The Best Christmas Toy Ever For 2007: Miniature Windmill By Lehman's
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 11.17.07
This toy windmill is as good as it gets for budding TreeHuggers. Made out of steel in the good old USA. No poisonous, plastic parts from China (although we did not examine the small red hub pictured). And, it would look nice even on a balcony railing or in a flower pot on the deck. Small enough that the child would not have to live in the suburbs to enjoy its functioning.
The only drawback is, this model isn't set up to add a mini-generator to drive a motor or pump.
Lehman's online catalog lists it for US$17.95 and it was in stock at the time of this posting.
Kids can assemble the Lehman turbine toy, but it looks as if adult involvement would be needed: a good time to engage in a "teachable moment."
Green shopper caution: we considered including a photo of the KidWind project toy wind turbines in this post because that project offers a variety of toy wind turbine kits and spare parts. Unfortunately, most of the KidWind turbine and stanchion materials are apparently PVC, as shown in this link.
Might be possible to add the ancillary generation parts from KidWind to the Lehman's turbine, and skip the potential for exposing kids to Chinese-made vinyl containing lead stabilizer compounds?
Note:Lehman's windmill "Takes about an hour to assemble and a tweezers is highly recommended (Many small screws.) # 16 ¾"H, 1 ft. to 1" scale."
Clarification:: This writer has no problem with PVC components of any kind being included in commercial wind turbines. Kids are not exposed to them. There's no problem, either, with kids being given age appropriate toys with rigid PVC parts if lead stabilizers are demonstrated not to be present. But, given this year's experience with Chinese made toys containing lead colorants and Chinese formulated vinyl commonly containing lead stabilizers, until it is demonstrated that the KidWind kits are lead-free, we can't in good conscience, suggest them as gifts.
Summary: Made In The USA, and Lead Free are the qualities that make Lehmans a "Best Ever" unless someone points us to a better model, in which case we'll make a correction or addendum to this post.
It's cute and yes, it's a teaching opportunity - but when there is no wind outside and instant gratification is essential nowadays, an electric fan will most likely be used to generate that gratification... oops. Also, making it look like a farm-contraption rather than the sleek electro-gen ones takes the "future" out of it. Now if you created TWO, one for the roof or deck and one for the child with the two linked together showcasing the workings without human interaction - that's something! Maybe the windmill turns a light bulb on or has a meter in-doors to show how much it (could have) generated (no batteries). Make it into a game where the more it generates, the more play-time the child has on the computer or video game... he/she will root for wind-power!
"No poisonous, plastic parts from China"
I can't wait when chinesse toys dissapear from russian stores. Russian children are surrounded with poisonous plastic. They bite it, smell it and visit doctors more often from year to year.
Zoltan: as far as I can tell this thing generates no electricity. It's pretty much a glorified yard spinner. Might as well get your kid a die-cast 1:30 scale Prius.
Best Toy Ever for Little Nerds?
I never built stuff when I was a kid. My brother had Tinkertoys, Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets (ahem!)
but I could care less. I was only interested in exploring
and wandering through the fiields, playing cowboys and intdians and drawing and painting.
So the Title Should be Qualified....
How About "Great Toy for Little Nerds"?
omg. i had that when i was a kid. it lasted a long time too. it looks flimsy but it was actually pretty durable.
In the day and age of computer games, robots, ipods.....I wonder if kids would find this toy fun???
Great blog....Di
what great ideas from zoltan in the first comment!
they couldn't even find a kid to ACT like this toy was cool. i think it's neat as an adult, but there's no way my kid would spend more than 30 seconds on this. there's got to be better toys for budding treehugers.
=== author's response follows ====
Out of fairness to Lehman's, they are a supplier of Amish lifestyle goods and don't go for the hype style of promotion.
Meanwhile, how cool would it be if a next generation wind-toy was designed to charge iPods and toy robots and such via installation on the deck or in the garden?
"Made In The USA, and Lead Free are the qualities that make Lehmans a Best Ever"...
For the record, Lehman's carries lots more USA-made toys of which treehuggers should approve - many made locally, of good old-fashioned wood, by Amish craftsmen.
There...we've "hyped."
Hi guys...Mike from KidWind here. I agree PVC is not the greatest material...but unfortunately there is nothing out there that comes close in terms of stability and cost. We have tried a bunch of alternatives steel pipe, cpvc, PET alternatives...
We started as a very small group to improve wind energy materials for teachers but now that we are larger we are looking at making some changes to the design in terms of the tower. So please stay tuned. Of course, if you can design us an alternative, we will chase it down.
While I like the model you suggest, it suffers from the problem that many models suffer from: Once built there is no opportunity for change and therefore learning stops. It is a good toy but not a teaching device. If that is what you are looking for then great....