What Are We Teaching Them

 

Cincinnati LEGO Store

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You heard it here first, now the new Cincinnati Lego Store is open at Kenwood Towne Centre, and it is fabulous.

Boxed sets line the left and right walls floor to ceiling. A row of portals runs down each aisle at kid-eye level. Inside each is a completed LEGO kit with an appropriate backdrop and accessories, forming a action scene.

Their selection is vast. From simple sets with few pieces for little kids, to 1000+ piece sets for ages 16 and up, costing over a hundred dollars. Most of the Cafe' Corner sets featured here on CityKin are stocked, and the Green Grocer set is on permanent display in one of the large dioramas.

In the middle of the store are display kiosks of some of their really complicated Star Wars models, and of course there's a play table next to a huge vat of bricks for kids of all ages to play with during their visit.

108 bins of both common and specialized parts cover the rear wall. Nearby dispensers provide "Pick a Brick" cups in roughly quart and pint sizes. Mix and match at will, and buy whatever you can fit into the cup for one low price.

Sales associates are extremely helpful, attentive, but not pushy, and knowledgable. They were clearly recruited for their love of all things LEGO, and then trained very well. I'm not somebody who usually likes retail excursions, but I loved shopping here.

A "Shop and Ship" touchscreen PC kiosk near the middle of the store allows you to order off the LEGO website, just like you could do at home, with one key difference. If whatever you want isn't immediately in stock, a staff member punches in a code, and it's shipped to you for free.

Sometimes I wish I could be a kid again. At this store, that wish almost comes true.

Toy Lab

In contrast to the Chuck E Cheese b-day party, we were invited to a birthday party at The Toy Lab Saturday. This place was great. The workers wear lab coats and discuss making toys in an entertaing way for the kids. Then they kids go and pick out parts of broken toys, and get them assembled as new toys. The kids then name the toys and describe their special powers to everyone. The kids loved it.

Prof in window: 

Deciding how to assemble: 

A finished toy: 

Being Santa

Posts have been minimal here, because Christmas preparations have been grueling.

The only thing my son wanted for Christmas was a tetherball set. At first I said no, because we don't have a yard in which to install it. Then my dear wife thought of a wonderful idea that I could make a portable one with a pole and some concrete in an old tire. This way it would be portable, and we could take it in and out and eventually maybe take it permanently to one of the grandparent's house.

Fortunately old tires are easy to come by in this neighborhood. I found one on the sidewalk a few blocks away. I rolled it home, and put plywood in the bottom. Then I filled it with concrete mix and stuck a pole in it. I drilled put an eye-hook at the top, and presto we had a tether ball pole. Now the problem was that I had put over 120-lbs worth of concrete in this tire, and I could barely move it. Add to this that the concrete was still curing, and at 2am last night, I was starting to picture an extremely disappointed son waking up in five hours to a non-functional tetherball pole.

But, I got it together, and set it up in our vacant first floor storefront. I made it so a 1 1/2" pole was permanently attached to the tire, and 1 1/4" pole slides inside of it to make a tall pole. I brought the longer, skinnier pole up by the Christmas tree with the rope and ball attached. I put a note on the pole from Santa, saying the base was downstairs. The boy loved-it, and later in the day he challenged all his cousins, and even some aunts and uncles.

He is so happy, and I must thank my wife for making me build it.

The best part about Christmas for adults is not the anticipation, but the rest afterwards! I think we all will be hitting the sack extra early tonight. Good night and Merry Christmas!

...what exceptional gift did either you or your child get?

Toys for Budding Young Builders

Gift season is coming up and I'm seeking worthwhile toys for the pile of young kids in our extended family. When I was little my favorite toys were always things to build with. I did an informal survey of classmates back in engineering school, and most (like me) still had their Legos stashed away somewhere, ostensibly for their future kids, but really because they were still cool to play with. Here are some of my favorites:

5. Tonka Diggers - But only the metal ones that actually move dirt. You have to be able to stand on the heel of the shovel bucket to split sod, and then use the handle to scrape soil without it breaking. Bending is OK, because then you have an excuse to borrow Dad's pliers and bend it back. Eventually it looks like this, and then it's time to beg Mom for a can of spray paint to refurbish it. Of course moms always know better, so it'll look this way forever.

4. Lincoln Logs - Great starter toy because they're hard to break and can be knocked together quickly. You get visible progress in minimal time. You can also rearrange them easily to turn a simple box building into an elaborate cottage if you have enough parts. This is especially good after you've done site-prep with the Tonka diggers. Friends build theirs nearby, you carve out a little road, and cut up some of Mom's bushes to simulate a tree-lined street. They bounce apart real nice too when you use a basketball to do a pretend meteor strike.

3. Legos - Practically the definition of modular building toys. A starter set is just that; you can never have enough. You might build the thing pictured on the box once, but after that your buddys will all bring their sets over and the whole group concocts something that no toy designer ever imagined. Nobody ever has enough of the textured-top slanty pieces to do a proper roof, so we always used the Lincoln Log parts for that. Definitely an indoor toy though; once you get the little cavities full of mud, they're gritty and messy forever.

2. Erector Set - This vintage toy was an assortment of metal bars & plates full of holes, threaded fasteners, shafts, pulleys, string and battery powered motor making it a dream for creative kids. The sharp edges and small pieces would be nirvana for product liability lawyers today. Perhaps that had something to do with it now being marketed under the name "Meccano". Definitely not a starter toy. You need to plan your project and have a lot of patience to tweak the design over many days. But the best part is that it's designed for motion. Add enough rubber bands and few acorns and you can make a wicked catapult to lay siege to your little brother's Lincoln Log neighborhood.

1. "Real Tools" - I got a set like this when Dad got sick of me using his. I still have nearly all of them, except for the box which was sawed up to become part of some long-forgotten project. I'm still amazed at how many things got fully taken apart and almost reassembled with it. It was really more useful for being "mommy's little handy man" by hanging pictures, unsticking the door to the garage, and fixing my own bike. I still had to raid Dad's toolbox when I needed an adjustable wrench, vise-grips or a bigger hammer.

I've since graduated to bigger, more expensive toys and now I'm not really up on the latest and greatest kid technologies. I'd appreciate any suggestions along these lines from playful readers.

Optimash Prime

I don't care for this rehash of a classic toy:

 

I prefer the old toys:

 

The Best Kite

 

This kite sits in our glove compartment, and is super easy to fly. No messy assembly like the paper and wood kites I got from the local hobby shop as a kid. Ours cost about $15 at Joseph Beth, but they are available on the web etc. We have gotten lots of use out of it, and it shows no sign of wear. Comes with spool, string, and collapsible parafoil kite; all rolled up in a 3"x6" bag.

Johnny's Toys - Birthday Club

 
Many, many years ago, when I was a child, I was fascinated with the birthday card and key that came addressed to me every year, about a week or two before my birthday. Inside the envelope was a card, with a tin key taped to it. The key opened a door at Johnny's where you got a free gift. I loved it, and my kids now continue to love it. Sign up here.

Instead of crayons

 

How about some miniture blocks to play with at the restaurant?