Flying Dragons - Week 1
We’re thrilled to be hosting another after school Tinkering program at our workshop! It’s been a little while since our previous one, and we’re lucky to have such an enthusiastic group of youngsters to dive back in with us!
Once our new crew was stocked up on snacks, we were ready to create some group agreements for how we wanted to treat each other and stay safe in the workshop. We all brainstormed a great list and signed our names as a way of committing to honoring these agreements.
Next up it was time to learn how to use the BIG 3 tools: chop saw, drills, and clamps! We’ll be using these the most throughout the program.
After the kids learned how to operate the clamps, they were excited to be given a challenge to build a bridge with nothing but clamps and short pieces of lumber. Would it work!?
So many opportunities to accomplish one of our Tinkering School goals: collaborate and make friends!
Success! The kids were super excited with their bridges that spanned the workshop!
Next up, the CHOP SAW! A consistent favorite amongst tinkerers young and old alike, the kids learned how to safely operate this incredible tool. The most important rule we learned to follow was to keep our hands out of the “blood bubble,” a space about 10 inches to the left and right of the blade. We’ll all have lots of practice with the chop saw throughout the rest of program.
And of course, we couldn’t forget the drills!
We learned about the many buttons on the drills and how to adjust the speed, and strength (torque) if we were drilling or screwing.
Great two handed form!
We also discovered that the drill won’t do all the work for us. We have to press down pretty hard still and if we don’t have the best leverage, we can end up pushing ourselves away from the wood accidentally :-)
A helping hand can make all the difference!
Tinkering is also about celebrating our hard work and imaginative creations!
Stay tuned next week to see what the design theme for this session will be and what this fun crew decides to build! In the meantime, you can check out Flickr page to see more photos from the day!