Thunderbirds are go!

Thunderbirds was a 1960s British children's series focusing on the exploits of the Tracy family and their quasi-military aid organization, International Rescue. The team uses high-tech machines to help solve big problems and basically save the world in every episode. And it's all created with scale models and marionettes. Pure genius.

FW is always interested in aircraft and any kind of complex, futuristic engineering, so I knew he would love this show. Series creator Gerry Anderson may not have Asperger Syndrome, but let's just say he's close enough. This show is a joy for anyone who loves minutiae, especially regarding aircraft and the effort to make toys act out real life adventure. It's kid safe (although it does feature no-longer-acceptable 1960s stuff like cigarette smoking, cocktail drinking, and swarthy/"foreign" bad guys), yet still has James Bond kinda stuff and fairly decent action. Some of the episodes are long on dialog and short on machines, but they're still 100 times better and more appropriate than any adventure show being made for kids today. You can buy the DVDs on Amazon, or rent them via Netflix.

How To Play

Since FW doesn't really understand imaginative play, he has very little interest in toys that, in his words, "don't do anything." At the same time, if we give him a battery-operated, moves-on-its-own toy, he'll get bored quickly and probably end up taking it apart to see how it works. This ongoing dilemma has been solved for the moment by Guillow's.

We're all about the balsa wood airplanes--they're inexpensive, and many can be found at craft or hobby stores. While these planes definitely "do something," they are completely kid-powered. The coolest one we've found yet is the Folding Wing Glider, which is supposed to be for kids 10 and up, but which FW has no problem using. This thing flies insanely high and loops around like a maniac, so make sure the area is clear of any big trees. I can sit and watch FW play with this all day, which suits him just fine.

Note: These planes, especially those with catapult/rubber band launchers, require some fine motor control, so they may be frustrating for a kid with clumsy fingers.