May. 31, 2008 - This could be the greatest Toy/Educational Store Ever!
For a couple of years now a good friend of mine has been dropping hints about a really great toy and educational supply store all wrapped up into one that I just had to see :) Now there are some really great toy stores about an hour and a half from our home (we live in the sticks) so I wasn't sure that making a special trip to see one nearly 3 hours from home was going to be worth it but the lure of being able to peruse vast amounts of curricula and accessories was what truly lured me there *grin* and oh boy was it worth it! Kool and Child is the 'mac daddy' of stores!! Well that's for anyone living north of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island that is, maybe you Victorians have something even better that you might want to tell me about?
Kool and Child is located at 208 Wallace St. in downtown Nanaimo and is a 4000 sq. foot building packed to the max with every kind of educational and developmental toy that you could imagine for all age ranges plus more. A child's dream come true literally and that is only on one half of the store. On the other side is a home educator's paradise! Oh my goodness.... it nearly blew my mind LOL. I think I may have had to pick up my jaw from the floor when I entered, I didn't even know where to start. I just wanted to run from one corner to another, like a kid in a candy store everywhere I turned I saw something even better *grin*
There were books and workbooks for art, mathematics, science, language arts, geography, history and more, flashcards, board games, any sort of help for a learning topic that you could imagine, hands on manipulatives, science kits, art kits, posters, charts, bulletin board theme cut outs galore, stickers, stamps, building/construction kits for your hands on learner and so much more I can't even list it all. You truly need more than a few minutes if you get the chance to go, so make sure you've got at least an hour slated in for browsing time and there are kid friendly spots for children to occupy themselves while you drool :) Their website only gives you their address and hours of operation so unfortunately you cannot browse the store at home, but if you know of a certain book or kit that you would like to get they will do their hardest to get it for you if they don't already have it in stock.
This was well worth the 3 hour drive and I can definitely say that I will be going again :)
Do you have a favorite educational/toy store that you would like to share with us? I'm sure there must be some really super ones on the mainland to!
Comments
Jun. 6, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by molytail
Sounds like an awesome place!
Jul. 11, 2008 - link for teaching supplies...
Posted by Anonymous
You should check out educationstation.ca it is out of AB they just relaunched their website and you can get 10% off until the end of August.
