You're About to be Redirected to the New Home of Ground Control to Major Mom: Shameless Pitch #576: Build and Grow Workshops at Lowe's

Jacob has to complete a number of achievements to earn his "Wolf Badge" for Cub Scouts. Those with scouts know exactly what I mean here...and those who don't have scouts, well, these are tasks associated with being healthy, honest, righteous, and all around good citizens.

One of the achievement sub-tasks is to build a birdhouse or something similarly useful, after learning about tools for building. I got a tip from another parent in Jacob's new Cub Scout den about simply showing up at a "Build and Grow" workshop at Lowe's one Saturday morning. They're usually offered twice per month, on Saturday mornings. Lowe's provides the kits, loaner tools and workspace free of charge! You receive an apron to keep (and allegedly safety goggles too but my boys didn't get those), and a patch to add to the apron after finishing each task.

You can sign up online to guarantee a kit being available, but the workshops are first-come, first-serve with the kits that are left if you just want to take your kids without committing one way or another. It's recommended for kids in elementary school (although I saw many preschoolers getting in on the action). We were there about 1/2 hour, and the environment was very laid back. As soon as you arrive (after signing a waiver, tee hee) you get a kit and get to work. The employees are there to help only if you need it.

The website will show what the kits will be for the next two workshops. So if you click on the link between now and about January 22, you'll see a beanbag toss board and a music box (as a Valentine's Day gift) as the next two projects. I happen to know that the February 26th project will be a wooden replica Lowe's NASCAR car -- such as the one pictured in the cartoon above, complete with a pull-back mechanism, I guess to celebrate the start of the 2011 NASCAR season.

I'm thrilled that my boys are old enough to enjoy this program -- and we'll be sure to keep it in mind as a Saturday morning free activity! Enjoy some quick pictures I took of our fun morning!