanical toys kids build from a cereal box
Ordinary carton board becomes a wonderful mechanical toy.
Let’s print the blueprints at home or school, glue them onto a cereal box or any thin carton board, and build working mechanical toys. We can make eighteen of them, at six levels of difficulty. Chances are, everything we need is already at hand. See you in the assembly videos!
One PDF download. Best for Grades 4 to 6 (ages 9 to 12). Older students and adults enjoy the higher tiers.
Here’s everything we need:
No kit to order and nothing to wait for. Buy the blueprints and start building.
- Printer and paperLetter or A4, printed at 100%
- A cereal boxor any other thin carton
- Glueto stick the blueprints to the carton
- Scissorsto cut the black lines
- A rulerto fold the red lines
From cereal box to machine in five steps.
The same five steps build every Toyineer toy, from the two-part Vanisher to the ten-part Magic Box.
Print the blueprints
Print on regular paper at 100% scale. Every blueprint page has a 100 mm bar so we can check the size.
Glue them to a carton
Glue each sheet onto the printed side of a cereal box or other carton.
Cut the black lines
Solid black lines are cut lines.
Fold the red lines
Lay a ruler along each red dashed line and fold against its edge.
Assemble our toy
Follow the illustrated assembly pages, part by part, until the mechanism moves.
Then, imagination takes over...
When we're done, the toy is blank and ready to be painted and decorated however we want. Salvage carton board scraps to add horns, tails, ears, hats, clothes, anything that we think is fun!
Real machines, real words, real engineering.
The blueprints and assembly manuals use the words engineers use.
- Actuator
- Alignment Guide
- Barrel
- Bolt
- Brace
- Bracket
- Channel
- Chassis
- Connecting Rod
- Cover Plate
- Double Slider-Rocker
- Driver
- Flexure Hinge
- Follower
- Fulcrum
- Gantry
- Hinge
- Housing
- Lamination
- Lever
- Mechanical Stop
- Mounting Flange
- Pivot Point
- Push Rod
- Rocker
- Slider
- Spacing Block
- Spiral Reinforcement
- Standoff
- Swivel Guide
- Transition Fit
- Viewport
- Web
All 18 toys, ready to build today.
One PDF download holds the blueprints for all eighteen toys and a fully illustrated assembly manual for each, and every toy has its own step-by-step video right here on the site. Make the pages yours with a name or title (a family, a classroom, a young engineer), and every set carries its own license number.
Each toy is about one 90-minute sitting when we build the tiers in order, and each sitting ends with a finished toy. All 18 add up to more than 20 hours of building, before any painting and decorating.
Terms & Conditions apply.
Price to be set
- 20
- hours or more to make one of each
- 18
- mechanical toys
- 6
- crafting tiers, from beginner to expert
- 105
- parts to cut, fold and assemble
- 2
- paper sizes: Letter and A4
For parents, teachers, and enrichment coordinators
Hands-on mechanics and engineering that any educator can lead, including educators who are not science teachers. Designed for easy implementation and high learner success.
Learn More from Tom BastQuestions
What is Toyineer?
A PDF download of blueprints and illustrated assembly manuals for 18 working mechanical toys. We print the blueprints at home, glue them to a cereal box, then cut, fold and assemble.
What do I need to build a Toyineer toy?
A printer and paper, a cereal box or other thin carton, glue, scissors and a ruler.
What ages is it for?
Best for Grades 4 to 6 (ages 9 to 12). Older students and adults enjoy the higher tiers.
How long does it take?
Each toy is about one 90-minute sitting when we build the tiers in order, and each sitting ends with a finished toy. A first-time builder finishes a Crafting Tier 1 or 2 toy in 60 to 90 minutes. By Crafting Tiers 5 and 6, an experienced builder still finishes in about 90 minutes; newer builders may want a second sitting. All 18 add up to more than 20 hours of building, before any painting and decorating. These times come from Tom Bast’s weekly 90-minute workshops. Some builders are quicker, and some like to take their time.
Which paper size should I print on?
The blueprints come in Letter and A4. Print at 100% (no “fit to page”), then measure the 100 mm bar on the page to check the scale.
Which toy should I build first?
Start with a Crafting Tier 1 toy: Vanisher, Gotcha Box or Anglewing. The tiers go up to Crafting Tier 6.
What is carton board?
The thin board that cereal boxes and other food cartons are made of. Glued to a printed blueprint, it is stiff enough to make working hinges, sliders and levers.
Is carton board the same as cardboard?
“Cardboard” is the everyday word for any stiff paper board. Carton board is the correct name for the thin, single-layer board that cereal boxes are made of, and it is what these toys are designed for. Corrugated cardboard, the thick board used for shipping boxes, is a different material.