Last night I went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, and while there, realized what I didn't like about most museums in the lack of "touchy-feely". I know my kid wouldn't get interested in building things by seeing things hanging from the ceiling. Growing up, I had big Erector sets. I want to get my kid something similar, something that isn't cheesy, something that can grow with him. I've seen the Lego Mindstorms, but they are pretty close to meeting my definition of "cheesy". What options are there that I should be considering?
How about, um, Erector sets? They should still be available on ebay.
You don't say how old your child is. I am a huge fan of Legos. They are easy to buy, kids love 'em, and they spend HOURS building with them. We had Legos and Knex, and we offed the Knex quickly, because the Legos totally got used more.
When they're really little, I liked the Playmobile setups. The pirate ship, the castle, the Wild West fort, the pirate island. My daughter got a Playmobil dollhouse. Ten years later it's still in perfect condition. Playmobil rocks.
When they get older (10-ish) we switched to models and Warhammers. There is a whole lot of fine motor skills involved in cutting, filing, pinning, painting and gluing Warhammer armies and gaming tables and in building scenery. This is very expensive, though!
And, don't forget a good set of wooden blocks. Those get used a *lot*.
Long as I'm at it, the other toy my kids loved for years was their Brio train stuff. I used to travel a lot on business and I'd usually bring them home some Brio pieces not sold in the US. Big big hit! We got about ten years of fun out of our Brio stuff too.
The other thing is to try to get them to help you when you're building something. And do NOT get mad at them or yell at them. If they screw up something through carelessness it's OK to show disappointment, but yelling at them will blow them out of your shop forever.
Grant Erwin Kirkland, Washington
Ken F> Last night I went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, and while there,
Hi Grant. He is 6 1/2 (going on 10). With just the regular Legos, he has spent uncountable hours since he was 2 or so. Now I think he needs to advance to wheels, gears, motors, et al. I'd just like to start into something that can grow with him. I was still building things (like PC board agitators) with my erector set when I was in high school.
Recently I took a course called "computerized robotics" at the local jr college. It was a summer course and there were no age restrictions. Lego makes kits that you can use to build elevators, cranes, hotrods, and other automated equipment. The kits contain high speed motors, low speed high torque motors, lights, sound makers etc for controlled devices. For feedback there are limit switches, light sensors, heat sensor, rotation counters etc. Lego makes an interface controller that plugs into the computer and has sockets to plug in control or controlled equipment. You write a program to automate your device using a program developed by Lego. I built an elevator. Several kids 11 years old made fools of me. Engineman1
Somebody (I don't know who) still sells "Meccano/Erector" sets:
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They look somewhat similar to the erector sets of my yoot.
I hope they've improved on that 115vac shaded pole motor with attached open frame gearbox. The fibre worm wheels running off the worm on the motor shaft in that damn thing stripped if you looked at them crosseyed, rendering the gear reducer NFG.
You've no doubt noticed that A.C. Gilbert, makers of the Erector sets, stopped selling their Chemistry sets quite a while ago, probably about the time the liability lawyers evolved. So did the Porter Chemical Company, who made the major competitive produc, Chemcraft Chemistry sets.
IIRC my own Gilbert Chemistry set contained much useful material, particularly those little jars of potassium nitrate, sulphur, and powdered charcoal, and also some powdered magnesium.
So how did we survive without class action suits to prrotect us?
Perhaps mainly smart kids made it through alive, something that sure isn't the case these days, is it?
--FWIW the Exploratorium in San Francisco sells a couple of "cook books" at their store. These will allow you to build working replicas of many of the exhibits. Books are pricey, but way kewl. Head on over to exploratorium.edu and poke around...
The motor in my erector set (actually my dad's) had brass gears pressed onto a knurled shaft running on the worm, I pulled stuff hard enough to stallteh motor without stripping it.
You can still buy new erector sets. Also there is a simmilar line of sets by Merkur. Last month I wanted to get an erector set for my grandkids. I bid on eight on ebay and got six of them. The full blown metal boxed set, the late '30s to '50s, type cost about $60. I got three of those and three smaller specific sets. I intend to have my son put away the vintage boxes and consolidate the sets in another container. Paul
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