Under the Sea, Day 5, Week 2, SF

We finished out our Under the Sea week here at day camp, finishing things up here with a spin, a float and a chomp. All the groups worked so hard all day on Friday to put some finishing touches on their projects, with folks adding movement, fabric, color and dimension. 

Minjae, Varit and Trevor kept up their hard work on the propellor for the submarine, Here, Varit drills a hole for the axle of the propellor to pass through. They needed to drill a smaller hole than they had made before, because the bolt axle design was smaller in diameter than the previous PVC axle design. 

Then, Trevor got to work on a shelf for the drill that spins the propellor to rest on. Notice that the original wooden blades have been removed...

Trevor and Minjae got to work making some softer, more fan-blade-shaped propellor blades out of cardboard. We noticed that the original wooden propellor blades, getting spun pretty fast by the drill, would really hurt if someone got accidentally whacked. Here, Minjae explains to Trevor how to turn on the bandsaw. 

Then, they cut out their propellor blades! Because why would you bother with scissors or a box cutter when you have a bandsaw?!

The turtle team started to add details, like giant teeth! Here, Daria and Leda learn some bandsaw basics in order to cut out a few turtle teeth. 

Then, Juny and Adelaide worked on attaching them to the bottom jaw. 

Meanwhile, Justine and Julia worked on adding fabric to cover the shell of the turtle. We happened to have a ton of this olive green fabric with a turtley texture that was donated to the school a few months ago, it worked perfectly! 

Then, the team was ready to mount the upper jaw of the turtle's head--the real swansong of this project! Here, several team members help hold the head level while Audrey and Ryan attach a board that will support the weight of the head. 

And over in the coral reef, folks added fabric, rope and doodles to really make their underground habitat stand inviting for all different creatures! 

Ethan screws in the plywood floor to make it a bit easier to walk through the coral reef. Because, unfortunately, none of us have fins. 

Isla carefully ties on pieces of colorful paracord to add dimension and texture to the coral reef. 

On Fridays, we always remind these young tinkerers that 'slow is steady, and steady is fast.' When we start out working slowly, with concentration and focus, our works become steady and careful.. And, steady careful work is truly fast, because we're sure about all of our decisions. It is so tempting to rush when the end is in sight, but Friday afternoon is an important moment to remember that finishing is not one of our goals. We set out at the beginning of the week to collaborate, try hard, learn from mistakes, and build something bigger than ourselves. And, as a cool bonus, we ended up with an awesome underwater world to play in with our family and new friends.