Make: Fun! / Baba Yaga’s Assistant

Issue No. 131

MAKE: FUN! AN INVENTOR, MAKER, AND TOY DESIGNER SHARES HIS FAVORITE PROJECTS

Make: Fun!
by Bob Knetzger
Maker Media
2016, 254 pages, 8 x 9.7 x 0.4 inches

Buy on Amazon

The first thing that struck me about this collection of toy and game projects from former Mattel designer Bob Knetzger was how many of my favorite projects from the pages of Make: magazine were his. Bob has contributed to the magazine for over nine years, and this collection represents a best-of from that run (with some original projects as well). WINK’s own Mark Frauenfelder (founding editor-in-chief of Make:) also contributes the book’s introduction.

Make: Fun! features full step-by-step instructions for some 40 projects. They range from the very simple, fun, and ephemeral, such as the actuated “Ouija Be Mine” Valentine’s Day card and “Gnome Holiday Hats” to a classic “Diving Spudmarine” bathtub toy to more elaborate builds, such as constructing your own “Kitchen Floor Vacuum Former” and building a “Desktop Foundry.” Some of my favorite projects include the “Monster Candy Snatch Game” (think: Operation), the “E-Z-Make Oven” (think: Mattel’s Thingmaker), and vacuum forming your own “Tiki Masks.”

Make: did a really nice job on the production of this book. The projects are well photographed, in full color, and the instructions are well laid out and easy to follow. And there are fun little “gimmicks” that serve the playful spirit of the book (a flip-book animation on the page edges, QR-code videos for some of the projects, and colorful templates and paper project components in the back). You can see the videos, view the templates, and find out more on the book’s companion website. I cannot imagine an imaginative, industrious kid (of any age) getting this book and not wanting to dive right in to building a number of these projects. – Gareth Branwyn

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BABA YAGA’S ASSISTANT – A PSEUDO FAIRYTALE THAT BLENDS PRESENT WITH MYTH

Baba Yaga’s Assistant
by Marika McCoola (author) and Emily Carroll (illustrator)
Candlewick
2015, 136 pages, 6.2 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches

Buy on Amazon

I have long been a fan of Emily Carroll’s distinctive art style, which I was first introduced to in the video game The Yawhg. Her beautiful illustrations fit perfectly with Marika McCoola’s wonderful pseudo-fairytale about a young woman named Masha. Masha feels out of place after her grandmother passes away and her father remarries a woman who has her own daughter. So, when Baba Yaga puts out an advertisement for an assistant, Masha decides to leave and try her hand at working for the terrifying witch of Russian folklore. Masha will have to use her wits and memories from her youth to thrive in her new profession.

The story blends present with myth and memory, and these different moments are beautifully conveyed in Carroll’s pictures, with different styles for each storyline. For example, when Baba Yaga’s bear attacks Masha, she recalls fairytales from her childhood in order to figure out how to dissuade him from eating her. The style or art changes, with the panels outlined with geometric designs, and the internal images appearing as abstract watercolors. Later, when Masha remembers moments from her past, the images are frequently rendered in duller colors, creating a hazy appearance that appeals to our sense of what memory “looks” like. At other points, the panels spill over into each other, pushing the story quite literally from one section to the next.

My favorite thing about the book is Masha herself, who is plucky enough to stand up to Baba Yaga, and independent enough to pursue her own path. McCoola expertly weaves together folklore with a more modern spin, creating a fairytale for the modern world, and Carroll’s lovingly rendered illustrations only add to the enchantment. If you’ve ever wanted to run away from your life and become a witch (or a witch’s assistant), this is the book for you. Curl up on a rainy day, and enjoy a story that makes you wonder where you’ve been and imagine where you might be going. – Julia Pillard

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Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

08/18/26

Making Fun

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 203

Practical jokes made practical

Stuntology

Pranks you can use. Stupid tricks, dumb gags, and funny routines. Liberate your inner 12-year-old with this handdrawn manual. — KK

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Low-tech sand castle construction manual

Sandcastles Made Simple

In case you haven’t noticed, sand castles have become very elaborate and sand sculpture a new art form. Building them is a complicated business. We’ve used the simple methods here to build sandcastles we can be proud of without too much equipment. In our experience the most important part is finding a beach with suitable building sand. For the rest, follow this book and/or DVD. — KK

Most beach trips I would sit and read while my wife played around in the sand building castles. This year, I found a great resource that had me building sand castles and sculptures that stopped every passerby on the beach.

The Sons of the Beach Sandcastles Made Simple book showed me how to build high-reaching towers and arches by hand, without any buckets or forms. Their tool set was perfect for giving professional looking details. Their optional DVD makes it even easier to learn their technique.

The first week I had their book, I built a 48″ tall light house, several castles (one with a monorail train), and a snowman (they teach you how to make snowballs out of sand). Many people asked me how many years I’d been doing sand sculpture!

The book and DVD teach “hand stacking.” This is a process of scooping a big handfuls of completely saturated wet sand and plopping them on top of each other. By jiggling the sand just as the excess water is running out, it fuses the new plop with the previous ones creating a stable tower.

These folks also discuss and sell large forms (5, 3, 2 foot diameter) which can be used for large competition sculpture, but that was more than I wanted to carry down to the beach. — Chris Evans

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Circus resources

Doing Circus

Circus is a physical art-form that can engender a sense of control just as any type of athletics or dance training can. However, unlike most physical disciplines, circus has a place for almost any physical type. It’s one of the few places where I’ve seen short powerfully built women valued for their bodies. The circus is associated with the carnavelsque, so it’s a great way to have a party or to disrupt social patterns. And circus is also a lot of fun.

Circus is still mainly an oral tradition. Moreover, for certain of its disciplines it is confined to very particular places that can rig the necessary equipment and safety devices. It would be, for example, impossible and probably immoral to write a book describing how to learn the flying trapeze. There are plenty of books and resources for learning the object manipulation arts, eg. juggling, stick spinning, plate spinning, diabolo, etc. A good place to start with these would be Juggling Information Services. However, most serious folks quickly move back to oral traditions.

I think the best value however, if you have the time, are youth circus programs. Many big cities have non-profit programs that teach circus to youth. Many of these programs will offer volunteers instruction in the circus arts. The American Youth Circus Organization has a directory of youth circus programs.

I personally have not been too interested in the professional schools. They are more like the graduate programs.

Of course, working for a circus is not a bad way to learn either, and the way that most people, historically, have learned the trade. — Forest Gregg, co-founder of Runaway Circus

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Teach new riders how to balance

Skuut Balance Bike

Balance bikes teach balance before pedaling. Learning to pedal is easy if you know how to balance. Learning balance is fairly easy, too. But learning them concurrently is hard. With a balance bike instead of a trike or a standard bike with training wheels, it’s much easier for a child to learn the balance, steering dynamics and handling required to ride a bike. My son, at 2 1/2, can go at least a mile on his Skuut bike, and is learning all the skills he’ll need, so that when I get him a normal bicycle, with pedals, he won’t need training wheels.

The design of a balance bike is brilliant—it’s actually similar to the design of the first bicycles (velocipedes) that had no drivetrains. The particular brand of a running or balance bike for kids is not of much concern. Cool Tools previously featured the Likeabike, which was imported from Europe and lovingly crafted, but notably expensive. You can find cheap $50 metal balance bikes these days, but we use the current wooden standard Skuut which is good enough quality for $85. — Elon Schoenholz

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Extreme Pogo Stick

Flybar

When the guy at the bike store first told us about the Flybar, he said “Man, that thing bounces twenty feet!” It doesn’t, but I understand why he exaggerated. The Flybar has an amazing Boing Factor. Instead of a standard spring, it uses rubber-like bands which make the bounce feel more like a trampoline and can give you a real workout. It’s bulky, but sturdy. You can adjust to handle adult or kid weight. My 13-year-old son saved up for months to buy one and he’s never been sorry, because when he takes it to the local park, the little kids stare at him open-mouthed and the big kids try to keep their mouths closed and hide the fact they’re staring. It’s expensive, but until everyone has one, you will be the most awesome novelty on your block. Yeah, it’s dangerous. You should wear a helmet. Pads would be a good idea. But skateboards, mountain bikes, trampolines, and see-saws can be dangerous too. And fun! — Jay Allison

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Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

08/17/26

Retro Recomendo: Money Stuff

Recomendo - issue #527

Our subscriber base has grown so much since we first started nine years ago that most of you have missed all our earliest recommendations. The best of these are still valid and useful, so we’re trying out something new — Retro Recomendo. Once every 6 weeks, we’ll send out a throwback issue of evergreen recommendations focused on one theme from the past 10 years.

A home budget that makes sense to me (YNAB)

For years I’ve tried to keep a home budget, but it never seems to work. I end up spending more than I budgeted in some categories, less in others, and I don’t keep good track of what I’ve spent. When our Cool Tools podcast guest Lillian Karabaic recommended something called You Need a Budget (YNAB), I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did. YNAB’s websites and mobile apps are excellent, as are the podcasts, videos, blog posts, and mailing lists they produce. It took me a while to wrap my head around the YNAB method, but now that I get it, I’m a true believer. For the first time in my adult life, I feel in control of my finances. — MF

High-leverage philanthropy

I’ve been making micro-loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world via Kiva for 10 years. I loan small amounts (less than $100) to, say, women in Africa hoping to buy a sewing machine to start their own sewing business, or herders in Bolivia needing some equipment to make cheese, and soon enough they will repay the loan so that I can re-loan the money again to someone else. I’ve gone through 4 cycles of loans for my first money, and there is less than 0.1% delinquency — a rate any bank would die for. 100% of my money goes to helping the individuals I select; Kiva’s operating costs are funded separately. The money keeps going around. It’s one of the best bargains in the world. — KK

Salary Transparent Street

Salary Transparent Street shares videos of people on the street being asked, “What do you do?” and “How much do you make?” It’s humbling and (mind-boggling!) to imagine how I would survive in the Bay Area on certain salaries across the U.S. The channel’s goal is to promote pay transparency across the United States, close the gender pay gap, and increase diversity and equal opportunities. You can follow it on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok. — CD

Online notary service

Notarizing documents traditionally requires visiting a notary, but I’ve been utilizing online notary services for the past few years to avoid this hassle. All that’s needed is a laptop with a webcam. There are numerous online notaries available; my recent choice was Notarize.com, which charges $25 to notarize a single document. — MF

Equipping students

Few things in life are as satisfying as getting handwritten thank-you notes from school kids for helping them learn. DonorsChoose is a non-profit that features thousands of public school teachers seeking basic school supplies, or extra gear for special projects (rocket kits for science!). The teachers post their pitch. You choose a project. When it gets fully funded, they post verification pictures of the kids using the resource which your funds provided, and later they’ll send you a fistful of amazingly detailed (and endearing) letters from the students themselves. You’ll want to do this. — KK

Zelle payments

I use PayPal to send money to strangers (like on eBay or Etsy); I use Venmo to pay friends; but if I need to send a lot of money (more than several thousand $$$), I use Zelle. Unlike Venmo, which holds a reserve in your account that you replenish, Zelle is basically a bank-to-bank wire transfer – for free. But the interface is person-to-person. Still can’t do it internationally, but it is very handy for larger peer-to-peer payments in the U.S. Easy to set up. — KK

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08/16/26

Book Freak #222: How to remember anything, from a memory champion

Everyday Genius by Nelson Dellis

Get the book

Everyday Genius shows that there’s no such thing as “photographic memory.” Having a good memory is a skill — and six-time U.S. memory champion Nelson Dellis shows how to improve yours.

Core Principles

Genius Is Trained

In 2009, Nelson Dellis had an ordinary memory. Then he watched Alzheimer’s disease take his grandmother’s memory away. He decided that would never happen to him. He found a memory champion willing to teach him the tricks of the trade. Today he holds six national championships and two Guinness World Records. His message: what looks like genius is the result of training.

Memory Is the Foundation

Every skill in this book — fast reading, quick math, effective problem-solving — depends on memory. Dellis uses three simple tools to keep everything straight: pictures, associations, and something he calls the “memory palace.” These are the same techniques the ancient Greek orators used to memorize long speeches.

Focus Is the Multiplier

Your brain can’t multitask. It switches from one job to the next, and switching slows you down. But you can train your focus. A few minutes of meditation, slow breathing, and the discipline of finishing one thing before you start the next will get you there.

Break Impossible Questions into Answerable Ones

Someone once asked physicist Enrico Fermi: “How many piano tuners work in Chicago?” Fermi didn’t know the answer, so he broke the question into smaller ones. How many people live in Chicago? How many of them own a piano? How often does a piano need tuning, and how many can one tuner handle in a year? His guess was remarkably close to the real number. It’s a trick worth remembering the next time a problem looks too big to tackle: break it down into pieces that you already know or can look up.

Try It Now

1. Walk through your house in your mind — the front hall, the kitchen, the stairs. Now place five things you need to remember in five different spots along that path. Later, take the same mental walk, and you’ll find them waiting for you. Memory experts call this a “memory palace.”
2. The next time you’re introduced to someone new, don’t just nod and forget. Build a quick mental picture that ties their name to their face — the stranger the picture, the better it sticks.
3. Set a timer for 25 minutes. Put the phone in another room. Work on one thing, and only one thing, until the timer rings. You’ll be surprised how much you get done.

Quote

“I would forget things just like anybody else. And I trained this skill. I learned it from another memory champion and practiced the hell out of it until I was able to do it.” — Nelson Dellis, interviewed on Here & Now, March 2026

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Book Freak is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run Recomendo, the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, and Book Freak.

08/14/26

Best Hotel Chains/New UNESCO Sites/Oldest USA Bars

Nomadico issue #219

Best Hotel Chains in the USA

Each year I update this post on the best cheap hotel chains in the USA, but I use the JD Power & Associates survey that covers all categories as the source. (Ritz-Carlton and Waldorf-Astoria are tops overall if that’s your income level.) With the four largest hotel corporations having more than 110 brands between them, we could all use a shortcut. The winners in each category from the bottom were Microtel, Tru by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton, Hyatt House, and Drury Inn. The worst score of all went to OYO Hotels, which you’ll find bad reviews for all over the world.

New UNESCO World Heritage Sites

UNESCO recently announced its latest batch of sites added to their lists for this year and you can see them all here. Some are not much to look at, the “heritage” being the key factor. Some are well-known though, like Mount Olympus in Greece, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, and Sarnath Buddhist temple in India. There’s a tilt to modern buildings in this round and I’ll be seeing one entry soon: “Tashkent Modern Architecture.”

Where You’ll Get Triple-taxed to Visit

It has unfortunately been a return subject on here this year: new taxes and fees popping up for you to stay in a specific country or city. Europe has led the way, with Edinburgh being the most recent one: as of July 24, you’ll pay an extra 5% per night on your room. While we understand the dual motivations of tempting revenue increases gleaned from people passing through and the hope that fees will deter overtourism, these charges are on top of plenty more. There’s the destination tax already included in your airline ticket, the hotel or rental apartment tax you’re already paying, and other local taxes levied for rental cars, restaurants, taxis/rideshares, and tours. Here’s a full rundown of new ones this year.

Oldest Bar in Every State

If you want to get a drink in a place that has been around for a century or two, this rundown of which bar is the oldest for every U.S. state will give you a destination. To the best of my recollection, I have only been in two of them. One in a historic mining town in Montana, the other a couple of blocks from my first apartment in Nashville, TN.

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A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

08/13/26

What’s in my NOW? — Tanya S.

issue #266

A mom, reader, traveler, pet owner, and a person with a lot of energy. I love nature, art, and discovering new things.

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PHYSICAL

• Walking Pad: MERACH W50. I tried using a walking pad while working. It was fine during calls, but deep work while walking did not work for me. Then I made a rule: I can watch Netflix only while walking on the pad. That worked much better. I now easily reach 10,000 to 12,000 steps a day, and quite often more than 15,000.
• Battery-Free Luggage Scale. We usually check one or two bags on family trips. I am also the person who really does not want to pay an overweight baggage fee.
  A luggage scale helps us check the weight before leaving and see whether there is still room for souvenirs. The problem with my old scale was the battery. Once, it died right before we left for the airport. This one has a tiny hand-powered generator inside. You push the button a few times, and it creates enough power to weigh the bag. No batteries and nothing to charge.
• Tapo Smart Plugs. I do not like using the ceiling light in my home office. Instead, I have several lamps around the room. The light feels warmer and makes the office much nicer to work in. The annoying part was walking around and turning every lamp on and off. I connected them to Tapo smart plugs and grouped them together. Now I can control all the lamps with one tap in Apple Home or by saying, “Alexa (or Siri – I have both), turn on the office lights”.

DIGITAL

• Spark Email. I have several email accounts for different purposes. Connecting all of them again every time I get a new device is annoying. I use Spark on two MacBooks, an iPhone, and an iPad. I connect my accounts once, and Spark syncs them across my devices. When I replace or upgrade a device, I do not have to set everything up again.
• The Curious Procrastinator Newsletter. This is a weekly read about behavior, some of the psychology behind it, and useful technology. It mixes interesting ideas with personal stories and dry, self-sarcastic humor.

INVISIBLE

Answers are hidden in action, not thinking.

Many times, I do not know what to do. Sometimes I am not even sure what I am doing. But I have learned that I usually do not find the answer by searching or thinking longer. I find it by starting. Works every time.

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08/12/26

What’s in my NOW? — Tanya S.