Toys for Tots

I love toys, can't you tell? I also love to give other people toys. Every year for the past 9 years I have challenged students in my woodworking class to make toys for needy kids in our area. We make wooden cars, trucks, tic-tac-toe boards, and new this year jig saw puzzles. Our goal is to make 50 toys and we did it once again. We also makes some little animals with wheels on their feet, and a doll cradle.The toys are delivered to a local agency, the Ivin's Outreach Center, who distributes to toys to families who otherwise might not have a Christmas. Below is a photo of a few of the toys the kids made. Some of the cars and trucks are around the sides and in the center you can see some of the puzzles put together and other packaged up in baggies at the bottom.

Along with all the toys the kids and I make, I also always buy a bunch of toys to donate. The Ivin's Outreach Center is actually a distribution point for Toys for Tots, so I skip dropping the toys into a barrel and take them straight to were the Marines take the toys. I bought a complete set of Thundercats toys that have been on clearance at Big Lots and Ollie's. I asked to ladies if they could find a family with a couple of brothers to give these toys to. I figured a bunch of brothers have a blast playing with this set. (I know there is two Tygras in the photo and no Panthro, but I did fix that issue)

Here are some books, coloring books, and comic books that I donated to be handed out with the toys. Reading is a good thing, and if you buy the right books can be fun also. There is also an Iron Man paper arts and craft set.

The bottom picture here show some other toys I picked up for them to hand out. A lot of these were on clearance at Toy R Us right before they reset for Christmas. There is some Thundercats, Men in Black 3, Green Lantern, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Redakai figure. Some of the other odds and ends came from Nerd Block, a monthly grab bag subscription I receive each month.