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Posts Tagged ‘play’

  1. Hit The Highway!

    April 12, 2015 by admin

    IMG_2935Our Bluey recently had a rough go of racing our slot-cars one afternoon.

    Of our two cars, he could only get one to go around the track much at all.  It would stop periodically and need an adjustment.  The other car hardly moved on the track.

    We were so excited to do some racing so it was a real disappointing time while we tried repeatedly to adjust the track and wiggle the wires trying to figure out why the cars wouldn’t work.

    Finally, while trying to clean the bottoms of the cars, we noticed that the contacts (where the cars touch the copper strips imbedded in the track) had holes worn through them.IMG_2931

    We didn’t know what to do, so we headed to our local hobby store thinking maybe we could buy new cars to race.

    Instead, we found out that if you’re willing, you can replace these worn out parts yourself.  Rather than spending $20 or more on new cars- as much fun as that would be!- we were able to get replacement contacts and springs for just $3.IMG_2934

    In a few minutes of repair time back at home, we were  in business and tearing up the track!  The process of repairing the cars was fun for our Bluey, who loves to know how mechanical things work.  Even though he lost part of a day of racing, he still had a great time.

    So here are some tips:

    1.  When in doubt, ask the experts for advice.

    2.  Many things, even your toys, can be repaired rather than replaced.IMG_2932


  2. Your children will amaze you, if you let them!

    April 30, 2013 by admin

    IMG_1388

    Recently, we were driving to an out of town destination, when our Bluey (4 yrs old) declared that he would be taking apart a little wind-up toy robot.  We’ve explained many times to Bluey that if you deconstruct a toy, it may not work the way it did originally– if you even manage to put it back together.  But Bluey’s urge to tinker is far greater than his desire to keep his toys intact.

    So, he commenced to tear apart his robot.  We couldn’t see much of the progress, as we drove along.  About 10 minutes into his project, we heard a distinct whirring noise from Bluey’s car seat area.  It was the sound of the robot’s wind-up motor.  We turned around, expecting to see that Bluey had simply liberated the motor from the robot case.  Instead, he was holding in his small hands, a plastic wall jack from a different tinkering project.

    “It’s my modification!”  Declared our Bluey.  Once we got over the shock of hearing him use the word, modification, we were equally surprised to see the results of his work.  Bluey had carefully and successfully transplanted the robot’s motor into the wall jack.

    When we give children the space to be who they are and to follow their bliss, when we let them explore and give them the time to create anything they desire, the results tend to be astounding.