December Woodworking

Friday marked our last woodworking class of the year and it was a blast. This month’s project: Snake Sticks.

Instructions

First, though, there was some pre-class goofing off while Bruce and Rob pulled things together.

Playing before class

Playing before class

We got started right on time at 4:00 because we knew we were going to lose light. The kids settled down to listen … sort of. Here’s a perfect contrast of the girls and boys during Bruce’s instruction.

Girls paying attention

Crazy boys

But everyone figured out what they were supposed to do one way or another and started working. They had lots of good sticks to choose from. (Thanks especially to Laura for a great supply!)

Raw materials

Here are Amelia and Silvia shaping the heads of their snakes.

Amelia and Silvia

Ruby and Ezra, too.

Ezra and Ruby

Kai has great concentration.

Kai and Caleb

Sofia chose to use the chisel instead of the rasp.

Sofia

Finn decided not to make a snake. He just wanted to pass out masks. Safety first.

Finn passing out masks

Next up: sawing the sticks into pieces. It’s a lot of sawing.

Ezra

Silvia and Amelia

Working hard

Next they needed to drill holes in all the pieces so they could string them back together. After eight classes, the kids are remarkably comfortable using the drills!

Ruby and Jack

Sofia

With kids at all stages of the project, it was a busy garage!

Busy garage

The last step was to assemble the snake by threading it together with string and beads.

Jack, Amelia and Ashlyn

Sofia

Ezra, Ruby and Sofia

Everyone was finished by about 6:00 and dinner and play time followed. Most of the adults sat around chatting and testing out the various bottles of wine (of which I have no pictures) but Bruce spent most of the evening playing with the kids. My pictures don’t do the scene justice — the kids love him.

Bruce and the kids

Here’s Ezra’s final product. I was happy to see him so engaged in this project, especially since the sawing and drilling were kind of difficult.

Ezra's snake

I took a lot more photos, so I’m including them all here in a slideshow. What a fun class!