{"id":15063,"date":"2017-02-03T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T05:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=15063"},"modified":"2025-05-21T12:00:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T16:00:44","slug":"summer-reading-2017-beyond-lego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/summer-reading-2017-beyond-lego\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Reading 2017: On Beyond Lego!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Let&#8217;s get ready to build stuff!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The 2017 Summer Reading theme is &#8220;Build a Better World&#8221; and I wanted to touch on\u00a0two key\u00a0options:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Building sets<\/li>\n<li>Recycle, reuse and re-purpose<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Building Sets<\/strong>: looking beyond the ordinary<\/p>\n<div id=\"title_feature_div\" class=\"feature\">\n<div id=\"titleSection\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-none\">\n<h1 id=\"title\" class=\"a-size-large a-spacing-none\"><span id=\"productTitle\" class=\"a-size-large\">Giant Crystal Connectors<\/span><span id=\"titleEDPPlaceHolder\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"bylineInfo_feature_div\" class=\"feature\">\n<div class=\"a-section a-spacing-none\">by <a id=\"brand\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Constructa\/b\/ref=bl_dp_s_web_8103456011?ie=UTF8&amp;node=8103456011&amp;field-lbr_brands_browse-bin=Constructa\">Constructa<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"a-section a-spacing-none\">\n<ul class=\"a-vertical a-spacing-none\">\n<li><span class=\"a-list-item\">Retro!<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"a-list-item\">4&#8243; interlocking discs with\u00a0eight slots<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"a-list-item\">Translucent, and brightly-colored<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2><strong>Cardboard construction tools &#8211; Makedo!<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\">playful cardboard construction<\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\">30 reusable parts<\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\">build creations from junk!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You supply the stuff &#8211; cardboard, foam, whatever &#8211; and Makedo makes it possible to construct anything you can dream up. \u00a0Re-usable and SAFE!<\/p>\n<p><strong>From the trenches<\/strong>: Denver Public Library loads up their programming room with recyclables for attendees to build stuff. \u00a0<em>Imagine combining that with Makedo kits!<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"title_feature_div\" class=\"feature\">\n<div id=\"titleSection\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-none\">\n<h1 id=\"title\" class=\"a-size-large a-spacing-none\"><span id=\"productTitle\" class=\"a-size-large\">SmartMax<\/span><span id=\"titleEDPPlaceHolder\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"bylineInfo_feature_div\" class=\"feature\">\n<div class=\"a-section a-spacing-none\">by <a id=\"brand\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/SmartMax\/b\/ref=bl_dp_s_web_6394079011?ie=UTF8&amp;node=6394079011&amp;field-lbr_brands_browse-bin=SmartMax\">SmartMax<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"a-section a-spacing-none\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"a-section a-spacing-none\">\n<ul class=\"a-vertical a-spacing-none\">\n<li>Explore magnetism!<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"a-list-item\">Strong, large pieces<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"a-list-item\">Safe for kids as young as one<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"a-list-item\">High-quality, sonically-welded bars<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Learn about magnetic attraction and repulsion while constructing towers, bridges and other creations. The magnets are strong enough to hold up to 60 times their weight!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>From the trenches<\/strong>: Our teens used this set, trying to see how high they could go, then also building a structure that held twelve encyclopedias!<\/p>\n<div id=\"title_feature_div\" class=\"feature\">\n<div id=\"titleSection\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-none\">\n<h1 id=\"title\" class=\"a-size-large a-spacing-none\"><span id=\"productTitle\" class=\"a-size-large\">SmartLab Toys Demolition Lab<\/span><span id=\"titleEDPPlaceHolder\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"bylineInfo_feature_div\" class=\"feature\">\n<div class=\"a-section a-spacing-none\">by <a id=\"brand\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/SmartLab-Toys\/b\/ref=bl_dp_s_web_6165233011?ie=UTF8&amp;node=6165233011&amp;field-lbr_brands_browse-bin=SmartLab+Toys\">SmartLab Toys<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"a-section a-spacing-none\">\n<ul class=\"a-vertical a-spacing-none\">\n<li><span class=\"a-list-item\">Fun and educational<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"a-list-item\">Mix and match pieces to create one-of-a-kind structures<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"a-list-item\">Unlimited number of warehouses to build and demolish<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"a-list-item\">Kids build skills like problem-solving, strategy, testing and experimentation<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>From the trenches<\/strong>: We used this set at our library, then recorded the demolition in slow-mo. \u00a0Good times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Recycle, Re-Use, Re-Purpose<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>Here are some no-cost options:<\/p>\n<p>Use recyclables!<\/p>\n<p>Here you can see my staff and I and what we made with junk! \u00a0I&#8217;m the steampunk Darth Vader:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gladiatorspen\/32457709472\/in\/album-72157679759780695\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/636\/32457709472_18e599b8cb_z.jpg\" alt=\"Steampunk Industrial Show Jan 2017\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now let&#8217;s tie it to literacy!<\/p>\n<p>Check out the Landfill Harmonic, the documentary and the picture book <em>Ada&#8217;s Violin<\/em> to see what can be accomplished using what we waste to create expression. \u00a0Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Teaser of the upcoming documentary film &quot;Landfill Harmonic&quot;\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fXynrsrTKbI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let&#8217;s get ready to build stuff! The 2017 Summer Reading theme is &#8220;Build a Better World&#8221; and I wanted to touch on\u00a0two key\u00a0options: Building sets Recycle, reuse and re-purpose Building Sets: looking beyond the ordinary Giant Crystal Connectors by Constructa Retro! 4&#8243; interlocking discs with\u00a0eight slots Translucent, and brightly-colored Cardboard construction tools &#8211; Makedo! playful cardboard construction 30 reusable parts build creations from junk! You supply the stuff &#8211; cardboard, foam, whatever &#8211; and Makedo makes it possible to construct anything you can dream up. \u00a0Re-usable and SAFE! From the trenches: Denver Public Library loads up their programming room with recyclables for attendees to build stuff. \u00a0Imagine combining that with Makedo kits! SmartMax by SmartMax Explore magnetism! Strong, large pieces Safe for kids as young as one High-quality, sonically-welded bars Learn about magnetic attraction and repulsion while constructing towers, bridges and other creations. The magnets are strong enough to hold&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":255,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1103,38,414,102,416,1],"tags":[1181,1180,451,281,146,1179,145],"class_list":["post-15063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-jonathan-dolce","category-programming-ideas","category-stemsteam","category-summer-reading","category-tweens-2","category-uncategorized","tag-build","tag-recycle","tag-steam","tag-stem","tag-summer-reading-2","tag-sustainability","tag-tweens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/255"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}