Thursday, 20 April 2006
GR was in charge of this months combined YM/YW activity and they really wanted to do a service project of some kind. One of the things he and I brainstormed in the car weeks ago was the idea of doing some kind of humanitarian aid project that the kids to assemble on Wednesday night.
All the toy patterns we saw were too involved - not in assembling, but in cutting and since we were limited on the people we could ask to cut wood - not that many people have access to the necessary equipment - and had 20-25 youth to keep busy for 90 minutes, we X'd that idea.
GR spent a lot of time looking online for patterns and ideas and found patterns for wood blocks. He talked to Bob about the feasibility of the project and the two of them agreed it would be do-able. Bob had enough scrap MDF to cut 300 blocks. The YM went over a week before and helped sand all the rough edges and corners and smooth out the curved arches. And I purchased the paint and brushes.
The youth did a fine job on painting them and they look amazing. The children quickly discovered the box of painted blocks and have had hours of fun playing with them. The way they've been playing, you'd think they'd never seen blocks before! They have built quilt patterns, houses, towers, castles, anything and everything you can imagine - they've built it.
GR still needs to decide where to send these blocks, and there are a couple blocks that need a little touch up painting, but other than that, they are ready for needy children to play with!
3 comments:
those look really great- like store-bought.
They are very attractive blocks. I remember when my father made blocks for us. Best Christmas ever.
I like the colors. Nice job!
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