100 LITTLEA collection of hands-on instructions.
For curious kids. And the grown-ups who remember.As a child, I loved my Make and Do book. I remember summers and weekends spent turning its pages, finding another project, another idea, another thing to try. The possibilities felt endless.
I built this to bring a little of that feeling back. As more of our lives move onto screens—from games to AI—I wanted a digital doorway back to making things with our hands: folding, weaving, building, experimenting, and seeing what happens.
This is for kids discovering that joy, and for adults who remember it—or want to find it for the first time. Browse a little. Get curious. There’s always another possibility.
— Evelyn
Take your time. There’s more to explore.
Before a project came in a box—or a tutorial lived on a screen—there were pages full of possibilities. The Boy Mechanic belongs to a much older tradition: learning by making, finding uses for ordinary materials, and trying an idea with your own hands.
Daniel Carter Beard’s The American Boy’s Handy Book appeared in 1882. Lina and Adelia Beard’s The American Girl’s Handy Book followed in 1887. Their illustrated activities helped establish a genre of seasonal projects, outdoor play, crafts, and practical invention.
These books were invitations to participate: turn the page, gather a few materials, and give something a go. That sense of endless discovery is the spirit behind Make & Do.
The US manual training movement brought tools and workshop practice into education. At Washington University in St. Louis, Calvin Woodward asked engineering students to build models; a dedicated Manual Training School opened in 1880.
Students worked with wood and metal while studying academic subjects. Supporters saw practical work as a way to develop judgment, coordination, and the ability to connect an idea with a real object. The movement is an important part of the history behind hands-on learning.
The Boy Mechanic: 700 Things for Boys to Do was published in Chicago by the Popular Mechanics Company in 1913. Henry Haven Windsor had founded Popular Mechanics in 1902; the book gathered projects from the magazine’s practical how-to culture.
The three volumes explored here date from 1913, 1915, and 1919. Their pages range from kites, boats, and camping gear to toys, magic tricks, simple motors, and electrical experiments. Scrap wood and everyday hardware became starting points for invention.
Making could stretch a household budget, repair something useful, or turn leftover materials into entertainment. Thrift and self-reliance were also celebrated as habits worth learning.
New technologies made experimenting exciting: electricity, wireless communication, cars, and flight brought fresh ideas into workshops and magazines. Commercial construction kits grew alongside the books—A. C. Gilbert’s Erector Set launched in 1913. Buying a kit and improvising from scraps offered different routes into the same fascination with how things work.
During the Great Depression and wartime shortages, repair and reuse became especially valuable. Britain’s 1943 Make Do and Mend booklet encouraged households to care for, alter, and reuse clothing under rationing. Later hobby books carried that resourceful spirit into leisure and family activities.
Make and Do has been used for many books, so Evelyn’s remembered childhood edition is not identified here as one particular title. Its invitation to find another thing to try belongs to this wider tradition.
The original books divide activities along gender lines, and some instructions take risks with sharp tools, chemicals, and electricity that deserve a different approach today. Those assumptions are part of their history. Make & Do opens the archive to everyone; the original instructions remain historical material, rather than a modern safety guide.
Keep exploring: The American Boy’s Handy Book (1882) · The American Girl’s Handy Book (1887) · Washington University’s manual training history · The Boy Mechanic editions · Popular Mechanics history · Smithsonian: A. C. Gilbert · Imperial War Museums: Make Do and Mend