Special thanks to Anthony's mom for telling me about this one. Every first Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, Home Depot offers kid workshops. Children build useful projects and crafts. You don't have to leave Pomona for this one, since our local store is located at the southern base of Garey. The workshops are geared toward children ages 5 to 12, but I'm told it's fine for even younger.
Thanks to our indecisiveness when it comes to paint colors, Mr. Big is well acquainted with Home Depot. It would be nice to take him there to do something constructive, as opposed to the usual paint and dust inhalation.
More info here: http://www.homedepotclinics.com/ and click on kids workshops.
3 comments:
Thanks to this post, you made me aware of the Kid's Workshops. I took my little girl (almost 3) to the August event at the Pomona Home Depot after calling in advance to get info on where to meet, etc. I was a little relieved (and underwhelmed) at the number of people that showed up. There were only four pairs of kids and parents—including us—during the 30 minutes or so we were there. Even that was enough to cause my child to go speechless the whole time.
We started out slow and I had to help her finish the pencil box. Then I practically had to drag her over to David, the self-described "captain" of these workshops, to have her say thank you. After chatting a while to learn more about the program, I told David we must now go buy Home Depot products in a jokingly "we've been brainwashed" tone. Of course, we then proceeded to really buy stuff from HD, but more about this later.
Overall, I was impressed with the free kits. Interestingly, everyone decided to build the pencil box rather than the baseball stuff holder. However, the only pin they had was for the baseball thingy. I loved the little apron that we got to keep, but was disappointed that they provided 16 oz hammers and no eye protection for the little ones. The plywood-on-sawhorse tables were a little high and everyone finished hammering on the concrete because of the shakiness. Nobody wanted to talk to other attendees, which I found disappointing. Reminded me of the time I was the only engineer in a pre-med chemistry class at Cow Poly, where the competitiveness caused everyone to keep to themselves. Maybe next time we'll find a more sociable crowd.
We went inside to immediately buy a 7 oz hammer (that's more like it!) and returned on another trip to buy a tool box and some tools (which I wanted to do eventually). Next trip will be the last of the basic tools and eye protection. Not to show off at all, but I want my daughter to really learn some basic skills and having her own tools will help.
Anyway, I wasn't sure what to make of it when we left David, but my daughter began strutting around in her apron and proceeded to show all the neighbors when she got home. She also chose to decorate her pencil box with crayon and went on-and-on about the experience as if it was the best thing ever.
Subsequently, she has dragged out her tool box a couple of times to help mommy and daddy and she seems to be well on the road to self-sufficient home repair and tool usage.
Thanks again for helping to get the ball rolling. Maybe we'll see you and Mr. Big at a future workshop. Just look for the little girl with the small hammer and the big toolbox.
Great review and kudos to your little woman of tools. Yeah, you'd think it would be obvious to the HD guys that a huge hammer was not the right tool for the job. The one a month date is one of those things it's hard to remember unless you mark it on your calender. WE do want to go, tho, especially for that apron! And the "hardly anyone showed up" thing is a phenomenon with these kid's events. I've seen that often for quality events, there is hardly anyone there and it doesn't really encourage businesses to offer more.
Me again. We're heading off to Home Depot this afternoon after little one wakes up from her nap. I'm going to miss the September event because we'll be out of town for a few days. My recommendation not to miss these is to set up a recurring reminder/appointment in Outlook (or similar e-mail/schedule software) and set it for the first Saturday of each month with at least a one-day warning.
I'll talk to David at the October event and see if I can get him to make a few changes for the kids and either supply eye protection or at least tell parents what to get that'll fit.
I also have a bone to pick about debris in the parking lot. I picked up fifteen nails and similar pokey objects within a 4 sq ft area around the back of my truck last trip. No wonder we keep getting flats! I'll try to talk to the manager directly about it this trip, but beware in case it takes time to set up a magnetic sweeping service or they decline to do it.
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