Mr. McGroovy’s Box Rivets

Nice. As Dan put it – “Why didn’t I think of that?”

These little rivets, along with a copy of “Dangerous Book for Boys” should be an almost no-brainier for a Christmas or Birthday present this year for any child 7-17.

You know how kids like playing with big boxes more than the toys inside, and can go weeks making a “fort” out of a dishwasher box? But they inevitably fall apart even with the best duct tape, string, bailing wire, etc.

Now imagine a simple product that could be used just like a sheet metal rivet but with cardboard. Drill/punch/cut a little hole, slide/click two rivet-ends together, and you have a great physical bond that is stronger than tape, much more solid, and reusable.

We’ve had them less than a week and already the kids have started work on their first structure. Now with these new tools you can start thinking of all kinds of other things to build (that’s how you know it is a great find, when new possibilities and ideas emerge once you see the possibilities).

One tip if you go out looking for big boxes (which you will once you get going with these. You have to think of stores that not only sell big things in boxes (e.g. appliances) but also do delivery from the store. For example, Sears sells a lot of big appliances, but does not deliver from the store at the mall – they deliver from a central warehouse (so don’t go there). We had good luck at Circuit City and Best Buy. But call ahead since you need to make sure they have some boxes and they haven’t already gone to “the crusher”.

Next we need to figure out how to paint and decorate some of the boxes. And we need to “pre-plan” the next one a little instead of just sticking boxes together as we find them :-).