Friday, June 30, 2017

A project for the local kindergarten (maybe)

In the village we have a small kindergarten. Our youngest son went there, and though it is some years ago now, I still help them once a year by providing some discs of wood for when they make Christmas decorations. These are just sawed with a chainsaw and the children slap a lump of clay on top and insert spruce twigs and a candle etc.

I talked to one of the staff quite some time ago, and she asked if I ever had any small scraps of wood, because they had a small workbench, and the children liked to saw and hammer on something.
So a couple of times I have driven by them to drop of a load of small scraps of wood.

For some time I have been toying with an idea that perhaps I should make X number of sets of wood that could be assembled into small ships.
Nothing fancy, just a hull, a superstructure, a funnel and perhaps two masts.
I am well aware that most ships today don't have masts, but I know that children think they belong on a ship, and who am I to argue with that?

It won't be an immediate project, because the stock that I have in mind are scraps of the roof boards used on the small barn. I will order a bunch more of those for finishing the inside of the barn too, and I know that I will be getting a lot of leftovers from that.
The wood is spruce which is a lot easier to nail than larch, and given the age of the children that will be an advantage.

If I drill pilot holes in the superstructure and in the funnel, It should be easier to drive the small nails home, and that will definitely be an advantage. Also they can still rearrange those pieces as they wish on the hull.
The hull itself I plan on making complete with a bow and two holes for a mast to be inserted.
Then I'll just have to purchase a bunch of dowels and cut those into fitting lengths of masts.

A small ship like that could be painted when complete, and unless things have changed a lot, children usually like to paint stuff.

Of course I need to check with the kindergarten if they are at all interested in receiving such a set of kits first before I make them, and I also need to start on the interior of the barn to get some stock for the eventual project.


6 comments:

  1. Hi Jonas,

    come to Kiel (or any Jylland havn) and see, that 90% of the ships have masts. :o)

    Boats and ships are allways great projects for children!
    I put a picture og Helle's boats on the blog later

    Cheers to the north sea
    Pedder

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Pedder

      Kiel is special in that way :-)
      I was thinking that the end result should look like a ferry from the 1950'ies.
      back when the masts were used for the aerial antenna and perhaps a derrick for lifting cargo.

      I'll go check out Helles boats straight away.

      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete
  2. That's a great thing to do, Jonas. The kids will love it.

    Matt McGrane

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Matt
      Thanks, I am also pretty sure that it will be a success.
      It won't be the most challenging project for me, but once in a while it is nice with a simple task to do.

      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete
  3. Jonas,

    Good on you. Our wee one is into cars and trucks but I expect he would like a boat or two as well.

    ken

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ken

      A car or a truck ought to be possible to make too, but I think they might be a bit harder due to the wheels.

      One year I brought my apple cider press down to the kindergarten, and helped them produce some apple juice.
      That was such a fun experience. The kids were absolutely thrilled by throwing apples into the grinder and watching them be reduced to a wet pulp in an instant.

      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete