Forget batteries. John Stokes is changing the way parents and children curve their perspective on playtime in Southeastern Pennsylvania one little toy at a time through solar, water and eventually wind-powered educational entertainment.
Wind Sparks Ideas for Smarter Toys
As an electrician with a decade’s labor under his belt, John Stokes made his own wind turbine from scratch two years ago, placing it on the workshop behind his home in Oley, Berks County. In the winter, it saves him 15 percent off of his electricity usage for his house and workshop when the winds are feistier in the cold months throughout the rural valley where he lives.
John Stokes built this wind turbine from scratch two years ago, as an electrician with a strong interest in alternative energy.
“I’ve always liked the idea of renewing what we already have in place of burning fossil fuels, instead using the sun and the wind as sources of electricity,” Stokes said, noting that he’s done some solar panel installations on houses and barns.
After building his turbine, which incorporates 2-inch-by-1-inch earth magnets, the strongest kind available today, with the structure reaching 20 feet in the air at the top of the blades, Stokes realized the possibilities in bringing alternative energy-powered toys to children, something his kids Maxwell, 3, and Julian, 1, certainly have learned to enjoy. Olivia, his youngest daughter who is just a few weeks old, has to grow a bit before she can test out the childhood fun for herself.
Stokes Solar Joins the Toy Market
By last spring, Stokes had lined up an inventory to begin selling green toys on weekends away from his electrician-based work in the 9 to 5 time arena. Since then, he’s been visiting green festivals and conventions along with weekend markets like the one outside of the Whole Foods Market in North Wales, setting up tables on the sidewalk and letting his toys show off their natural magic to passersby whose eyes seem to shimmer at what they’re taking in—toys moving by the most unmanufactured of means.
Spinning Tires with Hydrogen
A remote control fuel cell car buzzing down the sidewalk perks the interest of people stopping to watch Stokes in action; the car uses a tiny fuel cell which runs off of hydrogen made from distilled water. The hydrogen fill-up allows the car, which is about 12 inches long and four inches wide, akin in appearance to a stretched out Toyota Prius, to continue pushing along for five to seven minutes, Stokes said. He also has two other models of fuel cell vehicles in his lineup.
“It’s going to be our only choice and our last choice, at least that’s how I see it,” Stokes said about how he views alternative energy as an integral part of the future, which strongly influences his belief that educating children about it from the start will lead to smarter decision-making in their adult lives.
Sunny Days Suit Best
In line with the name of his operation, Stokes sells a solar racecar as well as a solar motorboat. He even sells a solar-hopping frog to promote a bit of amphibian appreciation more in tune with giving some attention to the good of nature away from modern machines.
This solar racecar sells for around $15, affordable and well-capable of lasting over a decade.
This frog only hops when the sun is shining.
The first reaction from kids at the sight of Stokes and his setup is that they want to see the wheels turn on the solar and water-powered cars. But surprisingly enough, Stokes said many parents have no idea what his toys really are or how they operate, so his weekends are usually spent as an educational process, with him passing on his smarts across quite a spectrum in terms of age ranges in his visitors, with his best reception yet at the Pennsylvania Renewable Energy & Sustainable Living Festival in Kempton, Berks County last month.
Wind-power in Waiting
For now, the wind-inspired toys Stokes promotes don’t have actual wind-power to them, as they’re model homes built with eco-friendly materials, layered in nontoxic paint and equipped with decorative turbines and little recycling bins, but in the future, he hopes to offer toys which do run through wind energy.
The Renewing Reward
Seeing kids test out the toys is one of Stokes’ favorite parts about what he does, but recognizing the growing curiosity in what he’s teaching people and what he learns by sharing his continuing knowledge with others is something he values tremendously in witnessing a blossoming respect for renewable energy, starting where it counts, with kids, while reaching out to older generations all at the same time.
“As soon as you put your hand over the solar panel on the toy, it stops,” Stokes said. “You see that it’s really powered by the sun.” While this might seem logical enough, it still halts people in their proverbial tracks and glances every time, Stokes admitted, thrilled to see an interest for alternative energy catching on with each toy he carries.
