Thursday, May 8, 2008

funnest toy ever

My love of the QUADRO giant construction set has officially been rekindled. This toy is as much fun for me - if not more - than it is for Katie and Alex. I found it by accident last spring on Craigslist. I was searching for an outdoor play option for Katie. I was thinking of a little plastic Playskool slide contraption of some kind. LUCKILY, I found something way more exciting.

Quadro are essential super scale Legos. UV-resistant, super-strong, totally interchangeable parts. You have to love German engineering. While I was playing with it I was dreaming of going back to Go:ttingen for an engineering degree - I didn't quite get the logistics of Rog and the kiddos figured out on that one! The kits come with 'mini-quadro' sets - you can build the model you have in mind at 1/5-scale first if you want to test the feasibility of your idea before wrestling with the real thing. The new kits have curved pieces and awnings/fabric bits to add on. This summer I only expanding the landing area at the top of the small slide, because I think that it's still a pretty good design for where Katie and Alex are at climbing-wise. I really need some more angle connectors to give myself more options, but I was pretty tickled that I was able to use ALL of the red support pieces. Next year for sure I'll need to add some ladders, and maybe a taller slide. Surely I will need to add on some more sets for building. I might as well take a trip to Germany to pick some up. :)

They even have a SWIMMING POOL option for these bad boys! How fun would it be to build your own castle with a slide that lands in the pool?! Of if you don't want to accidentally drown anyone, just have it end up in a ball pit.

4 comments:

Betty Grace said...

That IS cool. I want one, and I don't even have kids.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if you'll see this comment on such an old post, but I have a random question for you. I just bought my nephew a quadro kit. We really want to make a slide, something like you made but simpler, like the "ramp" on this page: http://www.phunzone.com/Quadro%20Residential/starterII.htm

I can't figure out, though, how to make it, in particular what pieces to use to connect the slide to the rest of the structure. The Quadro book and website don't include this ramp and I can't quite see from either photo how it works.

I'm thinking it may require a connector type that we don't have. Looking at this parts list: http://www.phunzone.com/Quadro%20Parts/index.html
We have the connectors in the first two rows except the flex coupling. We don't have any of the other connectors in the third row.

That's a very cool structure you built, by the way, and you were lucky to find it on craigslist. We just splurged for a new set.

Thanks,

MH

kat said...

well, i'm not sure if you'll check this out again, but here is the answer.

the connector looks to be: #00955 Tube Clamp - Double

basically, it's the double version of the regular connector tubes - in my structure they are all red. The double tubes have slightly different openings for the 'locking' pieces, which allows you to connect slides of various heights to the 'base structure.'

you are the greatest aunt/uncle EVER for buying this set for your nephew!! this toy continues to be a favorite, and i have to stop myself from buying more add-on sets until my kids are older and actually need them.

Anonymous said...

I finally remembered to check back, thanks for the info. I was thinking it was the tube clamp. I'll order a couple. So far we made a little set of steps for my 1.5 year old niece to climb up, which also serves as a "firetruck" for my 3.5 year old nephew. Hopefully it'll get a lot of use over the years.

Thanks,

MH