Steal My Ideas, Please

Poor Michael Moore. He keeps making documentaries with the meagerest merchandising possibilities. Now Sicko. See Mr. Ruptured Spleen With No Medical Coverage? Mr. Senator Golfing on Drug Company Junket Money? C’mon, Mike. That’s no way to exploit the American System. Can’t even joke about cuddly toys or honorable action figures for Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11. […]

They’re bikes made entirely of recycled parts. Metal cans, plastic jugs, car tires.

When you write Part 1, you’re supposed to write Part 2. So here goes: A golf club you can’t destroy — it’s rubber-coated wire like those posable toys. Whack, smack, hurl, throw in the lake. It doesn’t break. (Plus, it’s got a string for reeling it in?) … Or how about the enviro-friendly disposable club? Stomp it, […]

Oreos could make for an inspiring kind of edible construction toy. Two kinds: Premade parts and Custom Bake-ables. With Premade, you’d chocolate crisps in squares, rectangles, bricks and circles, plus a pot of creamy white filling “mortar.” Arrange in any way. Towers. Tunnels. Vehicles. Castles. Boats. In Custom Bake-ables, you could do all that using little molds, or create super sizes, like […]

Now lawn inflatables move, with penguins that pop out of igloos and Santas and snowmen that wave. What’s next? How about inflatables turned mid-air balloons? Use helium, hot air or much more powerful fans keeping tethered characters aloft. The hot-air system would probably need flaming gas jets, which might not be too safe, but, hey, if you want to make […]

Who says Jack can’t play and learn at the same time? Suppose balls and bats and hockey sticks were covered with vocabulary words. With definitions, of course. Casually, those words would work their ways into minds and conversations. Heck, maybe cover a whole playground with words, names and ideas worth learning. Those in some jokes for […]

That’s my new guidepost as I refine some board and card games I’ve designed. For an idea to succeed, it has to be simple enough to immediately grasp. And not just grasp the concept, but what it offers the user/player/buyer. It’s OK if complications ensue. Take Monopoly. A game of buying and selling real estate. Promises you’ll […]

You’ll probably think I need brain surgery myself as this idea unfolds. But the aim isn’t to glorify or mock diseases and conditions. No, rather it’s to foster sympathy and caregiving in kids, who, after all, like to pretend to care for babies and animals. You could put bandaids on Polly Patients skinned knee, wrap her twisted ankle, or even be […]

Remember the movie Big starring Tom Hanks? In it, he hops on a giant musical keyboard, stomping out a tune. Typing on a regular keyboard may exercise the brain, but it can almost atrophy the body. So why not have a workout workstation, where the keys are clicked with your feet? Depending on the design, […]