Playground for a, Day 2, SF, Week 6

Each week here at the Tinkering School, we build an entirely unique set of projects, with an entirely unique group of kids. So, instead we focus on a set of social and emotional goals. Like, "Collaborate and make friends."

Sareena, Katerina and Myla work on installing the legs to hold up their fly's climbing wall. 

During all girls week, I feel like we get to go especially deep with these goals--because gender is a really real thing, especially in the context of a wood shop. As much as we'd like to imagine ourselves inside a bubble where we've accounted for inequities, the reality is that these girls walk out the door every day into a world where they may be considered helpless, presumed to have poor spacial reasoning skills, or or or or... In our co-ed camps, we notice both over confidence, and girls selling their abilities short when faced with boy peers who (outside of TS) are presumed to be builders and tool users. Here at all girls week, we can all be here, just as ourselves, not needing to over- or under-estimate our abilities. 

Ava and Emily work on mounting the bars for the crabby-bars. The team thought the bars should be mounted at an angle so they would be easier for a crab's claws to grab. But, this meant they couldn't clamp them on using the carpenter's squares. So, they had to come up with a different way to hold everything together! 

At morning circle today, we asked the girls to pay particular attention for campers doing that first goal, "Collaborate and make friends." And at our closing circle, they had so many great stories to share from the day! 

Makarem helps Lainey hold a few pieces of plywood together while she works on her crab--of course! 

Sarai learned the ins and outs of the drill press--one of my favorite tools! While a few girls worked on braiding some paracord to make a woven railing for a tall platform at the top of the croc-o-slide, Sarai drilled holes for the paracord to pass through. 

Ever adds some details to the design drawing for the shoe. The fly wall group had sever ideas like a fly-swatter or spider web that were meant as traps for the fly. I think this is something for the fly to play in as a part of the play structure for a fly.  

Sasha helps hold a piece of the frame of the shoe up in the air, so that Ever and Eleanor can clamp it in place. 

Throughout the day, we noticed girls making themselves available to carry long sticks of wood, giving partner pushes, making suggestions for tricky problems, human clamping wood while others drilled holes or drove in screws, and so much more! During all grrrls week, we can be here just to lift each other up, which is really the best.