Brookside Toy & Science

This is a five-star toy store all the way! It's great to have a destination worthy shop in the neighborhood, and especially vital after the big hole from the Dime Store closing a few years back.The kids will be lured in by the displays in the windows 10 out of 10 times, so parents, I suggest an alternate route unless you want to pick up another unicorn stuffy or a whoopee cushion.There is such a nice array of classic toys, new ones, board games, science-centric toys, books, and more. This is a go-to when we're heading to another kid's birthday party and you can always find something pretty fairly priced. They also (if I'm remembering correctly) will offer to wrap things too, so it's absolutely worth coming here vs ordering something online. Great spot, please stay open for decades to come!

Love it, Love it, LOVE IT!!!!So nice to walk into a toy store and see what they have. I'm tired of shopping online. It was worth the drive. This store has so much more than they advertise! Staff was very helpful and I didn't feel like I was being pushed. This is what customer service should be! Worth the drive from Independence.:)

Love this store I bought my frogs there they lived long time. Support small business. All the shops on the hill are great food too .

When Joi B was a child, she was quite possibly...a bit...shall we say, odd...no, not odd! Let's say unique! It's even better than special. For example, she was obsessed with bugs. She'd collect them in various containers. Sometimes she'd even bury them alive and dig them up later (fun with catepillars!) This wasn't very humane of her, she does know this now. She was also obsessed with birds and would read scientific books about them. She loved her pet parakeet so much, when he died, her mom allowed to let her have him stuffed so that she could have him forever. (Don't believe it? Look in the profile pics).Perhaps if there were a Brookside Toy & Science in her town, things would be different. She'd have access to the right tools so that she might learn about the wonderful world of insects instead of conducting cruel experiments on her own, or having a beloved pet stuffed and then rendered unrecognizable thereby causing her to go into a deep depression at the age of 10. Who knows, right?(Step out of the confession box and into 2011, already!)I love Brookside Toy & Science for getting that all kids are not created equal. The best ones turn and embrace the strange. They just may need some encouragement and/or help. All that taxidermy and stuff in the cases, just further down the aisle from the Playmobiles and princess dresses? Brilliant. Who owns this store? Is it me and I don't realize it yet?Brookside Toy & Science appeals to that slightly strange, but well-meaning kid who may not be into Barbie (lies. I loved Barbie,. And I had a Cher doll, too) or toy trucks and Legos. It also appeals to the kids who love the aforementioned more conventional toys, because this is all there, too, along with unique art supplies and starter kits, stuffed animals, books, Sea Monkeys and Magic Rocks.

This is such a wonderful little toy store. Before we had kids we would buy our nephews toys here, but today was the first time we got to bring our little girl! It was so fun, for all of us. This is a nice store because it really does have regular toys as well as science- related educational toys, as the name suggests. We had a good time playing with all the puppets.l, and got one - a cute little pig puppet that also oinks. We bought a few books and some maracas from the cute music section.I love that they seem to keep the prices very reasonable. In this part of town and with this clientele they could probably stand to mark things up more, but all the prices seemed very reasonable. The young ladies working were very helpful and polite as well.

Fun, fun, fun & I'm an adult! Found the best gifts for my 14 yr. old grandson @ about 1/3 of the price I'd expected to pay! Would recommend it to anyone looking for a great non-video game gift.

I'll say this, "I don't want to encounter a fruit bat. Those things look mean."Brookside Toy & Science not only offers up some creepy ways or animals to decorate a room, but has some killer toys as well.Back to the creepy. I'm not quite sure how to feel about the back half of this shop. Educational-you bet. A place for kids or animal loving humans-perhaps not. Is it just me or did I just visit Ted Nugent's hunting shack? Bats, skulls, and full-on wolverine and alligator hides make for nothing short of visiting my local taxidermist. A little too much for being a Toy & Science shop. And really, who's gonna drop a $150 on a bat behind glass? I see the need for schools and science guys but it just gave a weird vibe sitting across from PlayMobil and Legos. Who knew?On the flip side, the shop offers some great toys and gadgetry that just can't be replicated. There's a nice assortment of games too; so us adults might find a purchase for ourselves. Sorry if I offend any of you who still play with Britain Toy Soldiers. You'll find those there.Craziest item has to be the real-life stuffed armadillo dressed up as a Sheriff with two six-shooters on his hips. Prepare for wackyville and higher prices when you walk through the door.

Does anything else in this city capture the child's mind quite so readily as Brookside Toy and Science? NO. As a kid, my parents could have left me here all day, and I wouldn't have even asked where they had gone, I wouldn't have wandered off - it would have been like free babysitting - I would have been good just to wander and play around all day alone and safe. But they didn't do this and I never spent TOO much time in here as a kid, so that whenever I did make the trip it was more of a treat. I can remember the excitement still, walking in with that same smell, the bell ringing on the door, the staff busy ringing people up, the toys sprouting from what seemed like the walls itself - it was a child's dream land. I ran straight back to the Barbie's - for being a small shop, they always carried the latest and greatest in the Barbie line (I think the owner was quick not to discount his little girl to little boy ratio.) They also carried Polly Pockets (my personal favorite, and a generational difference as a kid in the early nineties - they were the size of a dime back then.) Somehow, I'd be drawn back to the museum of bugs and amphibians and pigs in jars in the back of the store on display behind the glass counter - it is really an incredible store - genius, to provide the kind of diverse display unknown anywhere else in the city to children, of toys and of science, blending so well - I couldn't ignore one for the other in my visits made over the years.As I got older, around middle school, it is BT&S that I owe my Science Fair ribbons to - I owe them my experiences of getting to take my projects to city hall to compete. I purchased all of my petri dishes here, where I collected the bacteria that won me the blue first prize. I'm positive many children in Kansas City either were inspired here with their own science fair projects or at least purchased the necessary equipment here to perform their experiments. Overall, I am grateful it has been around all of my life, and knowingly in the future lives of my own children (I just might be a bad mom and drop them off here all day...I know they won't hate me for it!)

Been shopping BT&S for decades. There's not a better way to make someone smile be it from 0+ to all ages than something from BT&S. And the experience alone is worth a visit. And if you can't make it in and want to support a locally owned and operated small business, they'll do your shopping for you! XOXO BT&S !

Such a fantastic store! It was a great place packed full of fun toys and interesting things. I wish I could have spent more time there!