One person’s junk is my kid’s magic [Toronto]
March 23, 2018 4:20 AM Subscribe
Help me find a safe, clean, tetanus-free “junk yard” experience for my 9-year-old mechanically/technologically curious kid. My kid wants to collect scrap metal/busted mechanisms with which to invent new cool stuff. I’d like to provide her with lots of opportunity to indulge that curiosity.
Structured, “build this project” workshops and lots aren’t what I’m looking for. The Science Museum in Boston had a recycling center when I was a kid where you could get all manner of discarded junk like computer keys, interesting hard foam packing material shapes, etc. It would be perfect! But I’m in Toronto! The Science Center here has an open-ended building area with pegboards and various whites to make giant marble runs and that’s super fun. I’d like to make an invention center at home, and I want to be able to go populate it with old “junk”.
Is there a kid-safe junk place here in toronto aside from value village and similar?
Structured, “build this project” workshops and lots aren’t what I’m looking for. The Science Museum in Boston had a recycling center when I was a kid where you could get all manner of discarded junk like computer keys, interesting hard foam packing material shapes, etc. It would be perfect! But I’m in Toronto! The Science Center here has an open-ended building area with pegboards and various whites to make giant marble runs and that’s super fun. I’d like to make an invention center at home, and I want to be able to go populate it with old “junk”.
Is there a kid-safe junk place here in toronto aside from value village and similar?
When in Milwaukee we go to American Science and Surplus to scratch that sort of itch; googling on the internet says Sayal is probably the most similar in Toronto, but this Reddit thread has a bunch of options.
posted by AzraelBrown at 4:49 AM on March 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by AzraelBrown at 4:49 AM on March 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
Another option might be to go to a regular junkyard, but first go shopping for kids sized safety shoes and gloves. Nothing beats the real stuff, and this is a great age to learn how to handle dangerous stuff safely.
If there is a local hackerspace, I agree that that is probably a GREAT place to go and visit together.
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:55 AM on March 23, 2018 [13 favorites]
If there is a local hackerspace, I agree that that is probably a GREAT place to go and visit together.
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:55 AM on March 23, 2018 [13 favorites]
If there is a local university, and their physics or chemistry department has a machine shop, they may have an annual sale of old/unneeded stuff, at the end of the school year.
posted by thelonius at 4:56 AM on March 23, 2018
posted by thelonius at 4:56 AM on March 23, 2018
When I was a kid, I spent days and days prowling around neighborhood garage sales, paying a quarter or two for any piece of junk electronics I could find: radios, small TVs, kitchen appliances, etc, and tearing them apart. Cheap and tons of fun!
posted by tybstar at 5:17 AM on March 23, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by tybstar at 5:17 AM on March 23, 2018 [7 favorites]
What about junk stores? In Burlington vt we have junktiques, which was piles of little fiddly things organized on shelves. Flea markets also often have this selection.
posted by pintapicasso at 5:19 AM on March 23, 2018
posted by pintapicasso at 5:19 AM on March 23, 2018
Old sewing machines are amazing. All sorts of interesting cogs and gears. And they work fine without electricity, you can hand crank and see how the whole thing works.
posted by kjs4 at 5:26 AM on March 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by kjs4 at 5:26 AM on March 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: It looks like Toronto has a couple of ReStores; we have one, and have definitely used it to buy fun-looking electronics for a dollar. Ours only sells working electronics, but the way ours is set up, I'd be perfectly comfortable describing what you have said here and asking if they have some clean non-functional stuff in the back. If they didn't, they'd probably know where to find them.
Seconding flea markets and hacker/maker spaces.
posted by tchemgrrl at 5:42 AM on March 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
Seconding flea markets and hacker/maker spaces.
posted by tchemgrrl at 5:42 AM on March 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
All of the school boards around the GTA that I am aware of offer a recycling program for electronics/art projects/wood etc. I know of ERA and Myoops for Toronto but there is probably more. Ask your child's teacher (you may need to be either accompanied or approved by a teacher in order to access it). A bit of a drive, but Wastewise in Georgetown is exactly what you describe, clean and safe with lots of interesting bits and pieces.
posted by saucysault at 5:44 AM on March 23, 2018
posted by saucysault at 5:44 AM on March 23, 2018
Ugh Active Surplus on Queen Street West would have been so perfect. Not helpful as it’s closed now, but maybe googling where people are going in its stead?
posted by lieber hair at 5:55 AM on March 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by lieber hair at 5:55 AM on March 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
This looks like the kind of place I go for this task.
K-W Surplus is the kind of surplus store that I loved when I was an art student. Not sure how far this is from you. Super random stuff, lots of electronic and mechanical parts.
posted by advicepig at 6:09 AM on March 23, 2018
K-W Surplus is the kind of surplus store that I loved when I was an art student. Not sure how far this is from you. Super random stuff, lots of electronic and mechanical parts.
posted by advicepig at 6:09 AM on March 23, 2018
Safety gloves, boots, safety glasses, and a brief kid-version of OSHA 10, and then a parent-accompanied trip to the actual junkyard?
posted by cnidaria at 6:37 AM on March 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by cnidaria at 6:37 AM on March 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
Contact your local thrift or charity shop. They might have inexpensive items to purchase, or they might have broken items they'd love to hand off.
posted by jabes at 7:32 AM on March 23, 2018
posted by jabes at 7:32 AM on March 23, 2018
Ontario flea markets and yard sales are where I've seen loads of stuff that would qualify (specifically up on the Bruce Peninsula, but I'd guess other flea markets have similar).
posted by ldthomps at 8:28 AM on March 23, 2018
posted by ldthomps at 8:28 AM on March 23, 2018
Tetanus free? I hope she's had a tetanus shot. I actually know someone whose family member died from tetanus because he wasn't immunized and scratched himself on a nail in his own garage.
posted by citygirl at 8:38 AM on March 23, 2018
posted by citygirl at 8:38 AM on March 23, 2018
Look into whatever makerspaces are close to you. The one in Durham has a small room with shelves full of old electronic and other stuff specifically for scavenging, and people are always trying to give them boxes full of old stuff/components/non-working machines. One day I went in there and there was a large (laundry basket-sized) box just full of loose resistors, switches, all kinds of stuff. It's not all hard-core electronics components, either.
Might be worth a look, or at least asking questions (she can do the asking, it's a good way for her to learn to describe what she's interested in).
Plus there are usually classes :)
posted by amtho at 10:51 AM on March 23, 2018
Might be worth a look, or at least asking questions (she can do the asking, it's a good way for her to learn to describe what she's interested in).
Plus there are usually classes :)
posted by amtho at 10:51 AM on March 23, 2018
Check and see whether local dumps (sorry, waste facilities!) in your area have Re-use centres. I know of a few in municipalities close to me (but not to Toronto) where people can drop off stuff they no longer need but which is too good to toss.
posted by kate4914 at 1:37 PM on March 23, 2018
posted by kate4914 at 1:37 PM on March 23, 2018
Your kid needs a tetanus shot anyway.
A-1 (out by the airport) is probably the best bet, but it has floor-level sharp edges and a strong aroma of mouse pee sometimes, so: the tetanus shot, do it. A-1 got most of Active Surplus's stock.
Graham, ex Active Surplus, runs The Gorilla Store at the Science Centre. He sells carefully curated electronic junk, plus some good stuff. Steve at Above All Does Not Sell Junk, I Will Thank You To Know.
K-W Surplus and Forest City Surplus, while pretty good on the weird stock, have absolutely no problem flying confederate flags in the windows. Take from that what you will.
Most makerspaces have a "free junk" bin, but you have to be a member or with a member of most to get in. Hacklab does a twice or thrice-yearly "Junk Independence Day", where you can leave stuff and pick stuff up. It's probably the most kid-friendly. I've picked up some neat stuff there, including fully-working traffic signals, a very late model Western Electric Princess telephone, and roughly 400 unencapsulated silicon chips.
Free Geek Toronto used to be pretty good, but I haven't been in for about 8 years. You could pick up non-working junk for free or very cheap.
posted by scruss at 3:49 PM on March 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
A-1 (out by the airport) is probably the best bet, but it has floor-level sharp edges and a strong aroma of mouse pee sometimes, so: the tetanus shot, do it. A-1 got most of Active Surplus's stock.
Graham, ex Active Surplus, runs The Gorilla Store at the Science Centre. He sells carefully curated electronic junk, plus some good stuff. Steve at Above All Does Not Sell Junk, I Will Thank You To Know.
K-W Surplus and Forest City Surplus, while pretty good on the weird stock, have absolutely no problem flying confederate flags in the windows. Take from that what you will.
Most makerspaces have a "free junk" bin, but you have to be a member or with a member of most to get in. Hacklab does a twice or thrice-yearly "Junk Independence Day", where you can leave stuff and pick stuff up. It's probably the most kid-friendly. I've picked up some neat stuff there, including fully-working traffic signals, a very late model Western Electric Princess telephone, and roughly 400 unencapsulated silicon chips.
Free Geek Toronto used to be pretty good, but I haven't been in for about 8 years. You could pick up non-working junk for free or very cheap.
posted by scruss at 3:49 PM on March 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you had a specific idea of things you might like to have a request post on Toronto Freecycle might garner donations.
citygirl: "Tetanus free? I hope she's had a tetanus shot. I actually know someone whose family member died from tetanus because he wasn't immunized and scratched himself on a nail in his own garage."
Tetanus is on the list of regular childhood immunizations in Ontario; one would have to work at not being immunized.
posted by Mitheral at 8:03 PM on March 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
citygirl: "Tetanus free? I hope she's had a tetanus shot. I actually know someone whose family member died from tetanus because he wasn't immunized and scratched himself on a nail in his own garage."
Tetanus is on the list of regular childhood immunizations in Ontario; one would have to work at not being immunized.
posted by Mitheral at 8:03 PM on March 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
Sayal Electronics
Mississauga or Markham
It's like active surplus sort of
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:28 PM on March 23, 2018
Mississauga or Markham
It's like active surplus sort of
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:28 PM on March 23, 2018
while sayal does have some surplus, they're a full price (usually, full++ price) retailer. They still have one store in Toronto, the last one in the old Vic Park/south of Steeles Electronics Enclave that used to have Electrosonic (now in NY state) and Active 123 (gone).
posted by scruss at 8:16 PM on March 25, 2018
posted by scruss at 8:16 PM on March 25, 2018
Response by poster: These answers are fantastic. I'm going to mark as resolved, and add this: The Science Centre has the "Gorilla Store" in the Inventorium, which is a tiny kiosk with many little motors, battery casings, breadboards, and other miscellany, for any other people looking for low-barrier-to-entry junk experience with an expert on site to guide purchase choices.
posted by lizifer at 10:24 AM on April 3, 2018
posted by lizifer at 10:24 AM on April 3, 2018
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