Teachers and librarians — download this topic as a one page PDF (all hyperlinks are spelled out, so it works on paper). Use this link.

Drones are a mixture of the powerful technologies, many of which didn’t exist a few years ago.

Today you can purchase a drone for about the price of a bicycle that can fly for 20 minutes while taking clear, stable videos. Your new eyes in the sky requires new responsibilities, so let’s take a crash course in flying a drone.

1. How high can I fly?  400 feet; or a 40 story building. At the https://faadronezone.faa.gov you’ll find as set of rules that include:

• Only fly for fun. You must register with the FAA if you are hired for a job, such as to take photos of a roof. If the police spot you flying an unregistered drone or if someone complains, you could get fined.
• Fly during the daytime, when you can see your drone.
• Your drone can’t be too big. But this shouldn’t be a problem, because the FAA says it must weight less than 55 lbs (a heavy suitcase).
• You must always keep your drone in view when flying.
• Stay away from other aircraft or emergency response efforts.
• Never fly over active roads, moving traffic or people.
• Be aware of controlled airspace, such as around military bases or around airports.

2. Can anyone fly a drone? There are more and more rules about drones. If you’re serious you should register your drone with the FAA (Federal Aviation Association). It only costs $5, and takes a few minutes. Visit https://www.faa.gov/uas/ to learn more.

3. What does UAS stand for? Unmanned Aircraft Systems. That’s what a drone is. Check out this college degree in UAS, at Embry-Riddle University http://bitly.com/2rrOu4r

4. I’m really serious about drones, and I don’t want a toy. What should I get? You have a lot of choices. One of our testers uses a the DJI Spark for about $550. It can fly for about 20 minutes and works with your smart phone. It comes with crash guards and spare parts.

APPLICATION: MAKE A DRONE OBSTACLE COURSE
Sharpen your drone flying skills! Check out this drone store, full of ideas for making a drone obstacle course http://bitly.com/2KAVAMw. Or you can make one inside your house. Here’s a plan we found http://thomasrenck.com/share/Microdrone_Course_Project.pdf

Drones Rules on YouTube Want more? Here’s a video playlist that go along with this column. Use this link.

———————————————————————————————————————————————— LittleClickers.com (this page and the associated web site) is sponsored by Computer Explorers. Neither Children’s Technology Review (publisher of LittleClickers) or Computer Explorers has any vested interest in any of the sites listed on this page. Librarians and teachers are permitted to copy this page for non-profit use. To report a bad link, use this form, or contact us. Copyright 2018, Children's Technology Review.

Download this page as a one page PDF —–> Silly Human Tricks

We humans are amazing creatures. We can teach ourselves to play musical instruments, read, and … flip water bottles.

Thanks to some good web sites and YouTube, here are five silly human tricks to try yourself.

1. Flip a water bottle. How do you flip a water bottle perfectly so it lands on it’s base? Learn how at bitly.com/2qB27wq. Next, watch this TV coverage of Water Bottle flipping today.com/2rbxLDr and see how flipping a bottle is a lot like diving into a swimming pool, at the Institute of Physics bitly.com/2qBnf5H

2. Learn a Fidget Spinner Trick. We found some of the science behind Fidget Spinners, at http://www.livescience.com/58916-fidget-spinner-faq.html as well as some starter tricks https://youtu.be/DH1fRza6SOU.

3. Stack some Cups. Cup stacking is an affordable trick to learn. Start with 12 plastic cups and watch this video to get started: https://youtu.be/xh0RmfqejSE. Learn about the sport at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_stacking. Remember, practice makes perfect!

4. Learn a New Handshake. Handshakes are great fun to learn. First watch this amazing teacher and the handshakes she taught her kids bitly.com/2rbscEW. Next find a friend, mom or dad and make up your own.

5. Do some slow motion. This video by OK Go takes place in just 4.2 seconds. But it involves some incredible film editing, timers and LOTS of things that explode https://youtu.be/2dFdNUz2cQc

APPLICATION: Learn to Juggle

Find three tennis balls and watch this video:  http://www.jugglingpoet.com/crju/jugthree.html. Next, go to http://dev.juggle.org and meet some other jugglers, for moral support. Remember — practice makes perfect!

Silly People Tricks on YouTube

Want more? Here’s a video playlist that goes along with this column.

———————————————————————————————————————————————— LittleClickers.com (this page and the associated web site) is sponsored by Computer Explorers. Neither Children’s Technology Review (publisher of LittleClickers) or Computer Explorers has any vested interest in any of the sites listed on this page. Librarians and teachers are permitted to copy this page for non-profit use. To report a bad link, use this form, or contact us. Copyright 2018, Children's Technology Review.

Teachers and librarians — Download this is column as a one page, easy to print PDF to send home.

WARNING — once you’ve flown a quadcopter (aka a drone) you won’t want to stop. Today’s “toy” drones are affordable and very easy to fly, thanks to some quickly evolving technologies like motion sensors, gyros and tiny batteries. The technology behind this marvelous toy didn’t happen by accident. Let’s learn more.

1. Who, When and Where was the Quadcopter invented?
In 1907, in France by two brothers, according to http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Breguet-Richet_Gyroplane. The Breguet Bros. worked with a professor (Richet) to make a working quadcopter that could lift a person off the ground, but was impossible to steer. The design was so clunky and dangerous that it was abandoned.

2. T/F All four rotors spin in the same direction.
Answer: False. The two front rotors spin in opposite directions, as do the two back rotors. To illustrate the point, watch the air around the rotors in this Wired magazine video, at bitly.com/2nQU0gE. Next, visit the Discovery Channel’s page dedicated to drones at bitly.com/2nFOoVX.

3. Can a quadcopter pick up a person?  Almost. The Breguet Brothers dream is coming true in the form of the Hoverbike. This could make getting to school a lot more fun. Have a look at http://www.hover-bike.com.

4. How long can a drone fly? Most professional drones can fly about 25 minutes, according to Drones Globe bitly.com/2nEMsLG

5. What are some tricks you can do with a drone?
Popular Mechanics has a list of the common tricks, at bitly.com/2nEWv3D

Application: Set up a drone flying station in your school or library

STEP 1: First get at least two cheap, easy to fly toy drones, like the Holy Stone or the Sky Viper. [Reminder, we do not use affiliate links, so we're not making any money if you choose to buy one of these drones].

They’ll cost about $40 each, and come with everything you’ll need. Let one charge, while the other one is being flown.

STEP 2: Create well marked take-off and landing spots, and find an open area.

STEP 3: Teach up and down. The most important skill is to learn how to kill the power (usually left thumb down).

STEP 4: Fly around! After they can hover and land, let them steer. This can be tricky and takes a lot of practice… but it’s very rewarding.

Select Videos About Quadcopters

Here’s a set of hand-picked videos that go along with this column http://bit.ly/lcdrones

———————————————————————————————————————————————— LittleClickers.com (this page and the associated web site) is sponsored by Computer Explorers. Neither Children’s Technology Review (publisher of LittleClickers) or Computer Explorers has any vested interest in any of the sites listed on this page. Librarians and teachers are permitted to copy this page for non-profit use. To report a bad link, use this form, or contact us. Copyright 2018, Children's Technology Review.

—>Download this page as a PDF <—

Want to see what it looks like when you jump out of an airplane? Thanks to a new generation of cheap, rugged digital cameras it’s easy to find some amazing views, including the view from the back of a bird. Let’s learn these cameras, and watch some amazing videos.

1. Who invented the GoPro? Meet Nick Woodman, a surfer in search of a better way to capture his rides. He tells the story that led to his invention at http://bit.ly/1pozQHB.

2. Can you put your action camera inside a washing machine?  You bet! They have no moving parts and waterproof cases. We found more crazy uses for action cams, including the view from a hula hoop, at http://bit.ly/213Nqy4

3. How far can an Action Camera fall, and still survive? At https://youtu.be/aU-KvtA20v8 you can see what happens when a camera falls out of an airplane.

4. How much does an Action Camera cost?  Here are two options that vary in price. Both save their videos on tiny micro SD cards that cost about $20 for 64 GB (about 2 hours of HD video).

1. Kidizoom Action Cam ($50, VTech) comes with a waterproof container. You won’t get HD footage, but you won’t pay as much either. See http://bitly.com/1W2yVLb
2. The GoPro Hero 4 Silver ($350, GoPro) is the most famous action camera. Most of the videos you see on YouTube were captured with this camera http://bitly.com/1TqWdV2.

———————————————————————————————————————————————— LittleClickers.com (this page and the associated web site) is sponsored by Computer Explorers. Neither Children’s Technology Review (publisher of LittleClickers) or Computer Explorers has any vested interest in any of the sites listed on this page. Librarians and teachers are permitted to copy this page for non-profit use. To report a bad link, use this form, or contact us. Copyright 2018, Children's Technology Review.

Download this column as a one page PDF

We’ve all seen, and certainly stepped on, those famous sharp cornered LEGO blocks. But where did they come from, and what can you make with them? Let’s test your brain, with some LEGO trivia.

1. True or False: The first plastic inter-locking brick was made in Denmark. The answer is False according to http://www.hilarypagetoys.com, where you can learn the about an English toy inventer named Hillary Page who designed a self locking brick (right) nine years earlier than the first LEGO.

2. Are LEGOs based on the English or Metric system?  According to http://bit.ly/11VmmBP the Danish version is based on the metric system. Hillary Page’s design was English based.

3. What does the word “lego” mean? At Neatorama.com http://bit.ly/10IsKde you learn that “lego” is made from two Danish words leg (play) and godt (well). If you take the first two letters from each world, you have lego, a word that is nearly always spelled in capital letters. Interestingly the Latin translation means “I put together”.

4. What is the biggest thing ever made with LEGOs? At www.geeknaut.com http://bit.ly/10wEHZp you can see a 102 foot tower made of 500,000 LEGOs. You can also see a LEGO printer, a full sized car and an iPhone.

5. LEGOs are made of plastic. But what kind of plastic?  At 3D Printing for Beginners http://bit.ly/10wUa6T you can learn that LEGOs are made of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene or ABS for short. It is a material that is strong and resilient but it is not biodegradable.

6. How many LEGOs are there?   At http://natgeotv.com.au/tv/megafactories/lego-facts.aspx you can learn that about 400 billion LEGO blocks have been produced since 1949, about 1140 per second. If all the LEGO bricks were to be divided equally among a world population of six billion, each person would have 62.

7. How Strong are LEGOs? Said another way, if you stacked LEGOs on top of one another, how tall could you make the stack before the LEGO on the bottom crumbles? According to a study reported in the BBC http://bbc.in/12lpWFU the tower would have to be 375,000 bricks to cause the bottom brick to collapse, which represents a stack 11,781 ft tall. The Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall. That’s 9.4 Empire State Buildings!

8. What is the most expensive lego? At CNET http://cnet.co/YISl so you can see a photo of a single LEGO brick worth $14,500 dollars, up for auction at www.brickenvy.com. It’s made of solid gold, and was given to a valuable employee who obviously thought that $14,500 would be better.

APPLICATIONS

1. Make a LEGO Maze for your car. Make sure you include turns and dead ends.

2. Make a lego photo frame.

Remember to make a pyramid shaped holder using Lego blocks on the back so your frame stand up, and use colors to compliment your photo. You can glue your LEGOs together with plastic cement (commonly called model glue). According to, http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Immortalize_Your_Lego_Creations, Crazy glue works well.

———————————————————————————————————————————————— LittleClickers.com (this page and the associated web site) is sponsored by Computer Explorers. Neither Children’s Technology Review (publisher of LittleClickers) or Computer Explorers has any vested interest in any of the sites listed on this page. Librarians and teachers are permitted to copy this page for non-profit use. To report a bad link, use this form, or contact us. Copyright 2018, Children's Technology Review.

One of the original teddy bears, donated by the Michtom family and on display at National Museum of American History. Photo: Smithsonian

Teachers: Download this page as a PDF!

Some people call them stuffed animals. The toy industry says “plush toys.”

Others say Beanie Babies, Teddy Bears, Webkinz or Build-a-Bears. Whichever you prefer, everybody seems to love stuffed animals. How much do you know about them? Let’s explore!

1. Why are they called Teddy Bears? Visit http://bit.ly/T5zmpa –  the Smithsonian’s blog, to learn how the “teddy bear” came to be. It was created by Morris and Rose Michtom, New York City candy shop owners, and part time stuffed animal makers. When they heard about President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt’s bear hunt, and his refusal to shoot a wounded bear, they sewed together a stuffed animal and gave it to the President. They went on to start their own toy company, the Ideal Novelty and Toy company, to sell their ‘teddy bears.’

2. T/F. Are there beans in a Beanie Baby? False. At http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Bean-Bag-Plush-Toy.html you can learn how a Beanie Baby is made from start to finish. (They use small plastic pellets, called poly beads.)

3.What’s the stuff inside a stuffed animal?  At  Beary Cheap http://www.bearycheap.com you can see some of the materials that professional stuffed animal makers use. They say that the right filling helps you get that “take me home” feel. Most modern stuffed animals use materials such as,  poly beads (inside a beanie baby), plastic pellets (also called poly beads) and polyester fill. Older stuffed animals use cotton batting, cotton balls, newspaper, pebbles, or even rice.

4. How big is the world’s largest stuffed animal? Visit  http://bit.ly/VDWVGN and you can see a giant stuffed animal on a mountain in Italy that is 200 feet long. It was made by a group of artists, called Gelitin, in 2008.  It is so big, that it can be seen from Google Earth. The giant bunny took five years to build and it is made of soft, waterproof, materials and stuffed with straw.

5. Can I put a stuffed animal in the washing mashine?   At the Dollar  Stretcher you can find all sorts of tips on cleaning stuffed animal. For general cleaning, try baby wipes, or a damp cloth to spot clean the animals fur. Or, you can sprinkle a little baking soda on your animal, leave it  for about 20 minutes, then, brush it off. Remember to brush your animal with a soft bristle brush to avoid damaging the fur. Some animals can even be washed in the washing machine (as long as it’s on the delicate or gentle cycle).

5. Is my stuffed animal worth any money? Here’s how you find out. First, check the tag. The tag  can tell you who made your stuffed animal. The tag may also have the date your stuffed animal was made. Next, visit the manufacturers website to find out more details about your stuffed animal. Then, look at the condition of your stuffed animal. Is it like new or worn? Finally, check sites like eBay, http://www.ebay.com/, or Doll Values http://www.dollvalues.com where you can learn a lot about similarly priced toys. Did you know one Steiff teddy Girl sold in a Christies auction for  $171,600.00. http://www.bornrich.com/entry/worlds-expensive-teddy-bears.

———————————————————————————————————————————————— LittleClickers.com (this page and the associated web site) is sponsored by Computer Explorers. Neither Children’s Technology Review (publisher of LittleClickers) or Computer Explorers has any vested interest in any of the sites listed on this page. Librarians and teachers are permitted to copy this page for non-profit use. To report a bad link, use this form, or contact us. Copyright 2018, Children's Technology Review.

SIDEBAR

Attributes of a Quality Stuffed Animal Not all plush toys are created the same. Here are some attributes of quality:

• Non-allergenic materials.
• Solid stitching that can survive.
• Weighted with poly-beads.
• Look at the eyes and the nose. These are very important for making the animal look real.
• Washable
• Meaningful. Might resemble a former pet or something of significance.