As a twelve-year-old, I was a terror to my dad's garage. I would constantly swipe an item or two for little 'projects'... a wooden dowel rod, a roll of electrical tape, a hammer and nails, and, oh, the balls of string. The silly contraptions I could entangle the living room and my bedroom dresser and my brother's leg with nothing but string. The neighborhood kids would come over and we'd take a commanding view from the picnic table to see our latest contraption drop a marble through a maze of blocks, knock over a hundred dominos, whiz another marble down a plastic chute, and land squarely in a bucket two feet away...

All that to say: kids are fascinated with building things. Just give them a balloon, some glue and an old soda bottle, and they're set. Well, the guys who never quite grew up (they're called MIT grad students) have come up for instructions to build all kinds of stuff in a hip new way (almost as good as old Lego idea books).

It's called Howtoons. Illustrated episodes for making a shockwave air cannon and a easy-to-make version of air hockey. Plus you can watch videos of these ideas in action! Way cool. They're looking to syndicate... coming to a Sunday morning insert near you!