Maker CEREAL TOY SCIENCE
SCOOTERS, SCOPES, AND SUBS
; (Above) Balloon-powered racers
were found in many brands of cereals.
; (Left) This Wheaties prize was the
mini-microscope of champions.
; (Opposite, top) Quispmobiles were
powered by flywheels.
; (Opposite, bottom) This submarine
used baking powder to surface and
dive in the sink or bathtub.
was powerful enough to propel a toy car in
the opposite direction.
As early as 1950, Kellogg’s offered a
Jet-Drive Whistle Loco, available by mail for
25 cents and a box top from Kellogg’s Corn
Flakes. According to the promotional literature at the time, the 4"-long injection-molded
plastic steam locomotive was “accurately
scaled — even the rivets show.” The corny
sales pitch to grocers touted: “All steamed
up and ready to go! Get aboard — here’s your
ticket to biggest sales yet. Is there a kid in
America who wouldn’t want one?” Only the
mailman knew for sure.
This science-based gimmick is an irresistible force that kept coming back. In 1961,
Nabisco’s Rice and Wheat Honeys cereals
came with updated Racing Robot and
Speeding Spaceman variations. By the
1970s, Quaker Oats included its own version:
Balloon Racers, free inside boxes of Cap’n
Crunch-brand cereals.
The more compact 2½" design kept plastic
costs down and — thanks to Newton’s second
42 Make: makezine.com/28
law, force = mass × acceleration — kept car
speeds up. With less mass, these smaller
cars featuring the Cap’n, Jean LaFoote, and
Smedley (the Peanut Butter Crunch elephant)
went even faster on the same balloon power.
4. Optical Toys
The science of optics has also proved to be
a popular platform for premiums. Periscopes,
spyglasses, and lenticular lens “wiggle pictures” have all been offered as fun freebies.
You almost need a real magnifying glass just
to see the Wheaties Microscope, a real working mini-microscope, offered free in cereal
boxes starting in the 1950s. More of a miniature magnifying glass, the single plastic lens
in an adjustable eyepiece tube afforded very
limited magnification and plenty of optical
distortion — but it really worked!
5. Kinetic Energy Toys
The science behind even the simplest toy
top or yo-yo could make your head spin. The
kinetic energy of a flywheel is described by
