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The wheels started turning for Happen’s Director Tommy Rueff six years ago, when he started collecting the Hot Wheels and Matchbox-type cars donated to Happen’s Toy Lab. Tommy believed they could become a really powerful learning tool, and now Happen has thousands of collectable cars donated over the years.
Children 6 to 17 years old can become a Happen Car Club-Card-Carrying Collector for free by making a reservation at Happen’s Toy Lab. Car Club Card-Carrying Collectors will receive a badge that allows them to trade in one Matchbox or Hot Wheels-type toy car per visit for a car in Happen’s collection. Happen will post their used car collection online weekly, just like a used car lot. The cars range from 1960s collectibles to 2018 series cars. When children trade in a car, they must fill out the car’s history and a brief story, much like Carfax data. The stories will be tracked with the car so that a future owner can read about the car’s history and its previous owner.
This program meets Happen’s mission by bringing parents and children together, keeping up-cyclable materials out of landfills, and most importantly, is a reading and writing program for kids – encouraging them to practice language arts fundamentals and to be authors of their own stories.
Call 513-751-2345 to make a reservation for Happen's Car Club today!