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Thursday 3 November 2011

Breaking a habit



Better half and I were recently looking for ideas on keeping grandson amused, scouring the range of toys in Sainsbury’s looking for something to develop his imagination. We both realised at the same time that almost all modern toys are crap, only intended to amuse for a few minutes.

Instead we remembered the kitchen science experiments we’d done at his age, vinegar and bicarbonate, floating matches and a drop of detergent, making pinhole cameras. There are lots of ideas on the web too, so stuff the brightly-coloured plastic and mountains of misleading packaging. Time to break a modern habit I think.

4 comments:

Sam Vega said...

Excellent stuff. It might be a bit like swimming against the tide at first (consumer crap is designed to be addictive) but better the gifts of curiosity and attention than amusement.

Demetrius said...

We make a lot of use of white vinegar and bicarbonate but not in play but in ordinary household use. Cheaper than all that other stuff and a lot better.

rogerh said...

A tin with stones in or a large cardboard box or a clothes-horse and an old curtain seemed popular. Hard to make science not look contrived - a box of old lenses and a prism or two left lying about. The garden shed lost its attraction when potassium nitrate and roll sulphur became hard to get.

A K Haart said...

SV - what you notice is how little use kids get out of many modern toys.

D - I use vinegar for cleaning and mixed with linseed oil it brings a shine back to old wood.

rogerh - I'm pleased to see you don't call it sulfur.