Mirror-aculous® Art Activities

Every now and then it becomes my privilege, as your personal Major FUN, to bring you news about a toy or game company that has found a way to transform the commonplace into the extraordinary. See, for example, my story on a renewed approach to connect-the-dots puzzles. Note especially how enthusiastically you found me waxing.

Today I find myself once again waxing my enthusiasm.

You have, of course, heard of the anamorphoscope, and all the various wonders connected thereto, ranging in wonderworthiness from the, shall we say, "mirror-aculous" works of Leonardo Da Vinci to the many photo-marvels of cinematic illusion?

Have you by any chance also heard of the toy company that has brought this most delightfully illusion-prone technology to the hearts and hands of children - a company called, now say it with me, "OOZ & OZ?"

Like the artist/developer of those transformed connect-the-dots puzzles, Myrna Hoffman, the founder of OOZ & OZ, has managed to make a common coloring-book-like activity into something wonderfully new and deeply engaging. Again, like the connect-the-dots artist, she has explored this new visual twist in great depth and with equally deep devotion.

The technology centers on a thin sheet of mirrored Mylar, which, wrapped around a paper cup, becomes a kind of anamorphoscope - anamorphoscopic enough to make it possible to view and create anamorphs. The art is in the remarkable variety of packages and activities that Ms. Hoffman has created.

To get a feel for that variety, take a look at the Art Activities Kit. It comes with two mirrored cups, a box of crayons, and 32 pages of anamorphic images to color. Coloring an anamorphic drawing is a challenge in itself. If you try coloring the image without referring to the reflection, you can't really tell what you're coloring. If you try to color the drawing while looking at the reflection, you have an eye-hand coordination challenge of significantly amusing profundity. I called Myrna and asked her what she recommended: to do the coloring while looking at the reflection or just to look directly at the paper. Her answer: "yes."

In addition to the coloring activities there are drawings where you color-only-the-spaces-with-two-dots, incomplete drawings that you try to fill in by connecting dots, other, even more incomplete drawings that don't even have dots to guide you, and mazes - all transformed by the anamorphic challenge.

The kit itself comes in a cleverly designed box that can be used to transport the entire collection as well as a portable, laptop desk for that anamorph-anywhere experience.

Another, and even more affordable package is designed for parties - you get eight large anamorphed placemats, eight mirror wraps (Mylar sheets that you wrap around a paper cup), and instructions for "bonus activities." These are very reasonably priced, and perfect for an art class, a session of therapeutic art for seniors, or a family gathering. My wife, who has taught art for many years, noted that the anamorph activity is an excellent way to help teach novice artists to learn to "draw what you see, rather than to draw what you think you see."

You can even get a custom morph of pretty much any image you send them.

Ms. Hoffman's sensibilities, to affordability, to children, to play, to art, science and learning; to ecological concerns, are everywhere evident.

We're talking Major FUN.

Q-BA-MAZE

Q-BA-MAZE is a marble run construction toy, in the tradition of Boyongolo, the HABA Ball set, the Quercetti Marble Run, the Skyrail Marble Run Roller Coaster, and, of course, Cuboro. In the tradition of, and yet, unique, and uniquely worthy of our collective attention.

Actually, all these toys, and many more like them, are worthy of our collective attention. Building a marble run engages both creative and scientific reasoning. Every design must ultimately "work," not only aesthetically, but also mechanically. No matter how good it looks, if the ball doesn't go where you think it should, or if the run isn't as long as you hope it should be, you're just going to have to build it differently.

Now, back to Q-BA-MAZE. I promise not to use the word "amazing" more than once - after this. First, allow me to use the word "cube." As in Cuboro, the basic building block is a, well, block. Unlike Cuboro, there are only three types of blocks, they are made out of a durable polycarbonate, translucently acrylic-like plastic, and they fit together in most satisfyingly interlocking configurations. They can slide into each other along their sides, they can be stacked on to each other, they can be built up and out into cantileverishly cunning constructs. They also work. One of the three, the one that opens on both ends, works in a most curiously delightful manner. It is a switch, of sorts. With no moving parts. But when a ball drops into it, the ball will often hesitate before traveling left or right, sometimes hesitate a most tantalizingly long time, as if deliberating. And this turns out to be a particularly delicious deliberation, adding just that extra touch of surprise, just that extra change in rhythm that makes the whole, multi-colored construct that much more surprising, that much more engaging.

Q-BA-MAZE comes with a bunch of steel balls - not because they're easy to lose, and definitely not because they're easy to swallow (hence, the small child advisory), but because the more balls you drop into it, the more complex the pattern of the fall, the more fun it is to watch - a visual equivalent of the difference between melody and symphony.

Watch the video, read the blog, construct your own myriad of delights, or build any of the configurations you find online, like this one, if you happen to have purchased the 50 count set (36 blocks and 14 balls).

You'll be amazed.

Confoundingly Crazy Crate-O-Mystery

The Confoundingly Crazy Crate-O-Mystery (from Fundex Games, available here) is a confoundingly clever way to introduce kids into magic. They get magic apparatus (ok, toys), comic book-like instructions, and an instructional DVD that shows them how each of the ten tricks included in this kit is performed, and the secrets that make each trick work. These materials are central to the magic of the Cofoundingly Crazy Crate-O-Mystery. The biggest obstacle to mastering any illusion is learning how to do it. You can go to a magic shop and buy hundreds of wonderful tricks, but when it comes to learning how they work, and how to perform them, you have to rely on cryptically written instruction slips, usually in small print, that convey little if anything of the art of it all.

Most of the 10 magic tricks are performed with with the assistance of wonderfully toylike apparatus, which is exactly how it should be. There's plastic monkey with detachable tail, feet, arms, hat and banana. And a sheet of tattoos. There's the crate itself, made of sturdy cardboard with magnetically sealing doors on 4 sides. There's a special magic handkerchief. And some other stuff. I don't want to get too specific here, because it might give away some of the secrets to the Confounding Craziness of it all. You'll also need two cookies and a dime. And I can't tell you why.

Magic is a very special kind of play. It's part science and part theater. The Confoundingly Crazy Crate-O-Mystery is a well-presented introduction and invitation to a unique form of fun - one that can last a lifetime. Especially recommended for kids who are old enough to read (8 and up), disciplined enough to practice and perfect their secret arts, and enjoy being the center of awe-struck attention. Major FUN, indeed.

50 Ways to Use Your (Pool) Noodle

50 Ways to Use Your Noodle is the first book to receive a Major FUN award. There's something inherently funny about saying the words "Pool Noodle." Go ahead. Give it a try. Say: pool noodle, pool noodle, pool noodle. See what I mean? Even thinking about a pool noodle, a noodle in a pool, a pool full of pool noodles is kind of fun. And playing with a pool noodle, in a pool, of course, sitting on one, lying on one, lying on several...fun, all fun.

Well, what Chris Cavert and Sam Sikes tell you what you can do with pool noodles, on the land, even, is every bit as fun, and even more inventive than that. They've written two noodle books, as a matter of fact: 50 Ways to Use Your Noodle and 50 More Ways to Use Your Noodle.

Now, before I go any further, I want to warn you. Page through these books, and you're going to want to invest heavily in pool noodles. At about $3/noodle, we're not talking junk. Though you could purchase Tubular Polyethylene Foam Pipe Insulation, Pre-Slit, 3/8" Wall Thickness, For Use On 1/2" Copper Pipe Or 1/4" Iron Pipe, for maybe $3 for 4 3-foot sections. Which is more junk-like, but not much cheaper. Not only are you going to want to buy many, many pool noodles (at least one for each player), but you're going to want to (dare I mention this? yes, yes, I must) cut some of your noodles into 3-foot "Midaronis," 3-inch "Minironis," and 1-1/4-inch "Meatballs."

OK, by now you get a good sense of the tone of the whole thing: fun, funny, creative, inventive. So you're ready for at least one game. Like, for example, Balloon Volleyball, played with Midaronis. Do I need to explain this any more? Everyone with their own Midaroni. Trying to hit a large balloon over a volleyball net. Do you need me to tell you what fun this can be? Or how about the baseball-like "Bustin Burgers" game - where one player sails pool noodle Meatballs to the Midaroni-swinging batter?

You might not expect the more creative activities, like the semi-self-explanatory "Noodle Doodles." And in all likelihood, you wouldn't have begun to anticipate the group team-building, problem-solving aspect of the whole thing, with exercises like seeing how many Meatballs or Minironis two people can hold between them. And yes, in the 50 More Ways book you'll even find pool noodle games you can play in the - can you believe it - pool.

Together, the Noodle books are a treasure of creative, playful, problem-solving fun that should prove an invaluable resource to any youth leader, team builder, or provocateur of playfulness.


RE: Noodle Economics

Chris comments: "we found that the foam pipe insulation is okay for some of the noodle book activities, however, it doesn't have the rigidity for most games. Also, you lose the "visual" pull the colors have. Even though you might pay $3.50 (or so) for a noodle, you'll cut the long ones in half - thus cutting your cost in half. And, as long as the participants don't pick on or chew the noodles they last a very long time - the return on investment is great. Bonus: if you buy in the fall they are really cheap - stores don’t like to warehouse them because they take up so much space (some stores give them away to educational programs just to get rid of them before the winter months)."




from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

A Basket Full of Squishies

You remember me writing you about Office Playground? It was in that article on Toy Therapy for Business Meetings, in case you forgot.

I went to them for an update on their current meeting-appropriate toy offerings, and wound up with what I'd like to think of as "a basket full of squishies." Like to think, because I only got four, and the basket's too big, anyhow. Anyhow, as I was saying, think of these as a representative four, a mere sample of the varieties of "squish" (or whatever you call that really stretchable, baby-poweder-covered stuff they're made of and their meanings.

Let us begin therefore with the Spaghetti Ball, because it was my favorite and took me most by surprise. It's a bunch of squishy strings attached in the middle, is what it is. Long squishy strings, attached in the middle, and when you throw it, darn if it doesn't kind of ball up, and when you spin it darn if it doesn't flatten out, and darn if it doesn't hang by any one of it's strings and darn if you can't spin the whole thing pretty darn fast, if you want, in a pre-launching manner.

This pre-launching spinning of a mass of connected squishy strings activity is remarkably similar to that performed by the user of that which is commonly refered to as the Stretchin' Squid Yo Yo.

My wife, when she first saw the Stretchin' Squid Yo Yo - with its convenient finger-ring-ended highly stretchable, well, tentacle, with which, should you so desire, you can perform yo-yo-like activities - proceded to demonstrate the verisimilitude, showing me how she could Rock the Cradle, Shoot the Moon, Walk the Dog, and make me writhe with laughter.

Then there's this squishy frisbee-thing, the Stretch Flyer, which does in deed flatten and fly frisbee-like into the beyond, and also fits over your head. Thus, should a great deal of shared spunkiness be manifest, it can easily serve as an invitation to a game of frisbee catch, or golf, or basketball, or dodgeball, for that matter - a dodgeball that doesn't hurt. Or, as previously noted, you can put it over your head, which, at times, is exactly what you need to be able to do.

Finally, we have Stretchy String, also made of the basic squishy material, but thicker, and hence, stretchier, and further hence, can be snapped at things and people as well as whirled menacingly and at extensive distance. Of course, it doesn't really hurt when it hits you, but it sure looks like it will. As it does when someone snaps it at you.

Note, if you will, how each of these lends itself to a range of play, from sensual and contemplative, to downright hostile and aggressive. Note, further, how, though each is in deed a tension reliever, some seem to lend themselves more to relieving social tension than personal.

Very, Very Big Bubbles

We took this picture during our last Tasting. David and company are on our front lawn, learning to use "beebo Big Bubble Mix" to create what can only be called an XTREME bubble. "Our mission," say the XTREME Bubble Team "is to manufacture and distribute to all people, the most exciting, amazing and revolutionary bubble solution in the history of the world! We believe that if every person in the world had a chance to play with beeboo Big Bubble Mix, the world would become a better place." Yes, beebo Big Bubble Mix, the same beeboo Big Bubble Mix used to blow the " the World's Largest Free Floating Soap Bubble."

There was no question at all about the Major FUNness of the XTREME bubble-making experience. I personally have never seen bubbles so large, so ameoba-like in their blobitude, so surprising in their floaty formations. Not having made an exhaustive comparison, I can not attest to the fact that beebo Big Bubble Mix results in the biggest of all possible bubbles. It worked. It was easy to mix, easy to make work. Learning to use the bubble wand was most definitely an integral part of the whole experience. As a connoisseur of all things fun, I can tell you that this stuff is great fun. And I mean great!

At a purported savings of $6, you're probably going to want to purchase the entire 1 Bottle of beeboo™ Mix & 1 Bubble Wand starter kit. Then, you'll probably have to get the 2 bottles of beeboo™ Big Bubble Mix, unless you find yourself ready for the 4 bottles of beeboo™ Big Bubble Mix

Rhino Toys

Rhino Toys, makers of the Major Funly Oball, have introduced the world at large to two new play-saving devices: The Skyblaster (on the left) and SkyO. After hours of fun testing, both in and out of the Fun Testing Lab, both were found to be Majorly Fun, and both herewith granted the esteemed Major FUN Award.

Let us begin with the perhaps subtler significance of the SkyO. It's a ring-shaped tossing thing, similar, in concept and function, to that which has been called the Flying Disc, and, of course, the Frisbee® of registered trademark fame. Only SkyO is easy to throw, and easy to catch. And this is a big, big gift to all of the sensitive of hand or weak of throwing arm. Which means it is a greater boon to the rest of us who like to throw and catch things that hover, because thanks to SkyO, there are so many games that so many more of us can play.

As for Skyblaster, the whistling, rubber-tipped dart that you launch with a self-contained rubber band, it is a direct path to many a flight of fancy. Almost soft enough to catch, with everso subtly bendable, path-guiding fins, and so easy to fly so far. However, let this be a lesson to you: use the finger. I tell you this despite the remarkably clear instuctions embossed on the underside of the dart head, because I tried to use my thumb as the launcher, over and over again. Using the finger, you can send SkyO soaring to remarkable heights, even if you are short.

I haven't yet made up any games for the Skyblaster, though I'm thinking a SkyO would make a wonderful Skyblaster target....

Erasable, Twistable Crayons

Markers may be all things bright and beautiful for graphic artists and meeting facilitators, but for creative work and play, nothing beats the color and sketch-like informality of Crayons. Recently, the Crayola company has come up with Erasable Twistable Crayons - the first truly executive crayon.

Encased in clear plastic that lets you twist up more color as the tip wears down, the Erasable Twistable crayon is clean and easy to handle, never needs sharpening (because the colorful wax insert is long and thin), and doesn't look like the ubiquitous crayon. This is the key element that makes this new crayon so executive-worthy, it has a fun, yet more "corporate" appearance than the crayons you used as a child. Frankly, it's a little difficult to maintain your position as meeting facilitator when you bring out you tusty box of 64. But when you bring out your Erasable Twistables, why, there's no question that this is in deed a facilitative tool, and something that can't be mistaken for a child's toy. Even though it is.

The Erasable Twistable Crayon gets a Major FUN Award because it extends the wonderful fun of Crayolas into the adult world, where it is so sorely needed. And it's erasable. And twistable, too.

Silly Putty

Silly Putty, need I say more?

In deed I need.

Silly Putty is the "...clay-like stuff that bounces and stretches and picks up ink. Of course, now you can get Silly Putty in glow-in-the-dark colors. But it still feels like putty. And it’s still something that is clearly silly. And it’s also something that people can play with for hours. Roll it. Mold it. Bounce it. Consciously. Semiconsciously. Something that embraces playfulness and creativity. Something with enough flexibility, enough controllability, enough tactile complexity to keep the hands busy and the mind free, all day." (Read more about the executive implications of all this on "Of Kooshballs and Silly Putty").

I mention the adult-worthiness of Silly Putty because we all know how much fun we had with it when we were kids.

Silly Putty gets a Major FUN Award for exemplifying just about everything I think a toy should be and do.

Here, Courtesy of Silly Putty University are the first three of the Top 50 Silliest Uses for Silly Putty

1 Form Silly Putty into a ball, throw it at the stock market listings and invest in the stock it lifts off the page. -- Peter H., Collinsville, Conn.

2 End an unbearable date by making a swollen gland with Silly Putty and excusing yourself because you're not feeling well. -- Judith D., Norwich, Conn.

3 Use Silly Putty as an alternative to cement handprints at Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood for flash-in-the-pan actors. -- Charles G., Dallas, Texas

Wikki Stix

Wikki Stix is an incredibly simple toy, so simple that it invites kids and adults to hours of creative play.

Simplicity-wise, simply by adding wax to yarn (all right, a special, secret kind of wax, but wax, nonetheless), the inventors have created an art toy that is as fun as it is expressive. The fun of it is that it sticks almost anywhere. The Wikki face and Wikki heart and Wikki initials that I experimented with five months ago are still on my wall, waiting only my whim to be peeled effortlessly way.

Wikki Stix receives today's Major FUN Award and is on my most-recommended list for executive retreats and creative brainstorm sessions. My executive-related Wikki Stix exploration concludes with this exemplary story from Stephanie Portola:

"Years ago when I had a Wikki Stix wall in my office people would add to it sequentially and check in with it periodically. It became a group work in progress (although the group members were anonymous to each other). The ever changing work of art was quite creative and fun. For example: One person would "draw" a face in outline, another person would add a face looking into the first face, someone else would come up with a "word balloon" and get the two people talking. Or someone would draw a figure and another person would put flowers in the figure's hand."

The Wikki Stix site is "adapted for the site impaired" because its easy-to-touch-read texture makes it a perfect instructional aid, as well as an invitation to play, for all of us, with more of us.

Oball

Oball is the first throwing toy to get a Major FUN Award because it's the first I've found that so successfully spans ages, abilities and environments. Sturdy enough for serious kicking, light enough to bounce on your head, supple enough to squish into a backpocket. Hit it with a racquet. Catch it with a stick. Put a bunch on the conference table for creative fiddling and the occasional emotional purge. Put your toes in it. Put your nose in it. Throw it in the snow or mud and then throw it in the dishwasher.

As the manufacturer explains: "Oball consists of a collection of brightly colored loops that are fused together to form a soft, rubbery frame ball with round, finger-friendly openings. Oball grows with a person; it can be used by an infant for clutching, by a baby for throwing, by a toddler for kicking and carrying, by a child for catching, by kids and adults for games like soccer or volleyball both indoors and out, or just for fidgeting."

I couldn't have said it better myself. Nine-month-old granddaughter Lily happened to be with us at the Western Toy and Hobbies Representatives Association Trade Show in Pomona, and she couldn't stop talking about the deliciously graspable Oball. When she finally let it go (somebody handed her a stuffed puppy), I got to play with it myself. It's remarkable how friendly it feels - safe, fun to touch and squeeze and bounce on your hand, so easy to catch that you are often surprised that it's in your hand again. An invitation to fun that you can take seriously, and everywhere.

Cuboro

Cuboro is what people in the trade call a "Grandparents' Toy." What they usually mean by this is that it costs more money than most parents are willing to spend for a mere toy.

As a grandparent myself, I, too, would classify Cuboro a Grandparents' Toy. However, I'm not planning on giving it to my kids. Or my grandkids. I'm keeping it for myself. I figure it'll be another ruse I can use to get the grandkids over. And, in the mean time, I get it all to myself!

Cuboro is a beautifully made wooden construction toy that is used to create marble labyrinths. The blocks are made of beech, precision cut and sanded smooth. In the Standard set (54 blocks, $122.95), 26 of the blocks are just that - well-made, solid wooden blocks that serve as the foundation for the constructions. The remaining 28 provide an assortment of 12 different "functions." By carving channels and tunnels into the blocks, the designers create the elements of wonder. Each of the functional blocks provides part of a marble path. Some channels and tunnels curve. Some cross. By assembling the elements in just the right way (and there are literally hundreds of "right ways") you get a complete marble track.

Playing with Cuboro is a process of building and testing. Adjusting. Testing again. Adding. Adjusting. And again, testing. It challenges mind, eye and dexterity. It combines creative play with scientific exploration. This is really what makes Cuboro such a deep, playworthy toy. It engages the players on so many levels. And, just when you think you've exhausted the permutations and combinations of the Standard set, you can purchase sets of new elements, each of which combines with every other set, each providing a whole new collection of possibilities.

It's important to note that Cuboro is very different from construction toys like Lego and Erector Sets, and equally different from dedicated marble run toys like the beautiful Scalino system. It's open-ended. There are no plans included for creating specific structures (though a clear and well-conceived book of such plans is available to the appropriately desperate). Cuboro is designed for both flexibility and complexity. It lends itself to creative, scientific exploration as well as a more closed-ended puzzle-solving approach. This is part of the reason why I feel this toy is so valuable. Its open-endedness and intricacy is a paradigm for the kinds of experience I find most conducive to building playfulness and community.

Cuboro is the most expensive toy so far to earn a Major FUN Award. The elegance of its design, craftsmanship and functionality create a new standard for the kind of games and toys we hope to be reviewing in the future. As you become more familiar with the standard set, consider investing in an expansion set. Cuboro Duo ($84.95) adds double tracks, so you can race two marbles at a time. As amazing as it is that they managed to carve all those curvy tracks and tunnels into hardwood, the added game play is even more amazing. The words "quantum leap" come to mind. There are also "Six Packs" available, at $19.95 each, for yet more amazement.

Finally, trivial as it may seem, I also really appreciate it that the manufacturers invested in a box that was hefty enough to store this significantly hefty toy.

In case you were wondering, "Cuboro is manufactured...by a small, family-owned woodworking and toy company in Switzerland. The beech wood that the Cuboro blocks are made from is harvested by the family in an ecologically sound manner. The excess wood left by the manufacturing process is not discarded; rather it is burned in the kilns that methodically dry the blocks to ensure that they maintain their precise shape and character."

Tangles

When I first wrote about the uses of Tangles in a brainstorming meeting, I called them "don't worry beads" because I found them to be so wonderfully fingerable. Twisting them endlessly, they occupy the hands and free the mind. When I discovered that Tangles are like Pop-it beads, and can be separated and rejoined into endless patterns and variations, I realized that I had in deed found a toy worthy of individual and collaborative contemplation.

All this is by way of introduction to what I recently discovered to be a world of Tangle Toys, like the snakish Tangle pen illustrated above, whose sections pop off to become pens of 4 different colors. The pen sections can only be combined with each other, but the arms are of standard Tangle-width, and can be used to extend the implications of your classic Tangle, and vice versa.

For those who prefer elegance to pop-it-ability, there's the Museum Size Tangle Chrome - all metal, smooth-turning, manifesting pure executive-worthiness, as well as the smaller, original size chrome Tangle for the junior, or more manifestly frugal executive.

More than a toy, Tangle, at least according to its promoters, is a path to peace. Kids tangle. Business people Tangle. Art lovers Tangle. Even the Dalai Lama Tangles!

The inventor, Richard Zawitz, has developed Tangles into an innovative, and remarkably creative industry, reflecting his equally remarkable, and industrious playfulness. Here's more about him, his invention, and his art.

As a work of art, a toy for all ages, a meditative plaything, and incontrovertible evidence of the power of play, Tangle gets the Major FUN Award.