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Turn Your Old Action Figure Into a Toy Acrobat

SAFETY FIRST: Ask an adult to help with tools you haven't used before.

You can turn an old action figure toy into a neat new acrobat that can do flips and somersaults.

This project is easy to make using materials you may have around the house. If you don’t have them they’re easily obtained at any hobby or hardware store for little more than pocket change.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

  • 2 15-inch-long pieces of wood (each about 1/2-inch thick but the thicker the better)
  • 1 4-and-1/4-inch-long piece of wood
  • 2 1/4-inch-thick screws long enough to pass through the short piece of wood laid on top of one of the long pieces of wood
  • 2 bolts thick enough to secure the screws
  • 2 8-inch-long pieces of string
  • Pencil
  • Ruler
  • 1 action figure toy
  • 1 drill and drill bits slightly bigger than the bolts you use
  • Adult permission or help

Step 1STEP 1: Lay the 15-inch-long sticks side by side. They don’t have to be exactly 15 inches, but they must be the same length. Make a pencil mark in the exact middle of each stick. (If the sticks are 15 inches, the middle is 71/2 inches.) Drill a hole for one of your screws.

Step 2STEP 2: Draw a dot 3 1/2 inches above the drilled hole, then another dot 1 1/2 inches above the first dot. Drill narrower holes at those two points, wide enough to pull your string through.

Step 3STEP 3: Stop and check: You should have three holes drilled in each stick. Lay the 4 1/4-inch piece of wood across the two sticks so that it covers the first hole you drilled in the middle of each long stick. Make pencil marks on the 4 1/4-inch piece of wood at the points where it covers those holes. Drill holes there.

Step 4STEP 4: Screw the pieces of wood together to form an H. Secure the screws with nuts. Don’t screw them too tightly; they need to be able to move a little.

Step 5STEP 5: You’ve completed the base. Now make holes through the action figure’s elbows and hands.

Step 6STEP 6: Thread one piece of string through one of the lower holes in your sticks, and secure it with a knot. Then thread this same string through both hands of your action figure and into the lower hole of the opposite stick. Tie a knot there, too. Now thread the second string through the upper hole and tie a knot. Then thread the same string through the figure’s elbows and through the upper hole of the second stick. Tie a knot.

Step 7STEP 7: Stop and check again. When the action figure hangs by its hands, the strings should crisscross near each stick.

NOW IT’S TIME TO PLAY

To make the toy work hold the sticks close to their bottoms with one hand, or two, and gently squeeze them together. Your action figure should do a somersault.

It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, you can make your toy acrobat do multiple flips. Some somersaulters spin six somersaults in seconds.


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31 Comments on Turn Your Old Action Figure Into a Toy Acrobat

  1. Thank you for these instructions. Can’t wait to try and make it.

  2. Awesome and a bit kul

  3. It looks like a great (cheap) christmas present for a sibling!

  4. this is realy great, i am making one of these right away thanks ever so much

  5. neat

  6. I have a wolf one,but I might make a dirt bike rider one.

  7. not-my-real-name // July 19, 2011 at 10:00 am // Reply

    what if you dont want to waste your action toy,would you have to buy a new one????? but still an OK project 🙂

    • You don’t have to use an action figure. You could always make the acrobat out things you have around the house; corks, wood, cardboard, etc. Look around and see what you have then get creative.

  8. wow this is like wicked and like cool

  9. easy but fun.for it to do flips move the stick forward and backward.

  10. bloody monkey // August 10, 2007 at 9:35 pm // Reply

    awsome 3000 thumbs up if i had

  11. This is really useful if u want to build something

  12. bob thorton // August 1, 2007 at 9:48 pm // Reply

    I thought it was the biggest wast of my time it doesnt even do anything.

  13. Derrick, Age 10, Florida // July 26, 2007 at 2:05 pm // Reply

    This is one of the funnest projects I’ve ever done! I love making the little action figures and playing with them. You can get the hang of how to make them flip pretty easily and the work itself isn’t all that bad. I like to use little spiderman actions figures or some of the GI Joe guys from my dad’s collection. (You usually can’t get those at stores any more.) Great project idea! 2 thumbs up!! (Would be 10 if I had more thumbs!) 🙂 😉 🙂 😉 🙂 😉

  14. hey hey hey cooly cool cool

  15. the coolest project I have ever done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  16. this really awsome!

  17. i like it.

  18. dumb,stupid but yet………….cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

  19. this is welly cooooooooool

  20. it is the best thingi ever made

  21. I MADE IT IN 1 SECOND

  22. with all the action figures I got I could make a circus

  23. COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  24. I dont have an action figure toy.

  25. Man your smart

  26. Sam-ROBO199962 // May 15, 2007 at 8:34 pm // Reply

    It is wasteful to put holes in an a action figure.

  27. aawwwwwww man!!! why does it be batman?

  28. Cooool!

  29. Metlover // May 9, 2007 at 4:06 pm // Reply

    This=Awesome!

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