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01.12
Toys for Budding Engineers
By Donald Christiansen
I worry today that kids today
miss out on fun and learning that could propel
them to engineering careers as they remain glued
to iPads and computer games. I remember my
grandfather recalling how as a young schoolboy
he fashioned skis from barrel staves. My dad
built a crystal set when he was a teenager. I
was even luckier. At age five I found Lincoln
Logs under the Christmas tree, and not long
after that, acquired an Erector set. I am
certain these hands-on toys helped push us
toward our ultimate careers: my grandfather a
master carpenter, my father a designer for
Bendix Aviation, and I an electrical engineer.
From structures built from my
Erector set, I went on to model
building—balsa-wood planes, ships carved from
solid pine, HO model railroad kits.
Adaptive Re-use
In a wooded area in our
neighborhood was a section in which it seemed
acceptable to discard broken or unwanted tools,
washing machines, auto parts, and the like—an
impromptu dump if you will (no garbage permitted
by mutual agreement). It proved to be a
veritable treasure trove of possibly useful
items for a youngster interested in
experimentation. Someone had driven a Model A
into this technological museum. It had evidently
resided there for some years as its engine and
many parts were missing and the tireless rims
had sunk into the rich soil. It nevertheless
remained a source of interesting, if rusted,
hardware. “Don’t forget to bring your wrench,” I
would remind my friend Raymond. At six or seven
we were too young to get a driver’s license,
but, during our scavenging visits, we would take
turns sitting in the driver’s seat as we
pretended to race along Route 66, pulling
alongside and then ahead of a slow freight train
laboring on a grade parallel to our imagined
path. As time passed, the roof was gone, maple
seedlings sprouted through the upholstery,
followed soon by popping coil springs. This made
it less comfortable to drive. But we continued
to salvage parts.
Adaptive re-use was rampant.
Baby carriage wheels were useful in building
race cars. Scooters were made by nailing worn
roller skates to the front and back of a
two-foot-long two-by-four and adding an upright
handle.
Part of my modest allowance
would go for bell wire—usable for many
electrical experiments, wiring switches and
signals for my model railroad, and, yes, even
installing my grandmother’s new door bell!
An Apology
I have frequently bemoaned,
incorrectly I have learned, the passing of
Lincoln Logs and Erector sets. A pre-Christmas
visit to Barnes & Noble’s toys and games section
revealed that Lincoln Logs and Erectors are both
alive and well. Today’s Erector sets are
available in graduated sizes, with almost 70 to
more than 400 parts, and designs for from one to
50 projects. A 10-project kit with 100 parts
including a 6-volt motor is aimed at five- to
eight-year-olds. A 30-project kit has 350-plus
parts including wheels, pulleys, belts,
structural pieces, and a 6-volt motor—for
eight-year-olds and up. Another, with 170+ parts
is aimed at ages 8-88. As it seemed to be far
superior to the modest Erector set of my youth,
I considered getting one for myself while I am
still within the specified age bracket.
While browsing I noticed racks
of KRE-O Transformers—kits for building both a
robot and a particular vehicle, like a truck, a
race car or a fighter jet. The largest kit had
542 pieces from which seven different combos
could be built.
In the 8+ age group I found
several kits from Thames and Kosmos, including a
physics workshop—305 pieces with 36 projects and
37 additional experiments, and a less expensive
“physics discovery” kit permitting 12
experiments including a force meter, balance
scale and a gravitational motor. A National
Geographic “Elements of Science” kit offered 100
experiments in biology, chemistry and physics.
Good News (or Not)
I saw lots more, including Lego
kits of all shapes and sizes. I was encouraged
by the plenitude of these do-it-yourself toys
for tots and up. Yet I did not see many kids, or
even parents, hovering about these fascinating
toys. And when I returned after the holidays it
appeared that most of the shelves were still
full. Could it be that most orders had been
placed online? Or that the inventory had been
depleted and then restored after Christmas? I am
hoping that one or both of these occurred.
Another Issue
Just as I was thinking I had
covered all the bases for this column, I read a
post-holiday op-ed piece in The New York
Times in which the author reported that Lego
is scheduled to release a “feminine” version of
Lego featuring pastel-colored blocks that will
permit “a budding Kardashian . . . to build a
café or beauty salon.” The writer posed the
question as to whether gender should be expunged
from playthings or “is Lego merely being
realistic, earnestly meeting girls halfway in an
attempt to stoke their interest in engineering?”
I invite your opinions.
References:
Orenstein, P., “Should the World
of Toys Be Gender-Free?,” The New York Times,
Dec. 30, 2011.
Christiansen, D., “Making
Stuff,” Today’s Engineer, Aug. 2011.
Donald Christiansen is the
former editor and publisher of IEEE Spectrum
and an independent publishing consultant. He is
a Fellow of the IEEE.
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