Handy Manny in the Making

One of Cole's new favorite shows is Handy Manny.  In my personal opinion, it's much better than Bob the Builder (sorry PBS!) and even teaches him a little Spanish in the process.  With this new love for tools and building, Michael and I thought it was the perfect time to take him to the Lowes Build-n-Grow workshop for kids on Saturday.

Let me preface by saying I had no idea how popular these free projects have become.  I knew I needed to register online (thanks Jamie!) so I looked on Friday and the Hendersonville store was already full!  That means 50 kids were in attendance!  WoW!  Luckily, the Gallatin/Madison stores were still available.

Saturday morning, Cole was so excited to hear we were venturing to Lowes.  To say he loves the store is an understatement.  He literally runs inside and heads straight to the lights and ceiling fans.  The door dept. is next and then it's off to all the other aisles to explore :)

As we entered the store, we weren't really sure what to expect.  With Cole being so young (the 'recommended' age is first-fifth grade - after our experience, ages 3-4 are fine with a Mommy/Daddy helper), we hoped that it would not be a 'let's all work together at the same pace' type of instruction.  Lucky for us, it wasn't.  There were kids and parents everywhere working on their project - a race car that turns into a robot.  

We turned in our registration form, picked up our packet of parts, a hammer, and a new Lowes apron for Cole that each child receives on their first visit.

Let's get to work!

Mommy helped a little too :)

Stickers!

His finished product - so much fun!

Each child receives a certificate along with a patch to sew on their apron.  A few kids had 8-10 patches on their aprons.  We hope that will be Cole soon (of course Mommy has to actually sew them on :))

Of course we had to explore the store a little. . .

Say Hello to Lowbot!

Michael and Cole will be heading back on March 10 (workshops are usually offered every other Saturday).  Such a great, FREE, Daddy-son outing :)  Come join them in making kaleidoscopes!