Part of your job in this course is to work with real STUFF -- glue, scissors, wire, wood, pipe cleaners, marzipan, sticks, scroll saw, plastic, pvc pipes, plaster ... don't be afraid to experiment! Here's a starter list of places in and around Boulder and on the web.

1. McGuckin Hardware, Arapahoe Village, Boulder. Need we say more? If you need "stuff" of all kinds, as well as building advice, this is a good place to start. Of special note: good supply of smaller pieces of balsa, basswood, cherry wood; wide assortment of adhesives; you can also find plastruct here. Not a lot of plaster and clay, though they do have some. Added bonus -- your dog is welcome here.

2. Michael's Arts and Crafts: Meadows Shopping Center in Boulder, near Target in Superior, and in Westminster. You can find a wide selection of craft supplies -- a good assortment of adhesives, papers, knicknacks like craft sticks, balsa, and basswood. The store in Superior seems to be the best stocked of the three.

3. Boulder Hobbies -- 2125 32nd St. (303) 442-8669 -- modelmaking supplies (such as model railroad scenery), some larger pieces of balsa, basswood, and plywood. This store is going out of business in April, but in the meantime, please check them out.

4. Art Hardware: On the Hill on Broadway. Standard art supplies -- more graphic arts type stuff, nice selection of handmade paper, ceramics and plaster.

5. Home Depot: Louisville.

6. Lowe's Hardware: Louisville. Besides the obvious stuff, you can get sheets of acrylic cut to specs here. They have a nice selection of hinges, nuts, bolts, and other knicknacks in an easy-to-browse display.

7. Two Hands Paperie - Flatirons Crossing, Broomfield. An entire shop of handmade paper. Gorgeous!

8. Organized Living - Flatirons Crossing, Broomfield. If you are looking for acrylic boxes or containers of any sort, this is a good place. It is also a good place to find hooks, hangers, and kitchen gadgets.

9. Grandrabbit's Toy Shoppe - Arapahoe Village, Boulder. Biggest toy store in Boulder -- you can find science kits, Kinex, Lego, and Erector here.

10. Playfair Toys - near Crossroads Mall, off 28th St., Boulder

11. Petsmart - 30th St. near the Diagonal, Boulder; also in the Target shopping center in Superior. Fish tanks, pumps, reptile lighting, hamster wheels, tiny plastic cat toys, things that squeak.

12. Build-a-Bear - Flatirons Crossing, Broomfield. If you are looking for tiny little bear-sized accessories (such as hats, clothes, glasses, plastic cellphones, snowboards, briefcases) you can find it here. Check out the build-a-bear computer programn.

13. J.B. Saunders -- 4700 Sterling Dr. Boulder (303) 442-1212. Electronics, electronics, electronics!!

14. Colorado Plastic Products -- 1901 31st. St. (at Pearl), Boulder; 8:30-5 M-F. (303) 443-9271. Large inventory of ABS, acrylic, plexi, tubing, vinyl, cuts, welds, scraps. (contributed by AJ)

15. Hobby Lobby -- S. Boulder Rd. and Hwy 42. "They have practically anything you can imagine from Christmas lights in the shape of chili peppers to unfinished wood letters and kits for making bird houses to fabric.Ê It houses every kind of hobby outside of mechanical and electrical things like model trains and R/C cars. " (contributed by Jonathan)

16. HobbyTown USA, Westminster on Wadsworth Parkway between 92nd and 88th, address 9120 Wadsworth Blvd. (Take the Broomfield-Arvada exit, go right on Wadsworth). "They carry every kind of other hobby that Hobby Lobby doesn't including R/C cars, planes, boats, and trains, figurines for games, rockets, and even pool tables." (contributed by Jonathan)

17. Great Horned Owl Bookstore. Flatirons Mall, just outside Nordstrom on the lower level. Building kits and educational toys. (contributed by Jonathan)

18. Radio Shack stores: Boulder-Marshall Plaza (303) 449-0635; Boulder-Foothills Parkway (Meadows) (303) 499-7006; Broomfield-Flatiron Crossing (303) 410-9335. (contributed by Steve and Phillip). Description from Jim: "Your source for overpriced electronic components. Still, very convenient for robotics supplies, such as photocells, mercury switches, reed switches and relays, project housings, wire, and so on. Uncharacteristically, some of their soldering supplies are actually cheaper than what you can find at McGuckins."

19. Conover Model Works: 10287 Vermillion Rd. Longmont. (303) 776-1200. (contributed by Phillip)

20. Sutherlands: 3390 Valmont, Boulder. Lumber, some tools. (contributed by Phillip)

21. Art Warehouse: 1240-1 Ken Pratt Blvd in Longmont. (303) 772-9283. Art and hobby supplies. Also online. (contributed by Erin)

22. Into the Wind, Pearl St. Mall. Lots of little plastic figures, balls, marbles, dice, puzzle and construction toys, kite construction materials (dowels, plastic sticks, string, etc.) -- (contributed by Curtis).

23. It's Your Move, Pearl St. Mall. Primarily a game store. It also has quite a bit of glow-in-the-dark stuff in the back, as well as some "magic trick" type things. (contributed by Curtis).

24. Flea market on 15th and Pearl. (contributed by Curtis)

25. Salvation Army Thrift Store: 1701 33rd St. Boulder. Good place to look for cheap motors (used electric can openers, phonographs, cassette players, etc.) and random accessories for project decor. (contributed by Jim)

26. Dollar Mania (in the Meadows Shopping Center, near Safeway): "Hey, we college students could use a break in spending eh? Tons of small, cheap toys." (contributed by Zack).

Websites

1. Bricklink: You can pick out lego by the piece here -- there's dacta, technic, and hard-to-find pieces. A great place to hunt for specific shafts, axles, etc. that you may need.

2. Edmund Scientifics: A great place to start for scientific/science education supplies of all kinds: optics, Fischertechnic, lighting, magnets, solar, etc.

3. American Science and Surplus A clearance site for all kinds of stuff, from trash to real treasure. If you are patient, you can find all kinds of materials here including electrical parts, wiring, motors, robot parts ...

4. Lakeshore Learning: all kinds of classroom manipulatives for science, math, and language arts education. Nice selection of art supplies.

5. Craft King: A well-stocked online crafts store.

6. NeuroToys: educational children's toys. (contributed by Jonathan).

7. Arrick Robotics: parts and kits for automation and robots. Has links to mechanical parts dealers. (contributed by Erin).

8. Digi-Key Reseller for just about every kind of electrical component in existence. Difficult to use if you're just browsing, but great if you know exactly what you want and just need to find someone who sells it. If you need accelerometers, this is the place to look. Good prices, too. (contributed by Jim).

9. Robot Store: Like the name says, they sell robot-related stuff. In addition to the complete kits, they sell components such as sensors, motors, batteries, and other esoteric items (muscle wire, voice recognition and synthesis modules, serial-link servo controllers) that are difficult to find elsewhere. (contributed by Jim)

10. Meredith Instruments: Mainly a laser surplus catalog, but occasionally they sell interesting actuators and non-laser lighting supplies. (contributed by Jim).