I have recently become aware that there are huge amounts of incredibly detailed, and completely free, paper crafts available at different websites. It seems to be common to offer models as PDFs free to download. Especially the Japanese seem love to make all kinds of cool stuff out of paper, and they are pretty good at it too!

Finding crafts that will interest and challenge older kids can be difficult, especially when it comes to boys, but I bet it’s possible to find something interesting and quite challenging for most older boys and girls, amongst all the free models available out there. I’m talking spaceships, trains, planes, cars and robots with amazing details and shapes, some even have movable parts.

Yamaha has an amazing collection of paper models free to download, in different colors or white. They not only have lots of different motorcycles, motors, and other parts for bikes and garage, but they also have a great selection of animals, insects and seasonal paper models.

One of the ultimate paper craft models to make is probably the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, which can be found at SF PaperCrafts. It has exceptional details, and looks amazing when done. SF PaperCrafts also offers other models, like the U.S.S. Enterprise from Star Trek and the Star Wars AT-AT Snow Walker with movable parts! They’re all available for download at SF PaperCraftGallery, ready to cut, glue and assemble.

For the Battlestar Gallactica fans out there you should take a look at the paper models of the Battlestar Gallactica Viper at Papertoy Box. They also offer other planes, a train, cars and a robot, and everything is available for download, ready to cut out, fold, glue and assemble. At the site you’ll find image instructions of how to do the assembling.

A couple of “simpler” paper craft models of the X-fighter and the Millennium Falcon, can be found at CFSL. These are made from Parisian Metro Tickets, or heavy paper in the same dimensions, which can be found in the descriptions. Even though simpler, they are still pretty amazing!

Now there is no lack of characters either. At the Japanese website, Piro model, there are lots of detailed characters from e.g. Star Wars. Some of the characters are formed as Lego figures with movable arms and legs.

If you got as excited about this models as I did, and have the time and urge to make models of your own, there is even a program, Pepakura, available as shareware, (Some features, Saving and Exporting are restricted to the bought version.) that allows you to turn 3D models into paper crafts! Nice! There is really tons of free and educational fun here! Also, remember to check out the Pepakura gallery where people share pictures and links to their own models.

Via Toysrevil

First time I saw Figments I was “cruising” through all the articles that had been piling up in my feed reader. Not so interesting articles usually gets about 1 sec. of attention while interesting ones get around 20 sec. (if they do not have a lot of text to read). The article about Figments had very little text, but it got about 1 min. of my time!

It was like the Figment characters were alive, and of course I was attracted to the high level of detail put into these characters. One can truly tell that these are one of a kind characters made by the hand of an artist who uses his art to express himself. These artists leave a small piece of themselves in every product, and I believe that’s how the characters end up so very alive and full of soul!

Figment was born out of the artists love for shoes, and that’s clearly visible by the major role the tiny baby sneakers serve in the characters. All the characters are made from carefully chosen fabrics and accessories, and through the process of their making their personalities take shape little by little.

It is a truly great “toy” for those of us who love designer plush with a whole lot of soul.

Figments will be available online when they get their web store up and running, and until then the characters can be found at Lower Haters (San Francisco), The Reed Space (NY) and Acycle (Tokyo).

Via Blog Clops

I’ve never been such a big fan of bookends in the kid’s room. Heavy, hard objects along with the books on the shelf make it all seem so cold and serious.

I loved putting some of my teddy bears and soft toys up on the shelf when I was a kid and it made me feel much more at home. This is probably the reason I got a very warm feeling when I saw the elephant bookends. I think I would have loved having those as a kid, and they would have made my bookshelves a lot more tidy as my teddy bears and soft toys had much to light bottoms!

The heirloom quality elephant bookends are handmade of cowhide and filled with steel shots. They are not only heavy and sturdy but also soft and flexible, which makes them perfect bookends for the kids room or nursery, as they can be seated in different positions, making them lifelike for kids. The natural cowhide gives the elephant bookends some very cute folds around the chest and tummy area when seated up against books, and the huge ears adds a whole lot to the cuteness as well.

The bookends come as giraffes as well as elephants and can be bought in pairs or singles. Both versions can be found at romp, along with lots of toys and other accessories for the kids room.

Tim Biskup’s wonderful clothing & gift line GAMA-GOO has a wide selection of clothes and accessories for woman, men and babies.

One of the beautiful products made using Biskup’s fascinating characters is the GAMA-GOO baby quilt, handmade by San Francisco designer Sarah Larson from irregular GAMA-GOO tees.

Each quilt is unique and the T-shirt fabrics make them very soft, comfortable and durable. The quilts are 33 x 24 inches in size.

Via BoingBoing.

Fun and colorful bracelets made from silver and beer/soda cans. The soda and beer can pieces are secured to the bracelets with sterling silver rivets, and silver end caps protect the ends.

There are a few different versions to choose from, e.g. Lucky Lager, Coca Cola, Sunkist, Guinness, Dr. Pepper and Tab.

Since the bracelets are made from actual cans you can rest assured that you are doing your bit to “staying green” so they offer both a stylish way of showing your taste in both beverage and your environmental consciousness. Very treehugging.

The bracelets are made in Vermont and can be found at Elsewares along with a wider version of the cuffs along with matching rings.

Creature Mix by MGA Entertainment is a series of vinyl toys with interchangeable body parts. There are 12 fun animals to collect, all with nice cartoonish shapes, fresh colors and clean cartoon like patterns.

Creature Mix are sold in groups of three or as singles. When sold as singles each pack includes extra parts and when sold as groups there are four various groups to choose from;

• Panda, Lion and Rhinoceros
• Gorilla, Giraffe and Pig
• Elephant, Zebra and Hyena
• Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops and Pterodactyl.

All the animals have interchangeable noses, airs, legs and tails, and anyone lucky enough to have all 12 will have a huge amount of parts to choose from!

All four groups and a few singles are available at Amazon.com.

Via Thingamababy