carefully marking before cutting
Many of the boys have been wanting to do a construction project of some sort, and I agreed it would be an excellent idea to introduce them to some tools with a tangible outcome. The trick was to figure out what we could accomplish with a dozen or so boys in less than two hours time that they could all take home. We thought about making our own version of this cool window view bird house. I also toyed with the idea of making a couple bat houses for the group that we could then get permission to put up at their school or the park. We could have someone come and talk to us about bats and their important ecological role. But that was more than we could tackle at this time.
Stay tuned for a future go-cart project with all the boys.
Then my father came and decided to build a go-cart with my son and we temporarily thought we might have the boys work together on a second one so we could race. The boys seem interested in that, so we might try it again in the future, after Grandpa Hughes has his revised his prototype.
Waiting to put all the pieces together.
In the end we decided to make stilts. I liked the fact that each boy could take home something and that they would be able to practice an activity with them that presumably, none of them were masters at yet.
In the clubhouse for our opening circle
It was a simple project and we had lots of grown up helpers (6:13) to boys (not counting toddlers), so it was very doable in our allotted two hours. That made for a relaxed and fun environment. I’m glad that we didn’t try to cram more in (in my typical style). This way the boys had plenty of time to try them out.
Get ready, get set, go boys!
Thanks to Michael, Cary, Kelley, Sonya, and Caitlin for making the afternoon possible. Some of us were daydreaming about the boys walking on stilts in the Eugene Celebration parade next fall. They’d better start practicing.
