href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/artsyville/6228247765/" title="wonderscope-folders by artsyville, on Flickr">
We took our final trip yesterday to Wonderscope, a hands-on children's museum near Kansas City that we always adore visiting because it is bright, cheery, educational, big enough to keep the kids' interest for a long time, and too small to get lost or overwhelmed. Within it is one of the coolest crafty concepts I've ever seen: the Repurpose, iMagine, Create store, a tiny room crammed with art/craft supplies and recyclables priced at next to nothing. The goal of the store is simply to encourage teachers, parents, kids & crafters to repurpose old stuff instead of buying new. Hardly anything costs more than a quarter.
The store is funded entirely by donations so it's like an ever-rotating garage sale. This time I saw latch hook yarn (!), greeting cards (one penny each), rolls of cash register tape, film canisters, fabulously cheesy paint by numbers, baby food jars, acrylic paints, ribbons, yarns, fabrics, envelopes, paper, even pieces of someone's personal scrapbook from the 70s. It's all more or less sorted out by category, but still jumbled up enough to make a treasure hunter happy. I found many a stack that looked (and smelled) like it had been in Grandma's attic for at least 40 years. So much fun to dig through. A place where you can still get away with giving the kids an allowance of 50 cents. Paper Source it is not, but if you're looking for the thrill of the find (and a year's worth of crafty projects) for less than the change under one sofa cushion, this place is indeed a scope of wonder.
34 comments:
what an awesome playground!
have fun, dear friend!! XOX
Oh Amy, What a magical place. Wish there was something here like that. Thanx for sharing.
i love creative crafty places like this......definitely food for the good ol' iMagination!! xoxox
That is such a neat idea! What fun!
Wow, what a great idea!! Going to have to add this to our "must do" list!
brilliant idea indeed! my eye went straight to the square bits which would be perfect for further exploration on this brief i'm working on :)
I never knew that was there! That's so great, a person could stock up on crafty goodies to keep the kiddos busy for a long time! Incredibly fun.
WHat an awesome place...and I just realized another reason blogging is great: you can document favorite places so when you move and the kids are older, you can point them to a particular post to jog their memories! ;-)
that is TRULY amazing!!
JUST my kind of place!!!
What an amazing place! I've never seen anything like it. Seems like we should all have a place for repurposing, imagining, and creating nearby.
This must be what Heaven is like......
wow! what an awesome place!
the boston children's museum has a room like that, too! i'm still using buttons repurposed from there like 13 years ago! i thinnk they were sold by 5lb bags.
what a fab find! i remember collecting pringles cans for school projects...this place is a teacher's dream.
I am ready! I saw some things that i would definitely bring home and could even afford! LoL
Once again you inspire and make everything look fun and artsy!
I would have bought the painting by numbers, I used to love doing them as a child and wouldn't mind doing one again now!
I LOVE IT! What an amazing concept!
Oh that sounds a wonderful place!! I would love it and so would my kids. Only trouble is I would likely get carried away and pretty much have a replica store in my own house before long. Actually I kinda do already because of my always seeing potential use in things other people throw away. LOL.
Kat :-) X
that place looks like the promised land. Especially because they sell latch hook yarn.
OMG!!! What a fabulous concept for a store!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaahhh!
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Oh gosh... I just love the idea of that store! Too cool, just wish it was closer!
But I have to thank you for the pics... my creative heart was jumping for joy imagining the possibilities!
wow that must have been some trip. I seriously love that last photo. Is that a type of mural created for the shop or part of an exhibit?
Glad you had so much fun!
Looks like a treasure trove!
I want to try my hand at making a shaped wall like that... I want to play!
i would go wild in aplace like that - actually the cupboard under my sink is starting to look a bit like that with all the formula cans that I can't let go of.
Christmas is coming, after all :) and instead of giving biscuits (you call them cookies), I'm giving biscuit mixes :) in gorgeous scrapbook paper cans with nice big bows
Our closest local store like that is over an hours drive away I used to go over to get VBS supplies each year but you could never be sure what range of stuff they would have.
I just took a deep breath and inhaled all that goodness you shared.
Simply brilliant. The concept makes me positively giddy and completely inspired. Thanks so much for sharing.
now I am totally jellyass, I would've loved that place.
Wow! What an amazing art inspiring outing. I've heard there is a similar store about an hour from my house and I may just have to take a field trip soon.
Oh, super cool! Guilt-free shopping in every way! grace
HOW COOL and so much FUN!! In my hometown of Lancaster, PA we have Lancaster Creative Reuse also a nonprofit where all the inventory is donated and prices are fantastic!
http://www.lancastercreativereuse.org
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