Flying Dragons - Week 5

We have a zip line! It’s been a long held dream here at our Tinkering School workshop, and now we finally have an 80ft zip line running through the workspace :-) We couldn’t be more excited to have this enthusiastic crew of tinkerers help us test it out. One of the teams made the first attempt to suspend their dragon’s frame on the line.

It took the coordination of everyone to raise it up and figure out how to attach the support ropes to the zip line pulleys.

They quickly discovered amidst lots of laughter that with the weight of their dragon, a kid or two, and the sag of the line, that they would need to shorten their support ropes…

There was lots more planning and fine tuning to be done as well. Some of the kids also tried their hand at using some pull saws to trim up some uneven joints on the frame.

The team constructing the “riding below” dragon also made lots of progress.

Jackson showed August the rider cubicle that will be attached under the dragon’s belly.

Adele joined Daphne’s project, helping build the dragon nest.

August and Emma had a fun challenge in figuring out how to attach their dragon’s jaw to the rest of the head so it moves!

And the final dragon team nearly completed their dragon body.

The team carefully measured and cut their plywood paneling and they were amazed to see it all fit together like a puzzle! It pays off to take time and make precise measurements and straight cuts.

Truman proudly demonstrating how the dragon horns he cut out will attach to the dragon’s head. They will also function as handles for the rider.

With only a few more weeks left in the session, the kids are super excited to begin test riding their dragons as well as figure out ways to collect their dragon eggs mid flight!

For more photos from the week and the rest of the session, you can visit our Flickr page. See you next week!