I am sure that if you are the mother of a creative boy you have heard of YouTube’s King of Random. GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He’s come out with a book! 52 Random Weekend Projects! When my son saw this book he snatched up it lickety-split! BUT I’ve snatched my review book BACK from my lad so I could take a few pictures, and do a project or two. 🙂
What I am Reviewing
The King of Random is a fellow with an inquistive mind. Grant Thompson was the original King of Random, the newest host are Nate Bonham and Calli Gade. The name of the game is still using your curiousity, and careful application of science and crafting skills to learn what happens when you try something new. It’s a channel that I enjoy watching myself and I’ve learned a ton. Over 12 million subscribers… that has to say something eh?
Anyways, 52 Random Weekend Projects for budding inventors and backyard builders is based on this subscription channel. In it you will find 288 pages filled with 52 different projects ranging from easy to advanced to delight the curious people in your life. Illustrated by Ted Slampyak, copious drawings fill each week of invention. St. Martin’s Griffin is the publisher and it is geared for inventors of any age. I received a review copy (ARC version) from Raincoast Books.
The video below is from the original King of Random.
Below is one of the videos with the newest hosts. Some of the things they wonder about amaze me. See how you can learn so much?
Details on 52 Random Weekend Projects
So I’m sure by this point you can imagine how delighted my curious lad was to receive this book! It’s a treasure trove of ideas. I love how a simple idea and a lack of some ingredients led to experimenting through different options. Could we use necklace beads instead of airsoft pellets? Could we try a larger container? Or what about using a water bottle and try it with rice and more alka-seltzer? Would duct-tape give us more time before it popped? One experiment/one build and four separate approaches. I love that freedom to explore.
I did discover a small issue with the matchstick rocket. This project uses a clothes pin and I know they come in different sizes. This size difference was not noted in the instructions. Using a smaller clothespin makes this easy project more difficult than one might imagine!
In the ARC copy I received all instructions and illustrations are in black and white. I don’t know if that will change in the final version.
After having tried a few of the projects, I grew to love the sheer amount of images provided. Almost every step has an image attached to guide you through the project.
Some of the projects are
- Mini Solar Scorcher
- Magic Sand
- Sandwich Bag Fire Starter
- Bitty-Q
- Superhero Shuriken
- Puzzle Box
- Proto Putty
There are 26 easy projects, 15 intermediate and 11 Advanced projects.
Go on now… Go get it!
52 Random Weekend projects is a wonderful book to inspire the builders in your life. Inspire the inventors (or being inspired yourself). Build, create, innovate.  OH! I almost forgot to mention a neat feature. Each project closes with a fun fact. This means you’ll learn that snap bands were invented by a high school student, or that bamboo releases 30 percent more oxygen into the air than other plants.Â
I love TKOR
isn’t he great?