Cardboard Cathedral part II

 

 This is an example of several things:
1-A Medieval Cathedral with flying buttresses, stained glass, and transverse architecture.
2-A creation I was way more into than my kids were.
3-A school project I can drop, unfinished, without any guilt while the fun is fading.

 

But it was still fun.

Here are some of the pieces before I hot glued them together:

 

 

Tower

 

 

Side and buttresses; these were simply stuck into the slits I cut in the sides. They didn't even touch the ground and were what I like to think of as a truer flying buttress.

 

 A detail of the Bible stories in the windows (Noah's Ark, David & Goliath, Moses and the staff/snake)

 

People going to church above the "cat rooms where the dead people are."

That's catacombs, dear, and those are the columns in between.

 

And a view from above. It's a lot simpler than it looks, glued in only 7 places. I just realized I had scored the top half of the walls and was going to hot glue them to a peak...maybe it will happen before the dumpster recycling bin, maybe not...

 

 

Cardboard Cathedral part I

When Bowery Bird was in Y2 we made cardboard castle. There are catapults and crossbows and all kinds of other instructions for Middle Ages stuff to be made by kids. But it all looked too complicated. But I'm not an engineer, I'm an artist. Maybe when I have a boy in Y2. This go around we are making a cathedral. Easy, right? We had friends over today to help/distract us, depending on the time.

I looked up simple floor plans and images to remind myself what they actually look like, then started cutting. The girls enjoyed making stain-glass windows on tracing paper with color pencils.

Here is the nave and a flying buttress (patent pending). So it's just stuck in with a slit between windows and is in fact, really flying in this picture...I scored the upper half above the windows to fold over making a steep roof when connected with the other side. The slit at the end of the nave is where the folds come out for the transept, or crossbeam of the cross in the cathedral floor plan.

 

This is my favorite part so far. 7y/o Mockingbird did the catacombs. This is just a flat piece that goes below. So there are the color-pencil gardens around the cathedral, and then the buried king, saint, lady, and knight in their tombs below. I was thinking we could open their coffins and see something surprising inside, but this idea never came up. I think it is only because the boys all went to play elsewhere...otherwise it would have only been a matter of time... Then there are "stairs" above.

 

 

We watched this film just before I pulled out the cardboard pieces and assigned parts to work on. It is an older movie, I think geared toward children. It's all very appropriate but quite cerebral.

Cathedral is an animated story where a fictitious cathedral is being built little by little interspersed with two guides taking us to actual cathedrals in Europe to show us relics, gargoyles, windows, and other unique bits about cathedrals. I think it was worthwhile, but I didn't make them finish it, a lot is learned in any part of it, and I was starting to see the squirming surface from the six on the sofa so...we had lunch.

We'll finish it later.

Cure for the Common Lunch

I got really tired of sitting down to Math (30 min) after luncheon and hearing "I'm hungry."
Really tired.

I decided packing a lunch like 'regular' kids might help.
So this year I bought 5 insulated lunch bags, and made sure we had enough little Tupperware containers for sandwiches, a fruit/vegetable, and dip/yogurt/pudding stuff. I know this is what most people do--it had just never occured to me before since my children are home and can sit down to a nice hot homecooked meal-right?

 

I also took 2 hours and made 7 reusable snack bags from scraps with Bowery Bird. (That Summer Sewing Group is already paying me back!)  I used a tutorial from Cotton Bottom Mama. My friend, White-tailed Kite has an Etsy shop and sells these and other fabric bags--with much better craftsmanship, I assure you.

Snacks keep surprisingly fresh in the double-lined cotton bags, are environmentally friendly of course, and easy to wash after turning inside-out. The kids love having their own bag of the day.

I knew we would zip through snacks if I let them, so I started filling 20 snack bags a week. Variety is the spice of life, so I actually set aside some for the future, after I measure out the serving sizes from a bulk bag of things like:

• sesame seed cheddar cheese sticks
• yogurt covered and regular pretzels
• granola bars
• peanut butter cracker sandwiches
• caramel popcorn and peanuts
• fruit leather
• plain and chocolate covered nuts & raisins
• homemade granola bars

I keep all the baggies in a big bowl to choose one from daily when they make their lunches--so the shift to all cloth is gradual till I make more.

Every morning after breakfast I have out a sandwich station, snack bowl station, and fruit & vegetable station. They have to let me check their lunchbags to make sure there isn't a fruit leather and 5 tangarines in there (true story). It is their responsibility to fill their lunch bags enough to last till 3pm when they can have a home-baked snack from under the cake dish. They can't open their bags till 11 o'clock when we have lunch, but can eat as little or much as they want after that point. Oh-and vegetables have to be eaten & bags emptied cand put on the counter before they can have that cake-dish snack. .

Lunch is sooo much more relaxing now, as is the rest of the day in regards to food stuffs. Saved me a mess o' time & energy and also makes us ready for whatever the day brings.

Handicraft Ideas

Just a List

wee wonderfuls look alike doll

triangle banner

pillow cases

napkins or placemats with button for silverware

bookcover with pocket for pens (journal)

felt pencil case...

how to patch a hole in the knee (cute)

aprons

wee wonderfuls paper doll pillow as gift

bag for sewing with applique

bundle of dolls

headband...

lds patterns

Primary Children's Hospital donations