Frontier Logs

Okay, I admit to being in a rut. This is another design from the LINCOLN LOGS Building Manual, by Dylan Dawson. But this time it is using Frontier Logs, and shows some modifications because of that.

Frontier logs are round, without the top & bottom flats of modern Lincoln Logs (I call this "lantern-shape," because the crossection resembles the shape of the glass globe of an old railroad lantern - circular for most of the circumference but spreading outward towards top and bottom to allow flats at top and bottom - some paper lanterns also have this shape). Okay, some of you are saying "modern? that's what they were like way back when!" True: most of the Lincoln Logs called "vintage" are also this shape. Before World War II, and for a while after, Lincoln Logs were round. Maybe somebody will tell me when they changed.

In any case, the design for the book shows full logs in the bottom layer of this design. I wanted to see if it was possible to build that with round logs, and after several efforts that braced the lower logs until the upper cross-members were in place, I decided that it wasn't just too much to ask of children, it was too much to ask of me.

If I seriously wanted to do this, I would make some 3/4" square, 3/8" thick, gray-painted blocks to go in the bottom notches to serve as "foundation stones." I might still do that at some point, but for today, I just used flat-bottomed half-logs, as are used in most linking-logs constructions.

I could have borrowed a plastic roof the right size from my Lincoln Log stuff, but I wanted to show that that isn't necessary. In fact, by doing mix-and-match roofs, you can get a lot more than 37 different constructions out of the book without ever changing the log-building.

Illustrations of Frontier Logs generally show alternating green & yellow roof pieces, but that bothers me, so I split them between the two sides.

Frontier Log parts in general lack the consistent dimensions and quality of finish of current Lincoln Log production, but in a way , that is part of their charm. Sort of like Roy Toy. Some manageable challenge for builders with a little experience.

I would certainly recommend Lincoln Logs for younger kids, but the alternatives can be good for older, more resilient builders.

Good Block Play.

I had this written and almost ready to post when I wandered into the living room and found Webby asleep between the book and my portable backdrop. By the time I got my camera, he had stretched and was sitting up, hence the picture at top replaces my original picture below.

Nostalgia Lincoln Logs

Lincoln Logs are currently made in two series: Classic, as shown at right above, in the structure built & illustrated for Friday's post, and Nostalgia, center above.

The Nostalgia line is all wood, with dark-colored logs, and happily resembles what Baby Boomers played with as kids, except with an improved roof slat system, and the newer logs with the flat top and bottom faces.

The Classic series has lighter-colored logs, and plastic roofs and accessories. Is it possible that this is actually the kind of Lincoln Log set that young parents today remember from their own childhoods? They seem too recent to me, but I suppose it is possible.

The design is another from the LINCOLN LOGS Building Manual, by Dylan Dawson, and could just have readily been built with light logs, or the red-brown logs of an intermediate era. Old roof slats or half-logs of a contrasting color could be used if one didn't have the green roof slats shown in the book. I made a slight adjustment to use only two four-notxh (#11) logs, instead of the four in the book.

I went back yesterday & edited Friday's post to add some remarks about the Learning benefits of instruction sheets, and to sneak in an inconspicuous link to a parts lists for the above book. That list isn't entirely accurate, being based on my counting the parts as shown in the assembly drawings, which is subject to various error, but it is a start.

I am enjoying the book, and enjoying building with Lincoln Logs.

Good Block Play.

Why sample designs?

Building from an existing design and building freestyle are not necessarily the same activities. "Creative play" seems to get all the good press, so it seems only fair to say something more here about building from example designs other than "I like it."


Sample designs may be considered to serve several purposes:

• Marketing - show how the blocks (or figurative "blocks") might look in play, to encourage purchase - typically by someone who will not actually play with them, and may not even be around when they are in play.
  
• Demonstration - no matter how clever we might be, we can still miss some trick that provides for more variety, more entertainment, in constructing. Also helps those of us that need 'baby steps' to get back into something. Sometimes Marketing designs help demonstrate & vice versa, but often there is no overlap.
  
• Challenge - at some point, even knowing all the tricks, we might become bored; good challenges break us out of that and keep us playing, even steer us into new creative play.
  
• Ritual - this is often most important to me, since it provides a therapeutic benefit at critical times; it is almost the opposite of Challenge, in that it replaces anxiety with something perhaps akin to boredom, but ultimately satisfying.
• Learning - a large, but often subtle, benefit of a good set of instructions is in teaching the child - or refreshing the adult - how to follow instructions, how to proceed step-by-step to accomplish a goal. The process can be more important than the objective.
  

Perhaps all of these fall under an overall heading of Confidence - The examples usually provide designs that we know can be built with the prescribed parts, whether harder or easier, learning or relaxation.

There can be exceptions, of course. Sometimes a building set will include plans that require additional sets - with or without a notation to that effect. Sometimes there are errors and a part or two beyond the prescribed set may be needed. Sometimes it is just a mystery.

A great example of the latter is the LINCOLN LOGS Building Manual, by Dylan Dawson. No parts lists. No correspondence of designs to currently available products. Great fun. The top image today is from & of this book.

There is also a companion TINKERTOY Building Manual.

One of the things that often amazes and worries me on Amazon.com is how often in user reviews, a reviewer will have bought the biggest, most advanced construction set of some kind for a youngster, "because you could build more/bigger things with it," then write a review complaining that the tot couldn't build the designs without help. They should have bought a smaller set for beginners, they come with simpler plans - for beginners. Then if it works out, move up to bigger challenges.

Starting with something too challenging, with an overwhelming complexity and number of parts, can turn a child off not just the toy in question, but can damage their self-confidence in much broader and more enduring ways.

Start small, move up. Make sure there are example plans for building confidence.

Have Good Block Play.

This post has been kicking around in draft form for several weeks, because it is something I wanted to refer to in other posts, but wasn't quite sure how to put together. I am probably not done modifying it, but I keep finding myself wanting to refer to it, so it is here. It will probably continue to be revised.

Addendum 12/5/09 - added "learning" bullet to the purposes, suggested by a comment from "Emmadad."