The INDIEana Handicraft

The INDIEana Handicraft Exchange is a D.I.Y. contemporary craft fair that showcases the work of artists and crafters who use traditional crafting techniques mixed with a contemporary edge. Vendors offer a range of unique handmade goods from wooden jewelry to fanciful undergarments, from custom vintage-inspired western wear to stationery, from plush animals to natural bath and body goodies, from hand-screened rock ‘n’ roll poster art to pop culture icon finger puppets and much, much more. The IHE is the first and only of its kind in Indianapolis and is currently held biannually.

The IHE summer show will be held from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 13, 2009 in conjunction with the Independent Music + Art Festival (IMAF) at the Harrison Center for the Arts at 1505 North Delaware Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202, just north of downtown Indy. The event annually brings out a crowd of 5000+ folks. This year the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange will feature 70+ vendors, a “Craft Mafia” gallery show sponsored by the Indy Craft Mafia, an outdoor textiles art installation, live music by Mandy Marie & the Cool Hand Lukes and Shirtless Biddles, and giveaways of many fantastic raffle prizes donated by vendors and business sponsors.

The INDIEana Handicraft Exchange is FREE to the public. However, raffle tickets are sold for $2 each. Purchasing a raffle ticket will give patrons a chance to win one of many prizes donated by vendors and local, independent business sponsors. All proceeds from the raffle will go directly to the art programs at Indianapolis area public schools and the Marion County Children’s Guardian Home. If patrons bring an art book or art or craft supply for donation at the door, they will receive an additional raffle ticket.

The October fair will be held on the 2nd (6 p.m. to 9 p.m.) & 3rd (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) in conjunction with IDADA’s wildly popular First Friday event, also guaranteeing quite a hearty crowd.

When my daughter was younger she had a ton of LEGO bricks, and I’m honestly a little sad we got rid of most of them because there are so many fun things to do with LEGOs outside of the kits you bought them in.

I love seeing all the ideas people have for LEGO building challenges, and I have shared some ideas for LEGO games before, but I saw one on Pinterest the other day that I felt was worth a mention.

This one is for those ’80s and ’90s kids who spent sick days home from school watching “The Price is Right”: LEGO Plinko!

For those who don’t know about Plinko, the original was a giant peg board set up at an angle and the contestant would drop a flat disc at the top of the board. As it moved down the board it would hit the pegs and change the way it moved, and there would be different prizes in the slots at the bottom where the piece would land.

This version from Play Party Game works on the same principle, using LEGO bricks to make the game board and marbles in place of the Plinko disc since your game board isn’t flat.

You can really use whatever bricks you have for this build, and while it shows all the pegs the same size and evenly spaced, you can play with different configurations and see what happens. It’s engineering and a game!

And while you’re playing with your LEGOs, make sure to check out this post from Kids Craft Room that includes minute to win it style games you can do with LEGO. From speed sorting to tower building as fast as you can, these ideas are sure to get you thinking about different ways to play with LEGO.

And if you need even more ideas, check out my post with LEGO building challenges you can print out for kids (and adults!) to try.

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