Friday marked our last woodworking class of the year and it was a blast. This month’s project: Snake Sticks.
First, though, there was some pre-class goofing off while Bruce and Rob pulled things together.
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.
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!)
Here are Amelia and Silvia shaping the heads of their snakes.
Ruby and Ezra, too.
Kai has great concentration.
Sofia chose to use the chisel instead of the rasp.
Finn decided not to make a snake. He just wanted to pass out masks. Safety first.
Next up: sawing the sticks into pieces. It’s a lot of sawing.
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!
With kids at all stages of the project, it was a busy garage!
The last step was to assemble the snake by threading it together with string and beads.
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.
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.
I took a lot more photos, so I’m including them all here in a slideshow. What a fun class!