How delightful a little figure is Nurmi the Ramp Walker! She has a simple yet pleasing design, and her movement down the ramp is sure to charm (and intrigue) any viewer. She is one of those toys that you can’t resist playing with again and again, and she always brings a smile to your face.

I have been interested in this sort of gravity toy since I first read Walter Kraul’s Earth, Water, Fire, and Air, in which he describes such a toy and gives a simple diagram of its workings, without detailing how such a figure might be made. Actually, my interest precedes that: We spent many happy hours one weekend playing with a friend’s collection of old walking toys, racing one against the other and experimenting with the angle of the ramp to see how it sped up or slowed down the figures’ progress.

Making your own toy is always rewarding, but Herr Kraul cautions that this is a design that requires patience and much trial and error. For those wanting more immediate results, there’s always Nurmi!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006 at 10:24 am and is filed under Toys, Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.