Animal Homes - Day 4 - Week 8 - SF Day Camp

Today was our busiest day of this week of Tinkering Camp! By the time we got to our final reset at the end of the day, all the tools were out in use in the project spaces, the wood supply was dwindling and we only had a handful of 2.5 inch screws left! The paint was being liberally applied, fabric and paracord could be found in each project space, and all the tinkerers and collaborators were tired! What a productive day of collaborating and tinkering we have had...

The spider web group added a crash mat to their structure for safety and after hours of work made the difficult decision NOT to use the carefully cut trapezoid frames they had created. Accepting a change of direction can be difficult and the project group embraced this well - they were even praised for making and accepting the change at our closing circle of the day. (Click, tap or swipe to scroll through the slideshow below)

The bear den group continued to cut many pieces of wood for their large structure and it can safely be said that they are chop saw operating experts by now! They are simultaneously building up their structure and creating furniture for the interior, while having to negotiate the use of a ten-foot ladder and strategizing about the timeline for applying plywood so they don't block the view of the inside for safety. (Click, tap or swipe to scroll through the slideshow below)

The beaver dam group was trying hard to attach all of the pieces they wanted to include in their outer structure, figure out how to attach the dam dome on Friday, and build some furniture for the interior as well. They encountered a moment when part of the group got sidelined with some project decorating which upset other members of the group. They met to talk it out and in the end decided to turn the decorating into an element of their project, giving the wood some genuine branch-like appearance. They were proud to have come to such an agreeable compromise together! (Click, tap or swipe to scroll through the slideshow below)

During the closing circle of the day there were many stories shared about how tinkerers made mistakes and learned from them and also how they tried harder than usual - two of our Tinkering School goals. They realized they hadn't talked much about building something bigger than themselves, but pointed out that every group had a huge structure in progress (and even if they don't notice, they're certainly bonding as a group and creating community bigger than the individuals who showed up not knowing each other on Monday morning!) They agreed to focus on their collaboration as we approach tomorrow, our last day of Tinkering Summer Camp and this amazing week of building animal homes together! (Click, tap or swipe to scroll through the slideshow below)

Be sure to view our Flickr album page for more photos of this great week of camp!