Can we take a moment to discuss my general displeasure in school projects? In general, I find many of them to supposedly be a family fun project (like the turkeys at thanksgiving) and honestly, at least in our house, there is not much family fun going on while making them. Usually just copious amounts of money spent at the craft store and a glue mess at the house. Oh, and a meltdown or two by someone because their idea didn't pan out. Also, I tend to be more hands off with the projects, as I feel like it's good for the kids to learn themselves.
Well, this year Connor's big project was a volcano. It was allowed to be constructed out of any material we wanted. It just had to look realistic and it had to have a water bottle in it for the explosion. So, off to the craft store we went. I honestly had no vision for it. Connor picked up rock and moss...not much to go off of. Then there was at least an hour spent just trying to figure out how to shape the dang thing. And the gluing of the rocks...each one of those rocks was glued down. In the end, it turned out really good. And in case you are wondering, the skeleton in the mine shaft was all Connor's idea! Well, the mineshaft was his idea too...which, of course came up after I shaped the whole thing. Thankfully cutting a hole out wasn't a big deal.
Connor's teacher said she likes to not give much direction because it makes kids be creative and not all kids can afford to go to the craft store, which I totally get. Because of this, there were so many different types of volcanos, made out of so many different types of materials. I secretly wish I could be at school the day they get to make each on erupt. It seems pretty dang fun. One kid told me he hopes the lego man at the top of Connor's volcano goes flying up in the air with the eruption. But, given the amount of hot glue holding that little man in place, I don't think he is going anywhere anytime soon!
I have to say, I am impressed that this project made it to school in one piece. We sort of have a history of that NOT happening. Last year, Connor's diorama broke as he was getting out of the car. Insert tears and mom trying to save the situation here. Then earlier this year, Connor had to make a pumpkin look like his favorite book character. Well, his nose broke off, taking some paint with it, on the way to school too. In hindsight, thinking I could walk it to school on top of the stroller wasn't the best of ideas. This time, Ian took the project to school and I stayed home with Callum. Something about wrangling a toddler and a school project at the same time has just never worked out well for me.
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