Scavenging Toys in Amman

As part of my workshop with the staff of Children's Museum Jordan, I led a day long session with the team where we built a collaborative chain reaction machine. Although they collected a lot of materials and I packed a huge suitcase to the brim with slow moving motors, copper tape, unusual objects, and interesting mechanisms, I thought it would fun to try and find some local materials to include in the rube goldberg machine.

So the night before the workshop, as I was searching for the best kanafeh in downtown Amman, I stopped to buy a couple cheap walking caterpillar toys from a street vendor to see if they had potential to be converted to chain reaction elements.

At the start of the next day we cut open the toy, found the wires connected to the motor and soldered on alligator clip leads to facilitate easy connections. I demonstrated a homemade switch made of aluminum foil. There's something almost magical about activating a found mechanism by touching two pieces of metal together.

Two of the workshop participants added it to their section of the chain reaction machine, with the leg kicking a ball down a track when triggered by a foil switch. Electronic mechanisms like this one add an extra dimension to the chain reaction activity and thinking about the ways that physical motion can trigger switches can lead to some complicated and whimsical creations.

A few days later, as we were in the midst of car explorations, I saw another toy vendor downtown (near the same kanafeh spot) selling a really interesting flipping bumblebee car. It had rubber wheels arranged in groups of threes and could somersault around any obstacle.

I bought a couple for 2JD each and the next day we dissected them to find the wires, motor and gears inside. While this would be a great chain reaction element as well, it also provided some inspiration for different ways of thinking about arranging the wheels on our cars made out of everyday materials.

From discount toys at Walgreen's after the holidays to waving cat toys found in the street markets of Singapore, I'm always on the look out for cheap and interesting toys to work into tinkering activities. For one, the simple act of taking apart these mechanisms invites a sense of curiosity and finding out about the world around you, essential qualities for making and tinkering. I left these elements with my friends in Amman and I hope that they will continue to experiment and investigate other toys that they can find near them to incorporate into their activities and environments.