Over the Christmas holidays I bought some really cool projects for the kids, one of which was some assorted knights that you excavate like a real archeologist. They've been asking to do this activity for a while so in the midst of chaos (aka trying to pack up the house to move) I gave in.
We each chose the knight we wanted to dig and donned our safety glasses and masks and headed outside.
After opening the package I thought things looked pretty good. There was a plastic tool with a hammer on one end and a scraper on the other plus they included a small paintbrush to gently wipe off excess plaster. Ready and go! Tap...tap...tap. Hmmmm, okay this hammer is not very effective. Tap harder, tap harder! Hmmmm. Okay, switching ends we'll saw for a while. Up and back, up and back, oh look, Brennan has sawed about 1/3 of the way through! See anything?
Nope. Oh.
A few more minutes of this and I send my hubby in to fetch a hammer (a real one) and a flat head screwdriver (our chisel). Okay, now for some serious archeology. Tap, tap, crack! Now that's what I'm talking about. Needless to say, within fifteen minutes our handsome gentlemen had been extracted from their plaster graves. With the exception of one sword injury (it broke - my fault) all were removed intact.
An archeologist I am not. Don't have the patience for it and can't imagine all that cataloging and grid-laying. Just grab the hammer and get on with it. There's a life lesson here I'm missing - I just know it. But if slow and steady wins the race in this particular field, I should stay far away from it.
The kids are happy - the knights are out and looking fine. We discussed their differences and varying time periods during the Middle Ages. Now they want to paint them in historically accurate colors. Oh, if only I had gotten the messy craft gene! (Yes, I do believe there are "neat" crafts and "messy" crafts.)
Anyway, that's for another day.
We each chose the knight we wanted to dig and donned our safety glasses and masks and headed outside.
After opening the package I thought things looked pretty good. There was a plastic tool with a hammer on one end and a scraper on the other plus they included a small paintbrush to gently wipe off excess plaster. Ready and go! Tap...tap...tap. Hmmmm, okay this hammer is not very effective. Tap harder, tap harder! Hmmmm. Okay, switching ends we'll saw for a while. Up and back, up and back, oh look, Brennan has sawed about 1/3 of the way through! See anything?
Nope. Oh.
A few more minutes of this and I send my hubby in to fetch a hammer (a real one) and a flat head screwdriver (our chisel). Okay, now for some serious archeology. Tap, tap, crack! Now that's what I'm talking about. Needless to say, within fifteen minutes our handsome gentlemen had been extracted from their plaster graves. With the exception of one sword injury (it broke - my fault) all were removed intact.
An archeologist I am not. Don't have the patience for it and can't imagine all that cataloging and grid-laying. Just grab the hammer and get on with it. There's a life lesson here I'm missing - I just know it. But if slow and steady wins the race in this particular field, I should stay far away from it.
The kids are happy - the knights are out and looking fine. We discussed their differences and varying time periods during the Middle Ages. Now they want to paint them in historically accurate colors. Oh, if only I had gotten the messy craft gene! (Yes, I do believe there are "neat" crafts and "messy" crafts.)
Anyway, that's for another day.
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