PAL Workshop

It was exciting to see our blueprints coming to life. It's totally different seeing a two dimensional rendition of the PAL and then having the actual pieces in front of you We saw a couple of our PALs in various stages of completion - Make it Move and Discovery Dig.

Jeffrey Pilotte is demonstrating the sturdiness of the Discovery Dig table. He actually stood on top of it after I took this picture and the table didn't budge!

The moving gears were fun to play with. I can just imagine how popular they will be with the kids! The gears are magnetic so they can be placed along the sides of the PALs. You can see how colorful and dynamic the PALs will be even in these early stages of fabrication.

When we were designing the Make it Move, I loved the concept of the book wheel. Here is was - and it was way bigger than I thought it would be! You can see how tall it is by comparing it to Renee and Barb. There are wheels with sturdy casters on this piece, so we can move it pretty easily.

After the shelving for the wheel is complete, I can imagine kids trying to give stuffed animals rides in the slots like a mini-ferris wheel - we'll have to make sure kids don't try climbing into the slots!

Each PALwill have a sliding sign system which allows us to adjust the height of the sign. As you can see, the sign can reach a pretty tall height!

The PALs are in various stages of development - it would have been cool to see more complete versions. They did have color samples for each PAL which looked really great. Looking at the the pieces we did see, I was impressed with the quality and craftmanship of the products. I can't wait to see them when they're finished!