DWP - Futurist At Large

A Direction for Near Future Tech

With current technology there is a trend towards the combining of functions and technologies. Perhaps it is not a "Swiss Army Knife" of technology we are looking at, but when you look at all that is being included in some items like your typically carried Cell phones -- there is a lot there.

I believe that all Cell phones include a phone book in them to record the numbers of calls coming in or going out. This is of course more convenient when tied in with the service of call display which many if not most subscribe to or have included in their service. Most if not all the phones also have some sort of calendar function in addition to a watch function and at least rudimentary alarm function if not one that can be programmed in conjunction with the calendar. Combining these they often have a virtual appointment book ability which would have been the envy of any business executive 20 years ago.

Nearly everyone could if they wish, have access to voice mail as well for missed calls or be able to forward calls to or from a regular phone service to their mobile one. They also have options to send or receive text messages. The price for them of course varies depending on service contract and location. (Not to mention date, phase of the moon, tide, which direction the last dark bird flew past your gaze...)

Those are pretty well standard sorts of communication things you might expect.

A bit more than that are Internet capabilities including being able to access eMail, Internet Chat services, and actual World Wide Web access. You might pay a bit heftier dollar for that ability and even more if you would like to be able to plug your portable computer into your cell phone whether it is a Notebook or Net book computer.

Beyond that... many of not most cell phones have the ability to take digital photographs if not short digital videos. It seems to me that the 1 Megapixel resolution level is very common if not greater. That is a log greater than most people might need for use in digital images for the Internet. Of course we are not talking about the needs of photographers here.

The phones -- and we aren't talking about the expensive sort really -- very often include the ability to download and play games in addition to other things like "ring tones" and background art for the control screen that nearly all phones have. That is the same screen you screen your digital pictures and videos on as well as check your messages and everything on.

The phone as well can often be used to play music on and can do well as an mp3 player with only the addition of decent headphones or earbuds.

All those things on fairly normal cell phones.

Then we get to the "smart phones" which are virtually tiny computers with complete keyboards or alternate methods for data entry. Some have nearly gone away from keys completely opting for total touch screen control -- that allows for the entire top surface of the device to be used as the device screen. Those can act as total digital assistants... or PDA -- Pocket Digital Assistants -- like the Palm Pilots of all. They seem to have superceded the Palm Pilots if you ever try go shopping for them.

The mp3 player has expanded as well to include the abilities to record sound like a portable voice recorder. The mp players also routinely include FM radio recievers and have enough memory to allow them to carry digital computer files within -- thus acting as "pen drives" or "memory sticks". Of course the mp3 players themself can use memory cards which gets sorta circular. The mp3 player also expanded into playing video and being an mp4 player. This is where they overlapped or became or inspired or...(?) the portable video player. The really nice ones also forgo the buttons for touch screens... and are nearly identical to the cell phones with the same screens. They just don't have the cell phone function. Though the mp3/video player ones did gain the wireless networking capability tha allows them to comunicate wirelessly and hence the good ones can access the Internet and do everything else those cell phone ones can do. They even play the same games in the same ways... and I believe from the same sources. Did I mention the phones can download and play the same videos the video players can?

Then there are the portable game players -- they have gotten more and more powerful and gained the ability to network wirelessly as well, and you can access the Internet as well as computers with them. Many of them have touch screens and they can be used to play videos or watch pictures on -- much like the mp3/video playes I have mentioned and the cell phones.

There are also eBook players out there whose purpose is to hold and display eBooks in various formats. They connect either through networking cables or more commonly now through wireless networking.

I might finally mention the digital picture frames which are very limited and the PDAs that I think morphed into the "smart phones" and mostly disappeared.

Perhaps the edges between these things are very much blurring -- especially if you take into account the notebook/laptop computers and their slightly smaller cousin the net book. I do see a direction that things might take with this blurry tech fog.

I think that people will start thinking of what their primary focus is and then go for the device that handles that best. Then they will purchase a device that does that best -- meaning with all the features of that dedicated device -- and have that device fitted with all the other features that would be convenient not to have to carry as separate devices.

Here is an example of what I am speaking:

Let's say I have a hobby that is photography. I would go to a camera shop and purchase a nice camera. It would have the lenses or a lens system that I would want. (I am not a photographer, so please bear with me as I am not so conversant with the terms and stuff.) Having chosen the camera I would also have a camera that would have digital memory for digitally recording the images as well as recording them on film. (Providing it took film photographs as well as digital ones.) It would be able to record sound and some video as well. The camera would be able to play mp3 files as a music player through headphones or ear buds although they might be bluetooth wireless ones. I would also be able to watch video content on the display screen of the camera if I should so choose. The camera would also have wireless networking to connect with WiFi hotspots or my computer and if I should choose I should be able to activate it to a cell phone plan and use it as a cell phone with a handy blue tooth headset. Not to mention using the camera for "texting" messages or as an address or date book.

Conversely if my prime usage were as a student, perhaps all of these functions might take place through a portable computer -- probably a net book for portability -- that I would use for all those functions.

I guess the idea sort of falls apart if you don't want to carry the large item everywhere, like when you don't want to carry the net book to everything, or the camera, or the digital tape recorder, or the electric guitar (with the phone etc. built in...)... But for the photographer, videographer, reporter, author, or other person who always carries their tools around with them...

Hmm, I guess they aren't building them into paint brushes or pens quite yet... but how about those scientific or engineering calculators... they still make calculators don't they?

Later!
~ Darrell

158.

Too Real

When is it too much toy?

"Talk To Me Elmo" is an interesting toy. Now I have not seen one in action in person, but I have heard one in action over the phone being played with by my friend's 2-year-old and have seen the slightly more venerable "Tickle Me Elmo" which started that toy ball rolling. It was very interesting listening to "Elmo" chattering away with my "niece" while my friend was on the phone. My friend described how Elmo was flapping his arms and how my niece was flapping hers and later how she had set Elmo up at her drawing table expecting Elmo to do some drawing.

(image to left of "Talk To Me Elmo" from USA TODAY.com)

Now I don't think that "Talk To Me Elmo" is quite up to doing any drawing... yet ... but it did get me wondering about what people have said in the past about the effect of television on children. I was wondering about the effect of such life-like toys on children. There was always this controversy about how children might not understand the difference between reality and fiction, or reality and fantasy with the television offerings they had. That was combined with the large number of hours of TV viewing that children were starting to have.

Toys like the new Elmo might be bending that line further. Perhaps not too much problem with the current generation of Elmo toys, but what about the near future?

This Elmo can interact with the child at least by touch and "...remembers a child's name and habits..."¹ according the the 2005 article on USA TODAY.com. The current one I know does much and probably more than the 2005 edition.

I am not sure if we should be worried or at least be concerned over the direction toys might be taking in blurring the boundaries between toy and reality... or is it toy? These toys are small robots and computers and the children are becoming very comfortable with them.

Of course perhaps we have to watch about not the boundary between reality and illusion, fiction, or fantasy -- but rather the boundary between life and automation.

Later!
~ Darrell

153.

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¹ "New tech toys walk, talk and play tunes this Christmas" Sept 6 2005; Angela Moore; Reuters USATODAY.com -- Tech Products..

Boys and Their Toys

Boys and Their Toys Sometimes Don't Change

Now perhaps it is true that as the boys grow to men the toys just get more expensive, but I think that the saying has more to do with instead of there being bicycles there are cars. I am thinking of adults who think fondly of some of their childhood toys.

I have written about my own fond memories of Lego blocks (image to right -- image from Lego.com)and Plasticine modelling clay (image to left -- image from Mastermind Toys)already, but I also have fond memories of other toys.

There were my Tinker Toys (image to right -- image from Hasbro) which are the rods and disk and drums of wood that you join together to make structures. They could even be motorized and could be substantial in size if you engineered them correctly. I tended to build... space ships and submarines... with them...

There was the original GI-Joe (image to left -- image from ComicBookMovie.com) which of course was the 12 inch (1:6 scale) action figure with fully poseable limbs and uniforms and equipment to scale. Mine mostly was used as a rescuer or explorer and never really as a soldier. I had a "frogman" suit for him and made a few spacesuits.

There was also my Best Friend Brother's Mecanno Sets (image to right -- image from Meccano Canada Borgfeldt (Canada) Ltd) which were mechanical building toys made of metal with perforated strips and sheets; rods, pulleys, and wheels; and nuts, bolts, and washers in addition to a few wrenches and screwdrivers. They also sometimes included motors either battery powered or wind-up -- although my friend's brothers either didn't have them or wouldn't let us have them to use. We would build robots and spaceships and other vehicles with them... but mostly robots.

Those are among the other toys of my childhood and youth I sure seemed to want to play with spaceships and astronauts; submarines and aquanauts much of my youth -- and much of the time wanting to build. I had other toys too, but often eventually adopted them to those same two themes somehow.

Still when I had grown older -- over 21 -- and I found myself sitting with a large set of "Space Lego" I found I had great fun creating spaceships once more and it was even more fun with the new parts that came with the new sets. A younger cousin was visiting from out of town and brought his rather impressive (to me) collection.

What got me thinking about this was an image I stumbled upon using Stumble Upon. It was of a diorama-like setup that is very impressive looking. (image to the left -- image on cthulhuland 3) It is based -- I think -- on a Call of Cthuluu game, though it could be a story or comic to do with the mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft for his books. I'll link the image here to the originating page, but I can't find more than the link to the photo rather than the page that the photo might be included on. In case things move around and not to be stealing bandwidth. You can find a copy of the image here: cthulhu-lego.jpg, 1200x900 pixels

It is a very impressive diorama and I wonder just who might have put it together. I suspect that whomever wasn't a young kid and perhaps not even in their teens.

I think some adults stick with hobbies like Lego as an adult and build great things with them. Just as there are Etcha Sketch artists out there (you can look up that toy yourself) there are many toys I think that still captivate the young at heart.

I would like to do some diorama work myself using the art techniques I have learned combined with what I have learned about miniature painting and model railroading. I would like to bring in my computer graphic and design skills as well. I once thought about making my own model spaceships too, but why stick with Lego or Meccano, why not buy plastic sheeting and light metal to do work myself. I could get a few light tools to work with lightweight metal and plastic. I could buy nuts and bolts. I have an artist's skill to be able to hand craft things as well through sculpture and carving. I know a bit about mould making and casting too, though not nearly enough about pewter or brass casting... well next to nothing about brass casting and little about pewter other than a rough knowledge of how.

Still only slightly different toys than I tended to play with as a child. I want to make scale spaceships and submarines. I would like to make them sturdy enough to handle and detailed as well with working parts like hatches and ports.

I do think that adults can do pretty impressive things with "children's" toys. Maybe some day if I catch some more on Stumble I shall post links to them here.

Later!
~ Darrell

78.

Whoosh Zoom - Sonic Boom

Whoosh Zoom - The Jets On the Plane Go Sonic Boom

While not a great fan of war, I always have been interested in planes and ships and that includes military vehicles. Perhaps it is a holdover from childhood and loving things that were fast or big? I was facinated by airliners too and would have loved a collection of airliners as a child as well as military jets. I wasn't so interested in propeller aircraft as a child and in fact biplanes and planes with radial engines bothered me.

I had a number of models of jets including fighters and bombers. One of my favouritemodels was of the AVRO Arrow which probably came out at a time when the plane might actually have still been being designed or not long after the plan was scrapped. That was a pretty spectacular plane that might which might be serviceable even to current times it was so far advanced. Design features for it went into the Space Shuttle. Another model that was interesting was of the Hustler Supersonic Bomber. When I got older I had models of the F5 Freedom Fighter in the CF-5 variant the RCAF flew, the F104 Starfighter, and the SR71 Blackbird.

I was fascinated by tanks and military ships, though never really had any models of them. In part it was the evolution of them and the complexity of the systems involved. For tanks it was the "go anywhere" ability that drew me as a child.

Still I feel awkward with being interested in the military hardware while being against war. I believe first most in non violent solutions and feel that too often these are not sought with too much bravado being involved. But at the same time I support the soldiers who are representing our country and defending it. I feel for them and the families and friend they leave behind and recognize the dangers involved. I have even written to lonely servicemen who were feeling lonely for home and the pressures and dangers they were facing.

There are problems with an interest in planes, tanks, and ships. They are hard to go to see as a child unless you live the same place where those planes, tanks, and ships live other than occasional air shows. Making models can be a problem too. Even a few models take up a large amount of room. I would have loved to had bunches of models but there were no places to put them. Now of course I was not a simple typical collector as I would have wanted to play with the models as toys as well.

I wanted the models with the retracting landing gear, rotating turrets, rotating propellers, sliding cockpits, moving treads, and folding wings... of course some on tanks and some on planes and some on ships.

What I did do was read books and dream. Mom and Dad bought me the "Above And Beyond: The Encyclopedia of Aviation and Space Sciences" (image on left - image from Wikipedia) which had lots of space and plane stuff in it. Mine was the first 1968 edition, there was at least one later edition. Later I bought some books on tanks and ships.

Still books with pictures were very pricey.

There is some satisfaction with collecting the lead figures used for "war games". Actually they are pewter and not pure lead - though they are not recommended for young children. It is possible to collect many vehicles in a small volume with a set of utility drawers or a case. But there is not a lot of detail really beyond the three dimensional shape of the figure. Still, not only is it possible to collect the figure, but you can research and paint them and you can do some modification of them and if you are a bit handy you can actually make your own.

Making your own is handy for the rarer ones. "Above and Beyond" can be handy for that. You can carve or mould your plane out of wax or even Plasticine and then create a rubber mould using that. Then you can melt your own pewter on a camp stove on the picnic table or in the workshop and cast your own figure and even trade them with friends because once you have made a mould for your figure you can easily cast others. Since you created the original and the mould I figure nobody can fault you for doing so as long as you didn't use someone else's figure for a master.

Flight simulators and simulator games like tank combat ones brought other directions that one could take with an avid interest in this technology. It could be pricey still, but it was more and more like you were actually able to try out the cockpit or bridge of these craft. I never was so big on games unfortunately so I really didn't have the game machines to run them on. My computers were what were optimal for doing things like writing or simple graphics not high speed high action gaming - and then gaming moved back from computers to dedicated game machines where they started.

The Internet and World Wide Web opened new worlds of opportunity. At first perhaps it might have been a bit of a hunt for information on aircraft, tanks, or ships - but later not only could you find reams of photos, but also specifications, plans, diagrams, and even 3D virtual models.

The 3D virtual models are very interesting and the artists doing them do some very impressive work. I don't know so much about the models though because they are the realm of artists who are creating 2D artwork using the models and what models I have seen are available for sale through various agencies. Even then I wonder how big they are - how much hard drive space they take up. Then there is organizing the collection and figuring out what to collect...

Still I am considering a collection of 3D virtual models... Now the shelf space - I mean hard drive space...

Later!
~ Darrell

69.

Of Course It Is Only a Scale Model...

Of Course It Is Only a Scale Model... and it's Green

The Joy of Plasticine!

Perhaps even more hours than I spent playing with my LEGO I played with my Plasticine! (image on right from Mastermind toys.com) I am not sure if I discovered the incredible stuff in Kindergarten - that is for five-year-olds here in much of Canada, and was not yet mandatory when I was five in Alberta - or if I discovered it earlier. I am fairly certain it was in Kindergarten for I didn't have it at home... yet!

What we had at kindergarten for the most part was all coloured a strange sort of grey colour. The colour really didn't matter to me and at the time I didn't know that Plasticine, or modelling clay, came in different colours. I just thought it was incredible stuff that you could roll into lon snakes and make stuff out of. Perhaps much time was spent making balls and snakes and flat disks. But I also progressed to making basket or bowl shapes and the like. They were not huge sit on the shelf sorts of things, but just small kid things that you might be able to make with a quarter to half a cup of the clay... perhaps even a whole cup! I did wonder how you could make the stuff harden like the clay they made stuff on TV. I also knew that a few of the TV shows I watched use "clay" for the puppets. There was "Davy and Goliath" (image on right) and "Gumby and Pokey" (image on left) though the latter came later.

Mom made some modelling dough stuff at home for Sunday School out of salt and flour, but that just wasn't the same and it was so very salty and didn't mold right. I think my cousins had "Play Dough" but that smelled like a sort of candy-dessert that I really didn't care for and it really didn't feel right either. I sometimes discovered that I had some of the marvellous Plasticine in my pockets when I got home from Kindergarten and began collecting it at home until I actually had enough to play with at home. It wasn't anything done on purpose, mind you. Just one of those things that happens when five-year-olds play.

Eventually I discovered that Plasticine came in different colours and that the grey stuff of the Kindergarten play time was grey because it was a mixture of all the colours at once. I still did not mind because I really could not understand how a person might create something with modelling clay and still keep the colours separate. I am not sure if it was Mom or me who eventually bought the green Plasticine I got at home? I think maybe in time - and perhaps bathwater - the grey stuff got too yucky to keep. So from then on everything I made was with slightly higher quality green modelling clay. The monochromatic pallet did not bother me at all and I was always fond of green even when blue was my favourite colour.

I did get "Silly-Putty" (image on right) which I thought was rather fun, but silly because it wouldn't hold a form. It did have the ability to bounce and it could transfer "funny pages" or news print images to itself. It also could either stretch or crack like glass depending on how you handled it. You did have to be careful where you kept it because it sort of flowed like a liquid - albeit slowly. It became like a protoplasmic friend to my GI-Joe. I also got something called "Goop" - I think - which was a powder you mixed with water which became something like Silly-Putty but because you could have a larger amount you could blow a large bubble with it. Rather than the flesh coloured Silly-Putty, the Goop was a really dark reddish purple. I am not sure what became of it, but it was even runnier than the Silly-Putty. (It wasn't the "Plasti-Goop" used in Mattel's Thing-Maker and it isn't the Slime Kids have today.. though might be related to the later. Probably some sort of starch or algenate product.

The Silly-Putty and Goop could never hold a candle to the Plasticine though.

Later I used the Plasticine-modelling clay to make a mould for a paper maché mask. I discovered a new, more adult use for the Plasticine and thought about what I might make with it that I might make moulds of. I couldn't quite figure out the whole thing yet, but I went from fooling around to trying to make specific objects with it.

I loved making dinosaurs out of it and I also made submarines and space ships with it. It was much more flexible than the LEGO ever was for that, but the flexibility and pliability of the modelling clay was also a problem. Later I discovered that I could use a combination of body heat or a short while in the freezer to change the modelling consistancy of the clay. I also started to gather a few different tools for carving and forming the clay.

In the meantime, what led me to gathering up tools was my experience with using actual potter's clay. We had pottery in school and they taught us how to model and mold and sculpt that. I even learned a bit about throwing pots on a wheel and slabbing the clay in preperation for use. What I knew from my years with Plasticine did transfer a bit to the potter's clay though you don't stretch potter's clay like you do Plasticine.

For a while I made "Star Wars" and "Battlestar Galactica" type space ships for fun and tried my hand at making them consistantly enough so that I could make a handful of the same ship even if not actually copying any of the ships from the shows. I learned that to save clay I could mould the clay around other objects like marbles or pieces of wood. I could thus save on clay, but I also learned that these would act as "armatures" for more fragile areas.

With my experiences with Plasticine I learned a lot about working with three dimensional form. I actually realize that I can work in 3 dimensions better with two in artwork. My sculpting and carving is good for the amount of actual practical time I can put into it. I can also take a lump of clay and model it into whatever form I want and can imagine or see. If I see a cartoon character on TV or in a book, I can fairly quickly make it up with Plasticine and probably could as easily do it in other mouldable materials. It would only take some more work to do so with something needing carving and sculpting.

I still have yet to trasfer those skills to actual 3D work on the computer even though I can visualize what I need for my 2D working.

I do plan on doing more, making models with the Plasticine, or perhaps in wax or soap and then with rubber, alginate, plaster of paris, or perhaps paper mache make a mould of it so I can cast more permanent models or figures from plaster, ceramic, pewter, wax, or whatever.

I really still do love to have some Plasticine on hand to work with. I would like to collect some good and simple and easy to make in the kitchen recipes for things like Plasticine so I can make my own at home in colours and with the qualities I desire. For instance ones that will air harden and ones that won't, some that might harden in the oven. And ways to make it whatever colour I wish or be paintable or decorateable however I wish.

Still the neat thing is simply creating! Fun even if it is only in green...

Later!
~ Darrell

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WiseGEEK - What is Plasticine? -o- Plasticine - Wikipedia -o- Home Plasticine Video - metacafe (Not really Plasticine, but that salt and flour modelling dough) -o- The EffectsLab.com - View Topic - can clay be oiled again??? my oil based clay = drying out (Some Plasticine Recipes are on this page.)

68.

Let Go of my LEGO! - Childhood Pass Times

Let Go of My LEGO!

Favourite Childhood Toys.

I used to spend hours playing on my own when I was little. I guess I was a bit of a loner as a child. I did like to play with other kids, but often found myself quietly playing on my own in the living room or in my bedroom. I had this wonderful toy I got for Christmas one year. It was my second set of bricks and could do so much more it seemed than my first set of plastic bricks which seemed only good for building walls and buildings. This new set had a fun name - LEGO!

The modern style bricks were actually first patented in January 1958 - 50 years ago - but "...it took another five years to find exactly the right material for it."* I guess this means, since I was born in June 1958, that I must have had one of the first sets of the modern LEGO. Not meaning a first edition or anything collector worthy - rather meaning that I had the opportunity to be one of the first kids to be playing with the toy and enjoying it. I feel rather privileged.

Now the set I had, had three bricks with holes for wheels and six wheels with tires. (The rubber tires did not fair very well for they were indeed nice and chewy and I was a tactile kid.) It also had an odd piece which would act as a flexible trailer hitch. The set also had a window block and a window door block. These were in addition to a number of transparent plastic versions of the regular LEGO blocks.

I think the set was a moderately large one and was intended to be very general. It had pieces to build both houses and vehicles. I did build wheeled vehicles with it, but not too many houses or buildings. What I did tend to build with it was submarines and space ships!

I thought the wheels made excellent space motor propulsion things... not like some sort of space wheel to drive on, but like some sort of energy emitter so they faced to the rear of the spacecraft. You have to remember that the original "Star Trek" and "Lost in Space" were on television. I also thought they made good ultra scientific submarine motor propulsors like they used on "Stingray" the Supermarionation show. I also didn't keep things strictly to the LEGO bricks. I would add whatever seemed like it would fit which might include marbles and bits and pieces from broken ball point pens like springs and the bits inside the pen tops that made the nib go in and out. (I also learned a lot about how the mechanics of pens worked.) It was good to have a box of buttons and bits to include in my LEGO bricks.

That included small figures from other toys. The set of LEGO I had didn't have any LEGO figures in it. I am not sure that LEGO included them yet. So I took figures from other toys of mine. I liked the "army men" that were in general poses like seated for in a jeep or plane and I had figures that never seemed to get into model planes as well. They all were crew for my subs and space ships. One of my favourites was my "little blue man" I think actually I had a few so I called them my "little blue men". It gives me a giggle when I see the "Blue Men Group" performing because they look like my "little blue men" come to life.

I could while away the hours with both building and playing with the models I made with the LEGO.

My imagination would soar to the stars or plunge to the ocean depths - of course my companions were things like National Geographic's articles on undersea exploration and habitats and similar articles on space exploration. Perhaps it was play like that which has lead me in part to where I am with a good education and crisp mind ready to imagine most anything? I know if I have children, they will have toys they can make toys with. That includes a box of buttons and stuff... well taking care that they are old enough not to choke on the wee bits.

Later!
~ Darrell

BTW You can find a page for LEGOLAND and as well as the LEGO.com site there is a LEGO Shop. I found a page about a collection of all the LEGO sets ever made too in The Lego Secret Vault - someone should let them know they are using the trademark name wrong.

66.

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*Lego - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. I have read this in other sources as well.

PS This post is in Red because most of my Lego Blocks were Red with a few specialty ones that were Transparent, White, or Blue and one or two that were Yellow.

Some Fun

Some Fun With Computer and Printer

Today's technology opens up a few new avenues for having fun and making simple toys using the computer. Of course there is simply scanning sketches and doodles and printing them up to glue onto cardboard to make paperdolls of sorts. You could also scan magazines... but I guess you could just cut up the magazines...

Now with artwork you probably won't want to cut it up so scanning is a good option for that. But there are other things a bit more advanced I was really thinking of when I decide to write. I was actually inspired by a website which had some very simple things you could print out to fold and cut and tape together as toys.

This page is called "Fwis - Readymech Series 002". I shall have to search for series 001 while I am at it... They are a bit cubic and I know there are actually some pretty complex paper models out there. These are intended for making in 10-15 minutes.

The sketch I included with this article is actually a character from a game I played in which I sketched up during the game. Nothing really to do with printing up toys.

I think that a person might use a computer and printer to print up house sides with windows and doors to paste on simple little boxes for houses for toy car villiages. You might cut out the doors and windows and print up tile patterns for the roofs which would be little tent-like structures you could settle on your small buildings.

They might not be up to Scale Model Railroad standards but, for a bit of playtime fun could be grand. You might even include small pictures of the kids and cut them out with little crossed paper stands so they stand up in order to have figures for the little village you might create.

Consider the fun scenes you might create like for Christmas? A bit of cotton batten and some houses and a nice little cozy Christmas scene for a table top.

Of course you are the judge as to how sharp a scissors you allow your child to use and know how dexterous they would be with tape or glue and folding small things. An adult might get very creative in their own play!

Later!
~Darrell