Trash eating monsters from space - Day 4 - Week 1 (SF Day Camp)
Our dedicated tinkering crew has been “working” (playing) super hard and it’s amazing how much they’ve accomplished so far! The projects are taking shape and we can’t wait to see how they turn out, but even more importantly, our tinkerers are embracing our tinkering camp goals of collaborating and making friends, trying harder than usual, making mistakes and learning from them, and building something bigger than themselves. As one of our young crew members said, “the process is more important than the product!"
After a complex design session on the first day, our monster team has proved they’re more than up for the challenge of building giant towers (for the monster’s body), a curved slide for the monster’s tongue, a giant rotating head and more!
Teamwork makes the dream work!
The monster team got lots of practice using the jig saw to cut some important curved side pieces to make the slide!
The monster transportation team meanwhile decided to split into three subgroups, each tackling a different method of moving our monsters: a giant truck, a boat/car that can drive on water or land, and a catapult that can launch a mini monster into the sky to fly away to their destination.
The boat team jumped into building a sturdy frame and tackling the fun challenge of cutting angled supports for the sides.
If we had another week, I have no doubt this crew would have a seaworthy vessel ready to motor around the bay!
The front wheels even turn when you pull ropes attached to the axle. It works just like a regular car, but now the team is trying to figure out how to attach the ropes to a steering wheel.
The catapult team’s first priority was to build a sturdy floor and fulcrum for the giant lever. Perhaps more than any other group this week, they’ve met the fun goal of making “mistakes” and learning from them. As they test out each new variation of their catapult, they learn something new and refine their machine more and more.
After trying out several basket variations, the team settled on a canvas bag. The launching power is provided by a huge spring on the front of the catapult. It took a while to figure out how to keep it secured without falling off after each launch. Who knows how far it will be able to launch a monster after all the hard work this team is putting into their project!
The truck team really took the goal of building something bigger than ourselves to heart… :-)
Building the walls required lots of collaboration and careful clamp placement to secure and then screw multiple pieces together.
What’s a truck without its control panel!?
Our feeding team has been surpassing our “try harder than usual” goal with flying colors so far this week. The level of precision they are aiming for and meeting is impressive!
Trimming the excess overhang off the side of the ramp. This team strives for perfection!
Lots of tricky measurements and planning was required to line up the multiple garbage chutes of the feeding machine.
The satisfaction of a slide built to precise specification…priceless!
Our tinkerers have also made excellent use of our new location during our lunch and play break time.
What a way to start the summer! I't’s hard to believe its almost Friday of our first 2019 day camp week 1. It’s been a blast so far and we can’t wait to continue building with this crew tomorrow.
Make sure to check back and see how the final projects turn out. To see more photos from the week, you can also visit our Flickr page!