Mr Shaha’s Marvellous Machines

Hello! This is where I’ll be putting links to FREE resources to accompany my book Mr Shaha’s Marvellous Machines, including videos of the activities and any templates or other information you might find useful. Just click on the links below to take you to the page for that particular activity. I’ll also be adding new “machines” and other things you can make on a regular basis, so keep an eye out for those.

I’ve made a lot of teaching resources during my career which have been made available for free. I’ve always felt strongly that good educational resources should be accessible to everyone, and have encouraged, for example, the use of creative commons licenses when working with institutions etc. who have funded my work. So, because my new book is ultimately an “educational” book, despite being a commercial product, I wanted the ideas and thinking in it to be available to ALL parents, carers, and people who work with children, regardless of whether they can buy a copy of the book or not. You can read the introduction to the book here.

I can’t afford to hand out copies of the book to everyone who wants one, instead I’ve made videos of the activities, which I will be making available for free, along with other resources people might find useful. If you want more of this sort of thing, click here to check out the resources for doing science at home which I made with the Royal Institution.

Please share this page with anyone who might find it useful!

Mini Mangonel

Balancing Bird

Soaring Cylinder

Rubber-band Racer

Bewildering Bean

Vortex Cannon and Smoke-Ring Machine

Deep-Water Diver

Soapy Surfer

Paper Pinwheel

Powered Paddleboat

Handy Harmonica

Home-Made Helicopter

Water Whirler

Simple Spinning Top

Wobbly Woodpecker

Sinkeroo

Balancing Reindeer

Crisp-tin Camera

Re-appearing Rainbow

Reversing Fish