Dinosaur Safari - Day 5 - Week 2 (Mark Day School)
Testing, testing, testing…
Yes this thing is on! It’s Friday and there is a buzz in the air as we near the finish line. We know our goals don’t include “finish the builds” but it’s hard to avoid feeling like just a little more work will get us there.
So we re-iterate during our circle discussions that this is about building community and learning. And we prep our tinkerers for the moment when we begin our deconstruction. All of the wood, all of the screws and washers and wheels have to make their way back to their origins. It’s our last “reset” to make sure our space is cleared and ready to go for the next week of camp.
But back to testing. It’s a crucial step in the process. Especially when you have a jeep careening down a steep ramp. The kids ask “can I be the first to go down it?!” But we pause and explain that before any human can get in the jeep we need to send it down the ramp unoccupied and watch and listen. We note the direction it travels. Does it wobble or turn unexpectedly? Are there scraping sounds or other indications of friction?
It’s through this process that we decide as a group whether or not it’s ready for tinkerers to ride. And as you’ll see below, after we made improvements and adjustments to the ramp, we were able to have the joy of riding the jeep into the Dinosaur Safari.
It absolutely warmed my heart to hear the kids cheer with joy and to watch them run to the jeep rider after each test ride.
And I love the little details that sometimes get missed… the spare wheel on the back of the jeep, the plants and nest beside the dinosaur’s massive feet (complete with toenails!), the hand-drawn scales along the dino’s sides. So much thought and creativity goes into these builds. And, as Niko excitedly put it during our last circle of the week:
“I feel like this is like in real life that the dinosaur’s real, the jeep is real... it feels all real. ”
One of our junior collaborators, Charlie, will guide you through the videos below just as he guided the jeep riders [note: we’re having a little technical difficulty with YouTube but will post more videos as soon as possible]:
And photos! For many more photos from our week together, visit our Google Photo Album.
