Educating Treehouse Builders
Inspiring Learning Through Play!
One of my readers, Coz mo, has some very lucky nephews. They have an uncle who has taken the time to teach them how to build a treehouse during vacation!
What a WONDERFUL learning experience for those boys! And they have developed skills they can take with them through their entire lives, as well.
What are some of the things they learned?
- How to cooperate for a desired goal
- Measure twice & cut once (or suffer the consequences)
- Building a sturdy foundation
- How many inches in a foot?
- Why being accurate is important
- Work can be fun and rewarding
- And many other lessons about math, lumber, nature, goal-setting and cooperation
I went digging through some photo albums for pictures of some treehouses that my brother, sister and I built (and played in joyfully) years ago. I think you can tell by the photos that, in the first one, we had very little adult assistance, and in the second one we were more concerned with a private play space than an attractive appearance.
Coz mo did not share any pictures of the treehouse that he and his nephews built but I do have pictures of a couple of treehouses built by friends, with lots of adult input.
Slight difference in the results, huh?
What’s the Learning Point Here?
Wouldn’t you have liked to learn more about building a shelter, and normal home maintenance and improvement skills when you were young? Too many grow up not knowing which end of a hammer is the working end. Or, they only learn that it’s a handy weapon. SAD!
Did you ever dream about having the perfect treehouse?
Would you love to be able to express your creativity?
Summer is the perfect time to help children develop those skills.
Talk about creativity:
Remind you of Fairy Tales?
How about expressing creativity in another medium:
Why not paint with your youngsters?
Or creating a perfect Dream World:
Teach them to visualize.
Or a total fantasy:
The sky really IS the limit to our imaginations!
And, who knows, maybe if you get them inspired when they’re young, they’ll grow up and build you your very own Dream Treehouse:
I want it!
Worth thinking about, isn’t it?
Brennan
