Liz, you could always do what my neighbor's mom called, "showing her the back side of Tom Sawyer's fence." When her kids played with stuff they weren't supposed to play with, she turned around, taught them how to do something on it, and then gave them the task as a chore. Mending, I think, was the one for the sewing machine. Nothing takes the shiny off a toy like making play into work!

And speaking of barns, we always say that my mom can go "clear round Robin Hood's Barn" before she actually gets on her way. I was fifteen before I saw the first five minutes of the first feature movie at the beginning!