(November, 1998): Kids Activities for Families, a Woman's Day Magazine Special Interest Publication, which offers suggestions for toys, games, and activities for children. It appears twice yearly, part of a monthly series. QUARKS™ is one of the selections in the "Discoveries" section, on page 8.

Our thanks to Mothering Magazine for including   QUARKS™ Creative Building
System among their recommendations of toys for the Holiday season. (Sept. 1998
issue.)  We quote: "One of our staffers says it's the only thing that has kep her three year old entertained without Mommy".
     We hear over and over about the unique ability of QUARKS™ to hold the interest and attention of children for extended periods and over a wide range of ages: but it's especially nice to see it in print in Mothering.   We have had many calls from readers.
   

QUARKS™:  RECENT COMMENTS FROM PARENTS AND TEACHERS
The most recent (11/1/98) are at the bottom of this page - except for this gem, received 2/10/99,
just in time for Valentine's Day.  QUARKS™ gets a love-letter via e-mail from Kristyn Bennett, a teacher in the Oxnard School District, Oxnard, California.

Date: 2/10/99 10:31:18 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: bennett@jetlink.net (Hank & Kristyn Bennett)
To: turnertoys@aol.com
I received my order for Quarks a few weeks ago. My students can not get enough of them! We have had lots of rain lately so they came at the perfect time. Everyone enjoys them and I see creations that range from simple rattles to more complex robot structures. The students are using their imagination to see what they can do. There is no other single item in my room that has caused all students to engage in problem solving strategies at whatever level they are ready for. One of the best classroom purchases I have made in a long time. Thanks! Kristyn Bennett

Stowe Kids Company Tries a New Kind of Toy
In July, Ed Loewenton, owner of the Elwood Turner Co., toymakers in Morrisville, Vermont, showed up at the Stowe Kids Company with a set of QUARKS™ Creative Building System.  QUARKS™  is a wood construction toy, a little like the old Tinker Toys, but more colorful and more substantial. We stopped by a few weeks later to ask how they liked it. We spoke to Kathy Jones, director of the preschool and daycare for children 18 months to seven years of age.
Like all the staff at Stowe Kids Co., Kathy is a certified teacher. She graduated from Johnson State College in 1983, taught at Waitsfield and Johnson elementary schools, and worked in Cape Cod with autistic children in a group home. We asked Kathy if the children were still finding  QUARKS™ fun to play with.

"Oh, yes. They've been returning to it on their own initiative every day. The children's attention span is very good with Quarks, I think because they find an easy success with it, without running out of new things to do with it. The children are intrigued by the parts that move against with each other. I also like the way they play well together with the toy. I've seen mixed groups of two- to five-year-olds play well together."

Kathy showed us a plastic toy consisting of large, interlocking parts.
"This comes from Germany. The children don't like it as much. The play is much more restricted by the nature of the parts: they have to go together in a certain way. And it's too difficult for the youngest to get the parts to go together. Sometimes they bring me the parts and say `Kathy, you do it!'. With Quarks, even a two-year-old can do something. The basic play, the mechanics, are easier. And they can play with the older children, because each plays at their own level.
"Quarks has been especially good for `Quiet Times' after naps. The first ones awake can stay with it for a while, while the other children are waking up. I don't have to go find something else for them after a while."
We asked if they made "Star Wars" toys out of the Quarks parts, as children influenced by TV and movies often do.
"I've seen no weapons, although they do make that sort of thing with Legos and other toys."

A Phone call from Catherine Liesenfeld, Dubois, Wyoming, December 29, 1997 (excerpts): We just got one of your QUARKS™ Apprentice sets for our children. We're thrilled with it. We are home-schooling our seven children: 3 boys of our own, ages 8 to 10, and four Russian children we adopted. They are 2 to 5 years old. The Russian children arrived deficient in some motor skills we take for granted, but they are catching up quickly. QUARKS™ is the sort of toy that can actually help with that process. It's really a good toy for all our kids. It makes them think creatively. Our older boys are making mechanical things with it, and I think they are ready to try some of the projects in the instructions. QUARKS™   is the type of toy that kids spend time with and go back to. Other toys make the same claim, but it isn't necessarily true. What other things do you make?

Mrs. Martha Folz of Eau Claire, WI, called last week to order some Spare Parts™.
"We have two sets, the largest and the smallest, and four boys, 16 months to 7 years, and they all play with  QUARKS™.  The youngest can put the rings on a dowel, and gets gets all excited and just thinks he's the greatest!"

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY TEACHERS COLLEGE  has purchased a large selection of
QUARKS™ for a new study on spatial perception and development in talented children.
Dr. Lisa Wright is directing the project, which will begin with a pilot study of six four-year-olds, making general observations of behavioral content in an unstructured setting.  We eagerly await her initial comments on the interactions of the children with QUARKS™.

October, 1998
If we didn't enjoy hearing these things so much, it would be getting monotonous... More praise for QUARKSTM Creative Building System

     This month we heard from the New Heights Children's Center, a daycare in Morrisville (our fair town!), run by Sue Cutler; and Karen Seaman's kindergarten class at the Morristown Graded School.  Each has a QUARKS™ Master Builder (126 pieces).
    Sue's daycare center has children from 6 weeks to 6 years old. The children from ages 3 to 6 are playing with QUARKS™. She gives us an update about a month after they got the new toy:

    "Usually when we get a new toy in, everyone wants to play with it, then no one does. But the kids are still playing with QUARKS™. Every day at `quiet time'` - that's the period when the children are getting up from their naps - someone always has it out. It's good for at least 30 minutes of quiet play.
    "You know, even though the set doesn't look all that big, maybe enough for two children, four can play with it with plenty of parts to choose from. The 3-year-olds mostly just stack rings on the, what do you call them, rods. The 5-year-old boys make cars a lot, and the girls like to make abstract things, that look like atoms or something.
    "The kids also make games out of QUARKS™, like ring toss, or they create their own games.      "I like them. I think the colors are neat!"

Karen told us that

    "They have more variety than your typical blocks, so they build more than houses and roads - more moving parts to create machines, ferris wheels, etc.
    "The children don't have any preconceived idea of what to make with QUARKS™.  So they make a greater variey of things, unlike with other toys."
    Karen tells us that she and her 6-year-old son took her set of QUARKS™ to a friend's house. The friend has a 10-year-old boy. The two children played together with QUARKS™.  The older boy talked about "the energy that made the parts spin". Both parents were delighted with it.
    "It kept them busy for hours."

NOVEMBER 2, 1998
In the space of two hours today, we got three versions of the same phone call.

Call #1: "Last fall, I bought a set of QUARKS™ for my grandson. I got it from Gardeners Supply, but they don't carry them this year. They very kindly told me how to reach you. I want to buy another set for my grandson, to add to his collection. He just loves them!"

Call #2: "Last year I bought a small set of QUARKS™ for my five- year-old grandson in England. It is without doubt his favorite toy! I want to get a larger set for him. It took me a whole week to track you down; Gardeners Supply, who has no more in stock, were very kind to help me contact you."

Call #3: "I want to get another set for my son, and a set for a friend. When I saw QUARKS™ last year, I thought `This is beautiful! This is what I want to get next year, too." But TCTOY [the catalog] has gone out of business. I don't usually save packaging material, but I'm glad my husband saved the QUARKS™ package!"

The common theme?   Extraordinary customer satisfaction!
© 1998 18th Century Industries, Inc.     Please read copyright notice.