Tinker Toy Automotive
The Wonderful World of Colored Sticks
The new Tinker Toys are vibrant, bright, colored, plastic sticks. We had a set of the old wooden style stick and they still sell them; but they are more expensive and harder to get. This Christmas we visited Toys R Us like many parents searching for gifts. I was hoping to find Tinker Toys in stock and it was their last one: praise God! 
The kids love them. The plastic ones take a bit more effort to push together and take apart. Matthew occasionally walks up with stuck Tinker Toys in hand, holding out one end for me to grab. We play a brief tug-of-war to separate them.
The tub of Tinker Toys came with instructions to build airplanes and such. The pictures show the planes that I built for them. They enjoyed zooming around the room. It took me a while to realize that I built an object with sticks protruding in multiple directions, at eye level, perfect for gouging out eyes. I then encouraged them to hold it out in the air at eye level, and pretend to fly the protruding sticks around the house. Thank God, no eyes were harmed in the making of this fantasy.
Matthew built a full-on vehicle complete with seats, engine, working parts and more than I even know. He has quite an imagination, those cartoons have super-injected his ability to imagine things I don't even understand. Half our job as parents is to bring their imagination back to reality and ground them in truth. 
Claire, of course, wanted to touch everything on the vehicle. Matthew, in general, spends a good portion of his time protecting the things he makes. The bigger they are, the more his sister is interested in messing with it. In this case, Jenn and I moderated their vehicle fantasy and assisted them in organizing a peaceful sharing of this fantastical vehicle. Believe me when I say, don't buy toys that make sounds, not only are they annoying, but they cost money to buy batteries. The kids make much better driving sounds anyways.
Here’s some photos of the family the Sunday before Christmas. There’s actually a few of me this time. 
Matthew and Claire’s Mommy and me co-op preschool put-on a birth of Jesus play. All the cute little kiddies dressed up in outfits and took their place on stage while one of the mommies narrated. The kids were cute and overall it was a fun event. Click the slideshow button below to see the photos.