By Donald H. Harrison
CARLSBAD, California — It’s a cynical way to look at it, but perhaps parents of preschoolers and elementary school students will consider the recent economic slowdown as a blessing in disguise. When microbiologist Rudy Gonzalez was laid off from the biotech industry last year, he became a house husband. Taking responsibility for filling the days of his two pre-school daughters, Gonzales began to investigate what was available.
“I started going to all these different activity centers and I ended up noticing that at some of these places all you basically do is sit down on the couch, watch TV and look at the kids play,” Gonzales commented during a pause in a 6-year-old child’s birthday party, held at his start-up business, Build It–The Kid Workshop.
“Then I went to the (Reuben H. Fleet) science museum (in San Diego’s Balboa Park) and started building blocks with my kids, and later I went to the Children’s Museum in downtown San Diego, and that’s where I got the idea for this business,” Gonzales related. At a Children’s Museum table covered with blocks, he sat and played for 45 minutes with daughters Elia and Maddy, who today are 4 and 3 years old. “I thought to myself that was the most interaction I have had at these places.
“So I went back and bought blocks just for my daughters and then, going into research about blocks, I learned about open play, creativity, about the lack of hands-on programs at schools, the lack of science programs at schools.”
So Gonzales decided to start a business where young children could find “something different to do, whether it be science and technology, robotics, building rockets, race cars, or other stuff like that. ” In the open-play model, kids are free to try to assemble toys on their own, “so if they build something and it fails, that’s okay,” Gonzales said. “They are in an environment where they are supported.”
One of the employees at Build It-The Kid Workshop (in a shopping center at 1818 Marron Road) is Jackie Meyers, who grew up in nearby Encinitas, received a degree in English literature from UCLA and recently returned from a “Birthright” Trip to Israel.
She told me that a lot of parents come into the play center and think “oh this is a boy’s place,” which she said is 180 degrees from the truth. Little girls like Elia and Maddy love to build things, just like little boys. “They want to be just as hands-on as the boys are,” she said. “If you take a child to Legoland or to a museum or a technology center, boys and girls will both love it. There’s not that much a difference.”
On Saturday, March 9, Corina Desida came with her son, Jake Hill, to a birthday party thrown for 6-year-old Sky Masori, my grandson. Most of the attendees were the boys in his kindergarten class. For Build-It — The Kid Workshop, the occasion was noteworthy because it was the first birthday party held at the facility since it opened about a month ago. My daughter, Sandi Masori, owner of Balloon Utopia, brought balloons for the children to fashion into animals, bows and arrows, and the like, adding to the regular options.
Desida said she thought the overall concept was “good for girls and boys; my daughter would love it.” She added that “as a parent I like the idea that they had me sanitize my hands as we came in — that’s awesome.”
Gonzales explained that having everyone who will touch the blocks and other building toys first sanitize their hands is a preventive health measure, designed to prevent the spread of germs. Parents who enter the facility also are required to sign a liability waiver indicating that it is their responsibility to supervise their children’s play. Employees will show the children how to put blocks or magnet tiles or Legos together, but what they create is up to the children and the parents, not the employees. Parents are expected to give their children the 1:1 time.
At Build It–The Kids Workshop, there are about 30 activity centers, each offering a different avenue for creativity. At Sky’s party, some kids raced cars they made from Legos; others tried their hands at rolling marbles down a track stuck magnetically to a wall, while others built from electronic modules simple robots that could move on wheels to the command of a remote controller.
On this occasion, Beatles music was playing in the background — because Sky is a third generation Beatle fan–but on other days classical music is piped through the sound system. “Sound is one of the stimuli that helps the creative process,” said Gonzales. “We always try to play music to help the kids stay creative, and stay on task. And we stay away from “Old MacDonald” music.
Build It-The Kid Workshop is open dailyat 10 a.m., with admission $12 for one child, and $10 for an accompanying sibling. Birthday parties such as that for Sky are priced on the basis of the number of children attending.
Rick Epps, a political science professor at San Diego State University, attended the birthday party with his son Lorenzo. He described Build It- The Kid Workshop as “a nice, safe, self contained place that allows for great creativity because they get to build robots and expand their minds by using their hands. It’s awesome.”
Further, said Epps, “I like the fact that it is well organized; it is clean; it is well kept” There are so many things for the children to do they don’t get bored, he noted. “The kids have been very well behaved and I really like that.”
Another father, Joe Demerath, told of another benefit: “There’s lots of stuff to do and not a mess all over my house,” he said. Smiling at his son Jack, he added: “It beats sitting in front of a video game or TV all day.”
Lon Woodard, who accompanied his son Aaron, commented: “There’s lots of stuff for kids to do and it makes a good party.”
In fact, said the dad, there’s lots for adults to do too.
“I built a robot and did some Legos,” he said. “It makes me feel like a kid again.”
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com