Welcome to week 7 on Day Camp here in SF--already the second to last week of camp this summer! Our week started out totally normal, then got a little funky. We're trying out something different this week, so stay tuned to see how it goes!

As usual, we started our day by making group agreements and then practicing using the tools that we'll mostly use for the rest of the week--the drills, clamps and chopsaw.

Nathan explains the purpose of all the knobs, switches, triggers and buttons on the drills for a group of tinkerers.

Hannah and Mia practice using the drills by building a shape together.

Cole practices the chopsaw under the watchful eye of Manny.

Jennifer helps hold a piece of wood in place while Wolf clamps it to the table. Thanks Jennifer!

Then, we took a break to play at the park and eat our lunches. After we got back, we took a seat together as a whole group to find out what we'd be working on together all week. Answer: TRIANGLES. Why? Because why not? So much of the stuff we build here at TS is some type of rectangle, so this week is a challenge for all of us. Also triangles are awesome! They're so strong, and the foundation for a lot of intricate and complex 3-D shapes--like domes! Which is what Nathan's group will try to build.

Jasper, Aya and Cole work on turning their drawing into a 3-D shape using magnatiles and polydrons.

Over by the banana tree, Jennifer will lead a group of campers to build a truss, or cantilever bridge, a lot like the old Bay Bridge. One incredible thing about triangles is that they're all around us--even above us in the ceiling of this ol' mayonnaise factory! The campers took a lot of inspiration from the trusses that support our roof as they worked on their bridge designs.

Jaime, Camilo and Ben work on their design drawings for the truss bridge.

After making some initial plans, the truss bridge group even started fetching some wood and putting together some HUGE triangles!

And Manny is helping a group of campers build a pyramid! I think they've decided to build a Egyptian-style (as opposed to Mayan, stepped) pyramid. Right away, they encountered some tricky problems to solve--yay!

First, the pyramid builders drew their designs individually.

Then, they shared some of the details from their designs, so they could come up with one group plan.

Pretty quickly, they decided they would need to build a 7' square to be the base of the pyramid. Here, Jaden helps Kaden hold a corner steady while Kaden drives in a few screws.

But when they brought out boards for the side of the pyramid, they realized the corners looked icky (compound miters?!), and the top ends would just be hanging out in space. What to do?

Great start everybody! Make sure to check out our flickr page for more photos throughout the week!

TRIANGLES, Day 1, Week 7, SF