Playing with Paper

Funday Times reader Erin Dean would like us to visit the world of paper toys. Erin recommends that we begin our journey with a visit to a site most logically and self-evidently called "Paper Toys," and a great starting point it is. With over 80 printoutable plans for creating different paper toys, ranging from vehicles and buildings to party hats and gift boxes, Paper Toys is a gift to anyone who enjoys constructive play. All you need do is print, cut, color, fold and glue.

The paper trail leads to evermore complex and impressive opportunities to play. If you'd rather not do your own coloring, a visit to Print-n-Play Toys has a small, but impressively colorful collection of playworthy printoutable paper things, including a wonderfully official-looking game of Paper Soccer. Not that I'd want to discourage you from exploring the joys of coloring your own paper toys, but for the inkjet-setter, Print-n-Play Toys provides a wonderfully playworthy way to demonstrate the power of your technology.

All these paper-based joys will almost inexorably lead you to the amazing world of Paper Machines, as already amazed at in a previous issue of the Funday Times. But before you get too animated, consider the sturdier joys of Corrugated Cardboard Toys. You'll be bordering on hobby here, extending yourself way beyond desktop devices to things like jig-saws, sand paper, rubber bands and rods. Which is, of course, the whole point.