If you choose the right objects, you can easily fill that left over 5 minutes with a grand and valuable show and-tell presentation. I sometimes use these objects and techniques to start a class period or develop a dialog with students. You d be surprised how many toys are fun to watch and can teach a physics lesson or a lesson in perception. Just wander through The Nature Company store or even Zany Brainy to find little toy puzzles that make great class period starters or discussion starters.
Toy makers are often on the leading edge of using new technology to make toys.
I recently found a baseball card that employed ripple-edge technology to produce a 3 second video on a flat card. It s an old technology newly implemented by moving the card from right to left, the image changes. At its simplest, a truck moves from point to point and dumps, picks up, reverses, moves, and so on, all in a continuous operation that goes on over and over again. Although it actually does nothing, it s fascinating to watch. Some kids will watch for hours.