FUN RIDE-ON TOY

Little children love to have toys with them not only in the room, but also on walks. Especially those that can be pulled on a string or pushed with a thin stick. Even more so, a dynamic toy when something in it spins, swings, or bounces.

We offer a variant of such an amusing pull-toy (based on materials from the Polish magazine “Horizons of Technology for Children”).

The pull-toy’s design is the simplest. Even older children can make it for their little brothers or sisters. It’s on a stick, with wheels. When a child pushes it in front of them, the pigeon figure seems to come alive.

When moving, the pigeon flaps its wings rapidly, as if wanting to run away from the little one and take off. This effect is achieved because the wings are connected by wire connecting rods to the wheels, and when the wheels rotate, the connecting rods push the wings up, then pull them down.

The toy’s base is a section of wooden block with a cross-section of 40×40 mm. Two through holes are drilled in it: a transverse one with a diameter of 8 mm — for a wooden axle made from a rod with a diameter of 7 mm, and a longitudinal one with a diameter of 10 mm — for a handle of the same diameter and 700 mm long. The axle rotates freely in the base, and two wooden wheels with a diameter of 42 and thickness of 10 mm are tightly fitted (with glue) on its ends. The handle is also inserted into the base with glue (carpenter’s or PVA).

A figured plank depicting the bird’s “body” with a beak and tail is mounted on the base, and a fabric or leather strip — a “hinge” for the flapping wings — is attached to it. The “body” to the base and the strip to the wings are nailed.

Connecting rods with small rings at the ends are made from stiff wire, with which they connect to brackets on the wings and pins on the wheels.