Mixed Up Animals - Day 1 - Week 2 (Mark Day School)

It’s not every week that a tinkering discussion starts with explaining what a cronut is (a croissant + a doughnut) but this is no ordinary week. This week is all about mashups! We are building Mixed Up Animals, mashups of existing animals and we’ve struck at random upon two intriguing builds: an eagle-porcupine and a kangaroo-dolphin.

The first day of camp is always a time to orient ourselves as a team and learn new skills. We started with our goals for the week: Collaborate and Make Friends, Try Harder than Usual, Building Something Bigger than Ourselves, and Make Mistakes and Learn from Them. Then it was on to group agreements — making sure we treat each other and our equipment with respect and that we keep ourselves safe.

Much of the morning is used for tool training. Every tinkerer in our camp learns to use three tools to start with: clamps, cordless drills and a chop saw (aka mitre saw). This is the start to empowering all of us to work as a team to build something amazing.

With training completed, we moved to our design phase where we sketched ideas and discussed them as part of a “gallery walk” and then combined them into a single plan for what we will be making. We can’t wait to see what our tinkerers are able to create!