I usually love these types of books. I'm very into doing 'school science' at home and thought that this would be useful to do during the lockdown but I was very disappointed.
I found the actual projects to be bland and uninspiring and most of them required you having some sort of specialised equipment, not just things you could find around your house.
The instructions were also needlessly complicated and having it all in sketch-type black and white just made it a slog rather than something interesting.
It was also very American-centric with talking about dollar bills and cell phone chargers.

I’m not really sure what I was expecting. It does what the title says, but several of the things just felt like they were a stretch. Overall just blah to me

This was a fun book, though it's hard to know the target audience. Everyone talks about how great it is for STEM and I know that's the big buzzword right now, but a lot of the projects seemed better suited for geeky adults than young kids unless there was a very hand-on parent willing to get supplies and help with execution (depending on age). Photos would have helped. Some of the projects were just out of our range, but it was interesting reading.

It is amazing how many advanced items can be made from objects around the typical home. Who knew you could be a MacGyver as long as you have the Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things, Revised Edition?

Use a magnet to detect a counterfeit bill? Build a battery out of basically anything? My health insurer sent me home with the instructions included here to make a frozen gel back for a sprain. These are interesting and low-cost ideas for STEM projects with no upper age limit. The second part has more extensive projects for the older and/or more advanced student. I am taking one star off for the poor quality of illustrations. A graphic designer would have made a world of difference in understanding the instruction. Still it is worth 4 stars for the great ideas within Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things, Revised Edition.

Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things is such a fun and interesting book! The whole time I was reading this I was just thinking about how the projects could be incorporated into school holiday programs at my library. The skill and understanding level needed to complete a lot of these projects would be perfectly suited towards young adults and would be just educational and engaging enough to not bore readers.

I adored that as an adult readers I could easily follow the instructions, and really enjoyed the graphic illustrations that demonstrated a lot of the projects and steps. Even more than that, the book doesn’t fix itself in only the American market, as when needed it converts information for example, the book offers information on how to find south in the southern hemisphere. Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things is a perfect resource for some sneaky learning and STEM work!

My youngest son would have loved this book as a child. He probably already figured out how to do many of these builds on his own, through Internet research. It would have been convenient to have them all in one place. This book inspires me to think about how to make things myself, rather than buy them.

Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things is a collection of ideas, projects, and tutorials for nifty STEM-based activities using easily acquired household items. Originally published in 2003, this reformat and re-release, due out 3rd March 2020 from Andrews McMeel has 192 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a fun and layman accessible book with lots of science based tips and tricks. The projects are arranged roughly thematically, from making batteries from spare wire and plastic/glue from milk casein, lots of gadgets and gizmos, some survival techniques and tips (fire-making, water-gathering and more), and magnets and motor projects galore.

The author does a pretty good job of explaining at least some of the basic scientific theory behind the projects along with providing entertaining tidbits and factoids in the tutorials themselves. Each of the tutorials is written in an appealing and somewhat free-form manner. There are line drawn illustrations showing tools, ingredients, and some assembly diagrams. I loved the penny-into-a-radio tutorial, which sadly is on the way out, since most places are moving to digital transmission, but at least the tutorial was very fun (and it worked).

Although it's an all-ages appropriate book, this would be a superlative choice for a library activity day, makers group, or family friendly weekend activity book. There are a lot of really cool tutorials made (mostly) with easily accessible household items.

Five stars. I really liked this one. The lack of photographs with the tutorials could've been a minus, but the line drawings were charming and illustrative, so the lack of photography wasn't a minus.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This is a really fascinating, but pretty confusing, guide. I would argue about the term "everyday things", because a lot of stuff listed here, I don't think I've ever had in my house? But I'm probably in the minority on that.

There's something for everyone here, curious kids to bored adults. There are things that are absolutely useful ideas, like how to make a homemade fire extinguisher. Yes, you should probably have a real one, but in a pinch, the homemade version is a brilliant idea.

Some of this stuff, though, is a bit much. Maybe a person who already builds their own gadgets and technology would find these instructions obvious, but even with the little hand drawn diagrams, I was absolutely lost.

That being said, there are some things I will take away from this, such as where to hide valuables and what to have in your emergency kit. I'll leave the Power Rings and battery powered door openers to the true science buffs.

Sneaky uses For Everyday Things by Cy Tymony is an awesome little book full of STEM projects. This book has all sorts of ideas that I has never thought of before. I think this would be very useful in a elementary classroom setting.

Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things is a fun primer on your way to becoming a real-life MacGuyver.

A lot of the Sneaky projects were fun and imaginative. Creating glues, making a parts filler, automatic door opener, creating a battery system, ways to survive if you find yourself stranded somewhere...

All I could really think was really how much trouble my boys would get into if I gave them this book. It would also be a great idea generator for any upcoming Science Fairs for my kids.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.*

When I read first few pages of the book, I was afraid that it is an academic collection of most difficult things you can do; as an science enthusiast and it all appeared very difficult.
Making power ring, glue from milk and other stuff.
But as I reached further really useful stuff came up.
Honestly few things like making difficult gadgets with common stuff is little difficult for a general amateure scientifically curious reader.
But there are a lot of simple and useful things.
Like making battery from lemon, holding gates to prevent burglary, making fire without matches, collecting rain water, survival in extreme weather.
I found many things so much practical and useful.
Not every page is for everyone, but their is something for everyone.
A useful book for kids.
Don't read and try to follow every activity, but choose one you like.
Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.

I get the idea of this book, but the combination of sketchy directions, unclear drawings, and not very exciting projects means that I cannot think of the book as being interesting to those wanting to do STEM, whether boys ir girls. Quite frankly, i can't see it of being much use to anyone.

This is a quirky book for those with an experimental attitude and a curiosity about the unusual. I found myself constantly wondering what age-group is the intended audience.

The book is filled with detailed instructions (accompanied by very poor hand-drawn illustrations) about how to make things that as far as I'm concerned are of little value, other than to say "I did this".

Count me as disappointed! I cannot recommend this book.

I do appreciate NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

What a great resource in how to make things in diy ways. This book will certainly come in handy over the years!
This book brings back memories of Heloise, and all the innovative ways to utilize common household products.

I found this book to have very silly projects that were childish (including the illustrations). I'm not sure who would use this - better instructions and tutorials could be found on most any internet blog.

This is a very interesting and handy red. Tons of useful ideas. The directions and sketched illustrations leave a little something to be desired as they aren’t terribly helpful but otherwise it’s a very informative read. This book also spends a great deal of time crafting small motors without much information on what to use them for and I honestly found the survival skills the handiest. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This book is a fantastic book for STEM projects and ideas and afew of them I want to try with my children as experiments.
There's some fantastic ideas for so many things and it made me think how usefull this book would be during an apocalypse!
The book shows drawings of the methods and items and Some real photographs of the end experiment/project would have been really good.

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Very creative, innovative ideas with items you have in your home. Instrustions were simple and easy to follow.The only thing that could improve this are actual pictures of the results.