Fun with liquid nitrogen

Making ice cream (which is science, not magic, by the way....). And fun with balloons.

Camp, camp, and more camp

Soooo.... we also made s'mores grills ('cause who doesn't like to huddle 'round a cozy little fire on a 100 degrees August morning in Texas?), gliders, and a neat rope ladder using the ever-handy butterfly knot. And oh yes, Zazie made a drawbot, and it was quite a cute scene how everyone cheered her on with the most genuine enthusiasm you could imagine. What a great group of kids these kids were, I couldn't ask for better.

Tinkering camp extravaganza!

So much great stuff happened last week in tinkering camp... and there's still so much to tell and I'm still just so kind of busy... that I feel abjectly behind in my blog posts, so rather than stretching this out into some nice bite-size chunks I'm just chucking at least half the photos and videos that I have into this one post... I hope you'll excuse the confusion. I guess in a way it is perfect because it mirrors the happy exciting mayhem that is tinkering camp. We worked lots with motors, built some cool boats and drawbots out of electric toothbrushes... made a (soapy, extra-slippery-style) water slide, a rope ladder, and played with helium. Lots of interesting inventing went on on the side as well, of course... this device that you see Julia holding is an electric toothbrush enveloped in soft sponges.... it vibrates, you see, so you can get a nice massage as you wash off in the shower.

Such a lot of fun! And what an amazing group of young tinkerers.

Rube Goldberg machines

Oh, what's that you say? You've never heard of this guy Rube? Well you can check out this or this (or, of course, this) to get the scoop on the fella. What a lot of fun. I was a little worried that this project wouldn't really take off, that maybe the kids wouldn't quite get it. They dove right in with synapses blazing! Idea! Boom. Idea! Blang. Idea! Kapow. It was a beautiful thing to see. As usual I didn't do a very good job at capturing the magic... there were a few other little teams of kids working that I didn't even get a shot of, including some kids up in the fort who were working on a pulley system to get a chair up there, which I thought was pretty cool. Educational even!

And the Living is Easy....

Haven't been much in the mood to post lately... just been trying to get my summer on as the season wanes (and yes that is a big laugh my Texas friends... I know good and well it's a good three months before we have the faintest hint of fall). I'm truly a little heart sick because my son Jack started school on WEDNESDAY, which is just. not. right. I absolutely hate it, we're just all in the summer groove and this just seems too early by far. I'm really digging having him around. It gives me that yen to homeschool which I do indeed hope to do someday but the guy is dead set on the glories of second grade.... he's actually quite excited about going back. I know I'll get used to it, but sigh. Sigh.

Anyway, we've been trying to cram in all the excursions and summer funtimes that we can. Blue Hole, Jacob's Well, our really super special secret spot on the Colorado River. Peter Pan Mini Golf (the mini golf that time forgot... just the way I like it), Pedernales Falls and peach picking with my brother Coop... so much fun stuff. What lucky summer dogs are we.

I've been doing lots of fun classes, and am just about to plunge into a whole 'nother week of tinkering camp.... quelle excitement! I hope the fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high for all y'all out there...

Your Message Here...

I love the 'Your Message Here' project from Something's Hiding In Here. They had this storefront in Philadelphia, PA and accepted suggestions for messages, which were changed daily. I read about this a long time ago and then couldn't remember for the life of me where I'd seen it... so glad I stumbled across it yet again. I think of it often when we venture out into the Texas country side where these message boards abound (usually saying things like, "Need no Teef to eat our Beef") and I have a total yen to get one for Austin Tinkering School when we have a real brick and mortar location. Of course it all probably just tickles my fancy because it reminds me of the famous Lusty Lady marquee and it's racy puns that I used to love to see in downtown Seattle (and yes I know it's closed it's doors.... sad). OK, no more of that. This is a family blog, don't you know! Go do something wholesome... crochet some cookies, bake some felt, off you go...

Rope-making machine!

I know what you're thinking. Rope is pretty cheap and plentiful these days... need we really a machine to make it when it can be bought for about 2 bucks at the store? Yes yes, you'd be so right about that, but where's your sense of wonder, my nay saying friend? Kids squeal with delight when they see the rope machine in action. At a family reunion for my husband's family last summer, a rope making machine was brought out and the kids found it all just the height of excitement. That gave me the yen to make one just like it. I've started out with this very easy, starter version found in (my favorite book ever) Making Things: A handbook for creative discovery (really, it's the one book I consult over and over... so many great ideas). But I want to graduate to one like this guy built (the first version, at least at first...)( and I'd like to make rope out of plastic bags like he did sometime, too). Anyway, this is a start....

And apologies for the hasty, somewhat shoddy little video here... I asked my friend to hold the camera while I performed like a rope-making monkey and she was being devoured by mosquitoes, so I was performing as quickly as possible before they drained her completely of life-giving fluids. Normally rope making is a much more leisurely pursuit.