When mum and dad said ‘NO, you can’t have a pony’ we replied ‘Oh yeaahh?!?’ 

If there’s something you really really want, we say: Don’t wait for it to come to you - chase it, go MAKE it! Impossible is nothing with our super magic Makedo connectors. 

Hack your ride this weekend. With a little imagination, some cardboard and Makedo, you can turn those old wheels into a fleet-footed speed machine in under half an hour. 

For instructions on how to make this Equestricycle click the collage below. Perhaps a Hell’s Angels motorbike is more your kind of thing… Not a problem, as long as you send us the pictures so we can come along for the ride.

Happy bicycle hacking!

PDF instructions: Equestricycle bike hack

Creation uploaded by Jim from Artgames.

Have you been making too? Upload here to be in the running for Makedo’s Maker of the Month Facebook competition.

Judges praised the Find & Make Shop for its ability to teach children about upcycling and reuse in a playful way.

Reflecting on the Award, Makedo Inventor and Founder Paul Justin was thrilled that the product has received recognition for making environmental education creative and fun.

“Through play with Makedo Find & Make Shop children learn to literally make-do with what they have in their home - and be entertained in the process.”

We’re so excited about this Award that we are offering a further 10% off all purchases in the Makedo Shop. Join in the celebrations by entering the coupon code DRTOY2012 at checkout.
This coupon is valid until Monday May 28, 2012.

Makedo: Find & Make Shop

We are massive fans of Angry Birds. Who isn’t? So in honor of the most popular game of the century, we created this Angry Birds inspired Catapult out of recycled materials! 

If launching tea box birds…off a tissue box and loo roll catapult… into a wall of milk cartons and cookie packaging… with cardboard box pigs hiding inside hoping not to be toppled off… all sounds like your kind of fun (whew what a mouthful!), then watch our little video and click the collage below to download making instructions. 

This living catapult game can be made from practically anything! So get creative and send your creations in to our Maker of the Month competition!

For more launching inspiration, you can’t go passed this T-Mobile life size Angry Birds campaign! Enjoy and don’t forget to share the catapult love.  

PDF instructions: Catapult

Creation uploaded by Mara (aged 5) and Fernezelyi from Hungary.

Have you been making too? Upload here to be in the running for Makedo’s Maker of the Month Facebook competition.

This video came to us via Ana Carol from Aprendendo e Construindo.

Creation uploaded by Tomaz on Facebook.

Have you been making too? Upload here to be in the running for Makedo’s Maker of the Month Facebook competition.

as seen on Flickr.

Creation uploaded by Jim from Artgames.

Have you been making too? Upload here to be in the running for Makedo’s Maker of the Month Facebook competition.

Every city has its statistics. We’ve all been reduced to numbers at some point, but as Berlin-based theatre company Remini Protokoll shows, there are much more creative ways to view these demographics beyond lists and pie charts.

Imagine a living infographic; part theatre and part reality show, all animated with the honesty of amateur performers and presented on a revolving stage. 

Remini Protokoll recently staged 100% Melbourne, a performance that encapsulated the diversity and energy of the city. Melbourne’s 4.1 million strong population was represented on stage by just 100 people, of which only the first performer had actually been chosen by Remini Protokoll. Each participant was given 24 hours to nominate the next, who then had 24 hours to nominate another, and so on until the 100 representatives of the city were complete. Selections followed five key statistical criteria - age, gender, region of birth, residential location and family situation. A further eight additional filters ensured the group provides an accurate snapshot of the population. 

So there were nine toddlers on stage, representing the nine percent of Melbournians under the age of five. At the other end of the scale, one performer was 88 years old. Almost half the group were born outside of Australia, with the cultural and ethnic diversity making up those that followed as the subsequent generations mix, blend and form their own identities. As well as nominating the next in line, each representative also brought along something precious to them. A passport, a photo of a loved one, a musical instrument… and even a Justin Bieber doll.

The results made for an engaging and dynamic group of people, with each individual representing some 41,000 fellow Melbournians (1% of the population). The use of a revolving stage and projection screen meant that the question-and-answer session, posed by the performers themselves, was an organic experience as responses to the questions were acted out. Sometimes the group would split down the middle, other times spread into a radial pattern. At one point coloured cards assisted in visualising responses. All of this was interspersed with anecdotes and snippets from the performers’ lives, so that the audience got to know and identify with them as more than just a statistic - which was exactly the point of the whole exercise.

Perhaps one of the strongest features of this performance was the fact that everyone on stage is as everyday as me or you. In fact, it could have been us up there - if the questions had gone our way. So rather than the sometimes intriguing but often dry printed statistics of a city, 100% Melbourne presented a living, animated and tangible portrait of the soul of the city that is as fluid and riveting as the lives of every individual.