Of course I noticed the popsicle sticks, still sticky and printed with riddles, accumulating in the bottom of Ittybit's zippered lunch box, but I merely assumed it was all just evidence of faulty genetics and primary school strangeness.
My husband is a world-class packrat, you see, which serves him well as a sculptor (or so claims the definition of "Horder" in the Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association and currently in its Fourth edition).
Turns out, Ittybit has had a plan since the beginning of Kindergarten; a plan that has cost her $.25 a day. When she started developing her vision last weekend I figured she was already $30 invested in procurement costs.
Her father, giving credit where credit is due, is whom she approached for assistance in building "The Most Hilarious Castle Ever."
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
Popscicle sticks. (Lots of 'em).
Scissors (If you have the strength of an ox, otherwise a small saw will work better).
Matboard or cardboard (This will be the castle base).
Glue gun (Welding won't work on this one, either).
WHAT WILL HELP
A wife who isn't hanging over your shoulder taking pictures. (Send her to the store for something useful, like beer).
WHAT YOU DO
*Plan what you'd like the castle to resemble on paper, and put drawing where you can see it. (If you are me, you might ignore this step).
*Cut a bunch of popsicle sticks so that their tops are flat, saving the rounded ends, and glue them together.
*Make walls out of flat-ended sticks as per your design.
*Glue them to the matboard so they stand straight and aren't leaning.
*To make a window, cut a piece out of popsicle stick between middle and top and re-glue the middle piece to its original stick so it looks like a shutter.
*To make a door put two "window" sticks together.
*Keep building upward until you are out of sticks. You can make floors with whole popsicle sticks if you have enough or you can make them out of mattboard.
*Decorate with tiny, foam royals.
3 comments:
Nice Castle, it even has a dungeon. I think the drawings were a good idea, a great way to teach your little ones the concept of an idea and the process of making that idea a reality…in 3-D.
Even if the final project does not resemble the plan EXACTLY, it is a powerful lesson in creative thinking and following a plan…I’m sure there were structural changes along the way as well giving them the practice of logical thinking.
I use to build things out of toothpicks by first gluing the edges of two toothpicks together to make a small plank…I usually had a visual in my minds eye of the project long before I started to glue the first toothpick…
So I must ask; Did Ittybit have this vision and then start to save the Popsicle sticks for the project?
Your blog reads like she did so I guess I’m asking if she visualized a castle, than drew it, than built it as apposed to just building something and deciding on a Castle on the day of building.
I think the thought process actually went in this order:
1. Popsicles are tasty.
2. These sticks have jokes.
3. I would like to have more popsicles.
4. I would like to keep the jokes.
5. I seem to have a lot of sticks.
6. What can I do with the sticks?
7. CASTLE!!!!!!!
8. DAD! How do I make a castle.
DAD: "Let's draw it first."
Ahhhh...so it was pretty much the jokes on the popsicle sticks, that she wished to save, that eventually became a castle.
later...
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